1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 442 Convertible
Debbie's First 442
Spanish Red/parchment vinyl
Bucket seats
400 ci V-8 (original engine)
4 speed
air conditioning
power steering, power brakes, power windows, power top
AM radio
remote trunk release
Rallye Pack
posi-trac
Richard and I were married in 1979 and in 1980 I found a 1967 442 Convertible I was interested in. It was parked behind a closed gas station on North Lamar in Austin, Texas. The car never moved from that location although several businesses came and went at that location. Someone had pulled all the carpeting out and pulled the drain plugs before leaving it there so it was in amazing condition as any water that came in would run out instead of standing and rusting out the floorpan. I kept coming by to look at it and one day someone was at the gas station and told me that the car belonged to a man in an office building across the street so I went by and talked to him.
He told me he was not the actual owner of the car but was a relative of the owner and had power of attorney to transfer the car. He told me the original owner had taken the car out to meet someone who was interested in buying it. While he was standing on the side of the road waiting for the guy to arrive a car hit and killed him. Since that time the car had been brought to Austin and parked behind the gas station. I was the first person to approach him about the car. He told me to write him a letter and let him know what I wanted to do with the car and what I felt was a fair offer for the car. I checked all the price guides and although the car was nice and solid it would need a complete restoration. I made an offer and he accepted. By the time we got back to pick the car up someone had stolen the air cleaner - bummer.
This car was a labor of love over a 5 year period beginning with the purchase in March of 1982.
You can see from the "before pictures" that this was a very clean car to start with which helped make the restoration easier.
The first thing I did was try to find out more about the correct way to go about restoring it since this was my very first project car. I was given the name and address of Mario Rinaldi in Rockford, Illinois who was restoring a 442. He was kind enough to write me back and told me the best source for information would be Curt Anderson in Florida and sent me his address. He also recommended Mike Fusick for parts. I wrote to Curt who was full of information - he wrote me a typed single spaced 3 page letter full of information on part numbers, parts sources, and where to find good information. I regret that I never got back to either one of these guys to give them an update on the car. After 5 years spent restoring the car I had forgotten where I had filed their letters.
We started tearing the car apart right away. I wanted to paint the frame myself so Richard sandblasted the frame and I did the paint - came out beautiful - a glossy black hardened enamel. We attached new brake and fuel lines to the frame along with a new set of body mounts before dropping the body back on.
I wasn't ready to attempt the work on the body itself so I had someone else paint the car (what a pain to deal with body shops when you want a fabulous paint job and they think you are being too picky). The car was stripped complete to bare metal and repainted with acrylic lacquer. Fortunately they finally finished and had done a fairly good job. Of course typical body shop - the undercarriage all had to be detailed again and the frame cleaned up from the paint shop dirt.
Everything on the car was new or rebuilt. At the time seat covers and door panels were not available. I was fortunate to find Vernon's Auto Trim in Austin - he had original pearl white vinyl and he made everything for the car - door panels, seat covers, armrest covers and sunvisors. He did a beautiful job on them. Today you can buy all those trim pieces except for the metal top parts of the door panels - you have to reuse what you have there. We have noticed several of these cars at shows where the people obviously did not save those pieces and they glue the fabric to the door so it doesn't sit as high as the original door panel. We deviated from the original black interior (if you ever lived in Texas with a convertible you would understand why).
The original engine was bored .30 over and built with all new internal parts. The 4-speed Muncie transmission and posi-trac were rebuilt. All the stainless trim was straightened and polished and the car was a real beauty.
I loved driving this car - it handled well and had lots of power from the 400 c.i. engine and having a 4-speed was great. A beautiful muscle car.
Later we took the car to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale where it set a record price at that time for a 1967 Oldsmobile 442 convertible. This is one car I wouldn't mind having back but I am looking forward to the 1967 Cutlass convertible we are building for me with an LS.
The following picture was taken parked in the driveway in Amarillo at Richard's mom's house. We were visiting during Richard's high school reunion (class of 1967). We drove the car to the reunion and cruised Polk street while we were there. Lots of fun.
The picture below was taken in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Barrett Jackson auction where the car set a record price for a 1967 Oldsmobile 442 convertible.
