Friday afternoon, Jenny sent an e-mail to Chris P. and me.  The only thing in the body of the message was a link to an ad with the attached pictures.

Some of you know Jenny is a fan of 442s, candy apple red, automatic transmissions, and 455s.  Kathy Mattea’s “455 Rocket” is kind of her anthem.  I wasn’t home Friday night, but she tells me it played loudly, a few times over, while she baked Snickerdoodles to compensate Chris for his time, truck, trailer, and thoughts. 

It isn’t a true 442, and the paint is not perfect, both of which have advantages:  the bank account isn’t completely drained, and she won’t hesitate to drive it.  It does have the Tick Tock tach, along with front and rear sway bars (the Malibu did not when I bought it).  It appears to have the Olds 12-bolt rear end, so it should hold up well.  It did leave TWO black streaks in the parking lot before we put her on the trailer!  It also has a 6-speaker stereo system.  Another plus for her!  We will be pulling the motor this winter to investigate a few leaks.  Other than that, Chris and I are busy spending her money (disc brakes, put AC back in, different/bigger rims, OD tranny, manifolds vs. headers?, so many possibilities)!  

The seller only had a couple hours of availability Saturday morning, so of course, both Chris and I rearranged our schedules.  On the way home, we got around to talking about how she found the ad.  She said she looks periodically but hadn’t looked in months.  She’s not sure what possessed her to look between baking Christmas cookies and starting dinner, but she didn’t have to look very long.  It was the first hit in her Google search, and in Minnesota, no less.  I guess some things are just meant to be!

I took advantage of having Chris's truck and trailer to haul the Chevelle to offsite storage for winter, leaving some room to work on the Olds.  We had talked about not getting another car until the garage was bigger, but this was just too good to pass up.  

Yep, looks like a very decent car. And it has the perfect, sassy, front tag on it for Jenny.

The bonus is, you won't have a problem getting a bigger garage next year either.

Happy wife, happy life...

Very nice Chris. Going after market A/C or factory? I’ve had this A/C box hanging (upside down) on my wall for a few years, Derek gave it to me and I’ve never used it. If it helps it’s yours, just need to get it there.  

Merry Christmas Jenny! 

That's awesome!

I might even have a few left over Olds parts you can have.  I gave a few back to the guy I bought the yellow bird 442 from, but I'm sure he'd part with them if I asked.

That color is really good with that body style.  Better than yellow.  lol  

You're going to have fun learning about the Chevelle cousin like I did.  I know how much you liked the cam sound of the 400 Chris, and I'm guessing the 455 is even better.  

Thanks for the kind words guys. I came home from fishing yesterday and the interior had been detailed already.

Kevin, we have talked about A/C a little with no decision yet. Picking up that box would be the perfect excuse to come and see that paint job. Thanks for the offer.

She has given me grief over the amount of orange paint I have under the hood of the Malibu, so I suggested she start thinking about what color will be under hers.. 

Bronze would be the correct color for a 1968-9 400, which is what a 442 had originally.
Blue is correct for a 455 '70-72
The Red that it is seems to be for full size cars, 394-425-455 engine's but was on '68-69 Hurst/Olds Cutlass's.

Bronze would look nice under that hood...

Chris S wrote:

Kevin, we have talked about A/C a little with no decision yet. Picking up that box would be the perfect excuse to come and see that paint job. Thanks for the offer.

---

  Doors always open for the NCC crew.  

Nice find for MN.  With a OD trans, maybe we can trade insulation notes?  Make her pretty under the hood.

I apologize for not posting any updates in a while.  We've been busy with the 442 snowball.  Thus far,

• window weather-stripping has been replaced (vertical run channels, quarter window seals, and drip rail moldings),
• new driver's side, passenger side, and rear view mirrors have been installed,
• front brakes have new wheel cylinders, along with other Club-obtained parts (yes, we're sticking with the 4-wheel power drums, for now),
• headers have been sand blasted and painted,
• carb linkage is now properly installed so it's actually a 4-barrell instead of 2 (thanks, Chris P.!),
• engine leaks have been addressed,
• engine received fresh paint (neither Olds Gold or red!)

The snowball continued to gain momentum when we removed the A/C fan box and decided to remove the heater box and replace the heater core.  We are currently in the process of cleaning up the firewall so everything can be correctly reinstalled.  Near as we can tell, the car did not originally have A/C.  Someone installed A/C, and another someone came along and cut most of it out!  Lots of cleaning and proper assembly to do here.  

Since the engine bay is mostly vacant, we removed the brake booster and steering box for clean up and fresh paint.  As always, hard to determine where to stop, but we have the time, and all these things are easier to accomplish with the motor out.

What could possibly be left, you ask?

• Ensure engine bay wiring meets Hank's stringent quality standards (currently many Scotch locks and mystery wires)
• Transmission cooler line routing around headers
• Replace electric fan controller with Dakota Digital model that will properly function
• Address exhaust, since the 14" tires are rubbing in rear wheel wells
• Spend some quality time with Bob to curve the distributor

We're certain there's more, but you get the gist.  

Interesting engine color, you 2 couldn't agree so went neutral ...

May as well take the plunge and buy a new American Autowire update kit. Hank is NEVER going to allow scotch locks and tape...

Trans cooler lines shouldn't be an issue with headers, unless they have already been twisted out of shape. If so, get the high copper content brake lines and custom bend to your desire. Much easier than trying to re-bend the hard steel lines and prettier too...maybe polish them...

I like the cast gray!  It looks industrial and strong. 

I painted the 396 in the white 71 I had a dark gray color and liked it, but it was too dark after I got it in the engine bay and it kind of disappeared.