(first posted 5/11/2019) CC Contributor/Cohort Tim Finn posted some great shots of a ’68 442 doing what it was created to do: move, briskly. Panning a camera while a car moves is not easy, having tried it a couple of times and lucking out once. Tim mostly nailed it here, although the back of the car got cut off. But there’s more…
Coming.
And going.
Amazing shots! They look like something that could have been used in a color magazine ad for the car back in 1968!
68 is my favorite of the 442s, the front end, the dash, the bumblebee stripe(sorry, I only know the Mopar vernacular for it), I even like the convertible bodystyle as much as the coupe. My Dad’s Collonade Cutlass Supreme had this same exact color combination weirdly, lime green on green with white(vinyl top rather than stripe).
I built up a nice ‘68 442 back in the day. A coupe, bright orange, chrome wheels. Oh, it was also made of plastic and 1/25 scale. I was 11 or 12 years old.
The car, despite no “ramrod” decal, appears to be a W-30 ’68 442 (?)……………nice!!! I do not remember that lime green on the ’68s, old age???
The 442s were really about as good a muscle car as money could buy in 1968; they could actually go thru curves without capsizing!! 🙂 DFO
I don’t think the W-30 442 got the ‘Ramrod’ decal; that was reserved for the hi-po 350 W-31 from ’68-’69.
The decal would be gone for the W-31’s last year (1970). It was a great package and the Olds engineers really got the 350 to come alive for those brief three years.
And, yeah, that doesn’t look like an OEM color. In fact, between the Mattel ‘Spectraflame’ color (that’s what they were known as) and the redlines, the car actually looks a bit like a Hot Wheels tribute.
And it looks like he’s moving at a good clip since the suspension seems to be up or what cops used to call “getting air”. They used to be able to tell speeders that way from a distance as the body would come up off the suspension at high speed. For a movie reference, it’s really noticeable towards the end of ‘Bullitt’, especially on the Mustang.
Which 1960s muscle car was generally accepted to be the best handing?
Oldsmobile Cutlasses/442s with the rear sway bar and Chrysler A- and B-bodies in general (Dart Swinger, Charger, Road Runner, GTX, etc) were the highest praised in period tests, among high-volume models. But all of them, to various extents, were criticized for debilitating understeer, feel-free steering, and weak-kneed rear suspensions. I wasn’t alive when those cars were new, but reading reviews from the time, it seems like there was more variation within any given model range (based on the options selected) than between them.
Bud Lindemann tested for Car & Track, a 1971 442 convertible. Not lots of changes compared to the 1968 model besides the front and rear end along with the drop of front vent windows.
I don’t know where Tim is, but here in Vegas it’s 75 and sunny with a slight breeze. Anyone driving a convertible with the top up ought to have it impounded and replaced with a dirty minivan.
+1, if you are not going to put the top down in that type of weather why even bother having a convertible.
Back when this 442 was new it was considered the most desirable of the GM intermediates, at least by those who gave it much thought. People who were solely interested in going fast in a straight line tended to buy Chevelles, while the poseurs bought GTOs and thought their waste didn’t stink. Those who understood that cars needed to stop and turn bought 442s, at least if they could afford to do so. I’m not sure who bought the Buicks, certainly not anyone in my social circle.
Definitely not convertible weather here either, we’ve just reached double digits. Yesterday we didn’t manage that. Unseasonally cold this winter.
Those headrests look to be out of something newer, but it is still a nice car.
I usually like my Cutlasses either older or newer, but the convertible body helps this one. I remember these as having one of the highest dashes ever put into a car. At 9 or 10 years old I could see just fine from the front passenger seat of Mom’s 64 but that seat in my step mom’s 68 made me feel like a 5 year old again because I could barely see over that dash.
Have you ever sat in a ‘67-68 Cougar? I drove one very briefly and even as an adult (well, maybe I was 17) I had trouble seeing over the dash, a problem I don’t remember in similar vintage Mustangs … though come to think of it, the Maverick I drove once wasn’t great.
I know what you mean but I find the same in Mustangs of the era, the seats are just mounted low IMO. Modern cars are where I find this the worse, every car I sit in(sedans and ponycars mostly) into I have to raise the seat height to max to see over the dash!
You’re right, for that matter the seats themselves are not stock, they have shoulder bolsters and a tilt lever. I think they are recovered 04-06 GTO seats.
I like this car even more now, a restomod that doesn’t at all look like one!
As long as it has the Olds Rocket V8. Nothing like it.
Great photos, and as observed above they could have come from a back in the day photo shoot.
That reminds me of that 442 featured in the vldeoclip of the band Chicago in the song “Stay the night”.
Getting back to the color on that 1968 442: do believe it might be a stock 1972 Olds color…..if my OLD memory is correct!! 🙂 I think I remember it on a few ’72 Cutlasses back then. DFO
I found a photo of an apparently stock ’68 442, perhaps my memory is going! It would appear that this particular “flavor” of green was a o.e. 68 color??? DFO
That might be it, only of a different formula, I.e., base coat/clear coat, etc. It certainly looks much glossier than OEM enamel.
A very ‘period’ colour; perhaps the one captured above is slightly darker? Very attractive, anyway.
You normally could correct any understeer problem with a proper application of the throttle. The tires of the day were a serious limiting factor! Z28/Mustang Boss 302 could handle as well as scoot!
Thank you all for the nice comments about my pictures. Here is the story of the photos. I just bought a new camera (Sony A6000) and decided to go to downtown Portland on a Sunday to try it out. I had heard the Olds a couple of times earlier, only to catch a glimpse of it. I assumed he was on a joyride through town.
I was crossing the street, when I noticed the car a block away stopped at a red-light. I had one chance to get a good pan shot as he drove by. Paul is right; I chopped off the rear of the car. I wish the guy made a few more passes by, so I could have gotten an even better shot.
For you photo geeks out there, I took this with a Sony A6000 and a Meike 25mm F/1.8 lens. This is a super low budget Chinese made, no frills lens that sells brand new for under $80.00 bucks. I also got a couple of other nice shots with the 16-50mm kit lens that will hopefully show up below. The Fiat is the rare, totally electric 500e. They are only sold in limited markets as far as I know.
Thanks again everyone for the nice comments.
I also managed to make a Camry look exciting. It’s amazing what you can do with a decent camera and a computer.
Fantastic shots! Love the color(s) of this example.
I pan shot a Cutlass one time, doing the quarter mile. 35 millimeter Nikon EM. Shutter speed looks a little forgiving, likely ASA100 at f-1/16?
That is a great shot, would be at home in an expensive glossy book on muscle cars.
Chrysler Australia certainly took some inspiration from these with wheels and fender stripe in 1971
It’s a 1968 Olds color called Willow Green Poly. My ’69 Cutlass was the same.
Imo the Rocket 350 was the best GM V8 under 400in ever made, I’ve had 7 of them.
Great to see these pics again. What a good-looking car.
If the car is a w-30 it will not have a Ram Rod decal on the exterior but it will say Ram Rod 400 on the air cleaner. The 350 Ram Rod f85 and Cutlass did have exterior sticker style just after the front fender park lights.
The Olds 442 never got the attention it’s siblings the GTO and Chevelle SS got. The Buick GS even less. Too bad.
Word was why would you drive your parent’s car that was maybe a little faster and with different badges?