1969 Olds 442 Project Car - Please Read Description for All Parts and Work Done

Description for Oldsmobile 442 1969

For sale here is a 1969 Olds 442 Holiday Coupe:

This car has been disassembled and a great deal of work has been done to the body and parts. This project would be a great father/son effort to complete. The bulk of the work that is left to do would be an engine build, painting and assembly.

I purchased the car from Las Vegas, Nevada where it had spent its whole life. The original owner was moving back to his home country (Peru) to retire and did not want to take the car with him.

The car was originally Topaz Iridium in color, with a Gold interior and Cameo White painted roof.

I looked for a build sheet but did not find one anywhere in the car.

The VIN number for the car is 344879Z113164. The first 7 digits of this VIN decode to Oldsmobile (3 code) / 442 V8 (44 code) / Holiday Coupe (87 code) / 1969 (9 code) / Fremont California Assembly (Z code). The rest of the VIN is the production number.

·The cowl data tag reads as follows, left to right, top to bottom:

o First row: ST 69 34487 BF 01712 BDY

§ This denotes a 69 model year 442 Holiday Coupe made in Fremont, CA

o Second row: R 934 B80 65 50 PNT

§ This denotes gold bucket seats / roof drip rails / Topaz body color / Cameo White painted roof color

o Third row: 12B 626045 85062

§ Time build code 12B = 2nd week of December. The rest of the digits are internal plant codes, from what I understand

· Because the car was from Las Vegas, the sheet metal was virtually rust-free. When I had the body, frame and suspension parts stripped, the shop that did it took pictures because they could not believe the condition that they were in.

The car has been primed and block-sanded by the lead body and paint guy at Masterworks in Madison Heights, MI. He has also painted the stripped frame in a chip-resistant satin black paint. He also went over the suspension and brakes completely with new bushings, ball joints, tie rods, bumpers, sway bars, shocks, springs and much more. Masterworks is a restoration shop that specializes in high-end classic Corvettes and muscle cars.

· All stainless trim has been straightened and professionally polished by an individual who subcontracts to Masterworks. They are very straight and are like chrome in appearance.

· The front and rear bumper were shipped to Advanced Plating in Nashville, TN. They straightened and polished the face and edges of each bumper before triple-chrome plating them both. The bumpers look like jewelry. Advanced is considered to be among the best in the business by many restorers.

· I found a correct 396026G code block, a pair of 394548 code heads and a 398662 code intake manifold from a 442 on the east coast and had them shipped here. The block, heads and intake have been thermal baked, blasted and magnaflux-tested by Greg's Cylinder Heads and Custom Engines in Riverview, MI. He has provided documentation to me that they have no cracks whatsoever. The 400 block is at standard bore.

· The car was manufactured as an automatic trans car. I had plans to convert it to a stick but the shifter porch that I purchased has not been added to the floor and the floor itself has not been cut.

· The rear end is a 12-bolt but I do not know the ratio. The rear end has been completely rebuilt with new parts by The Ring and Pinion Shop in Clinton Township

· The front bucket and rear bench seats were stripped down to the frames, blasted, coated and reassembled with new coated springs, new foam, new black seat covers and new hardware purchased from Legendary Auto Interiors. They are all boxed in custom boxes built for them as are many other parts that are included. All assembly work was done by a seating professional that subcontracts to restoration shops in the Detroit area.

· The headliners, door panels and carpeting are also all new and they are also from Legendary Auto Interiors. The interior color that I purchased is black, not the gold that was in the car originally. My intent was to have the car painted black in color with an all black interior.

· The dash pad was shipped to Los Angeles and was restored to as new condition by Just Dashes. They strip the existing foam and vinyl off of the dash pad core and the vacuum-form new foam and vinyl material over the existing core. It is black in color.

· The dash bezel was restored by someone who specializes in repairing classic car plastic dashes.

· The wiring harnesses for the power windows, dash, tail lights, under hood and rear defog and the power window regulators have been restored to as new condition by a professional in Charlevoix, Michigan who makes a living restoring these items for classic cars.The engine harness could not be remanufactured and a new one was purchased.

· Bob’s Speedometer Services in Howell, MI restored the gauges to as new condition.

· The wiper motor and pump have been restored by a vendor in Tennesee who only remanufactures muscle car wiper motor and pumps.

· The heater box was restored with a new heater core and the A/C evaporator unit and A/C heater controller was also rebuilt by The Part Guy and Tampa, FL. A NOS Delco POA valve and expansion valve were also purchased from them.

· The seat belts were shipped to Ssnake-Oyl in Tyler Texas and they were restored to as new by them with new webbing and plating.

· I like the look of the OIA (open air induction) hoods on the 70-72 Olds 422’s. Thornton Muscle Cars in Quakertown, PA makes one for the 1969 model year and I have purchased one for this project. The hood is very high quality and it has a metal frame structure underneath.

· The parts that I can think of that the project will need are an a/c compressor, engine internals (pistons, rings, etc.), exhaust manifolds, window glass and a transmission. I have the original a/c compressor but I have not had it remanufactured. You can find the compressor and the exhaust manifolds on eBay or classic Olds parts suppliers (Fusick, Year One, etc.) at any time. The original glass was not the safety glass that we have today, so I discarded it (too dangerous). New glass is also available from dozens of suppliers on the net (Google search term “Classic Auto Glass”).

· Almost all parts have been restored by a professional or replaced with new ones. All new or restored parts have been cataloged, labeled by box and logged into a spreadsheet that shows the box label number, part number, part description and cost. I have some of the take-off parts that were replaced as well. I have done a physical inventory last weekend to verify that the cataloged parts were all there. If you purchase the project, I am willing to spend a day verifying each of these parts with you before you leave, box by box.

Here is a list of the parts: