Hi I am new to the forum. I am considering buying a 1965 442 with a 4 speed manual. Is there any way to tell from the vin tag if it came that way from the factory? Thanks for your help!

 

Welcome to CO!

The body plate shows an F85 Cutlass Hardtop Coupe and all 442s were built on the Cutlass platform. There is still more digging to do however. Am I reading the date stamp correctly as 12C? If so that is a third week of December 1964 build. So close to Christmas break, who knows what those engineers installed? Haha.

Can you provide a pic of the VIN stamped on an aluminum plate inside of the driver's door pillar?

 

Welcome. That's not a VIN tag, it's the Fisher Body Data Plate. The VIN does not appear on that tag.

More importantly, this is a Fremont car. 442s built at other Oldsmobile plants used a "4V" code on the cowl tag. Fremont for some reason did not. As a result, Fremont cars are frequently cloned into Faux-Four-Twos, since you can't prove it's a fake from the cowl tag. If the seller is asking real 442 money for this car, get more documentation than just the cowl tag. You might want to check out this site for detailed info on how to tell a real 1965 442 from a fake. This page in particular compares Lansing, Fremont, and Oshawa data plates.

 

Thanks for your help guys! I decided that car is a little too much work. But now I am interested in another one. Very complete, unrestored. Here is the data tag from the other car. Is this also a Freemont car?