1965 Oldsmobile 442

[GMJohnny]

This post has been a long awaited one! I’ve been working on this for a few weeks and haven’t had much to post about. This all started when the window regulator failed when the car was taken off the trailer and put in the barn. After trying to do a lubrication repair on the old regulator, I opted to put another one in. An EBay purchase got me a very smooth use one for $40. While I was working on the regulator, I decided that I wanted to remove the speakers in the door. This means new carpet on the bottoms of the doors. When doing this work, you can’t use old door locks, arm rest supports or lock knobs, so those were were purchased and replaced on both doors. The window cranks didn’t match and the correct one was near failure, so they were replaced as well. I’m pretty pleased with the outcome, and know may more about window regulators than I care to mention now. The doors on the inside are now way better than they were before, and the windows both go up and down nicely. While I was in the doors, I vacuumed out a bunch of debris from inside them, and lubed all of the mechanisms inside the doors. The holidays, a pulled muscle in my back, and waiting on parts slowed me down, but progress has been made.

GM

The Old Look

Speaker hole to be repaired

Old armrests

Repaired!

[Fred32v]

Very nice!
I also noticed that the wing window is closed and you won't need duct tape to keep them closed.

[GMJohnny]

This weekend was pretty productive. I decided to go to the trunk and clean up its appearance. Basically, the old trunk mat was only partially there and the spare tire and jack was just laying in a pile on the trunk floor. I put the mat in (it came in the mail a few weeks ago) after letting it set on the barn floor for a week or so with weight on the corners. They ship the mat rolled up in a box and it refused to go flat on the first day. I had to trim it a bit to make it fit the way I liked, but it was pretty close. While I was in the trunk, I decided to try my skills at making a power antenna work. It tried to work for me when I turned the knob on the dash, but was unable to extend or retract fully. I ripped it apart and lubed it from the inside and it responded. I let the mast and inner cable soak overnight with a heavy dose of WD-40 and hit it with 40 amps from the battery charger. A couple of hits like this and it was working like a charm. After bolting it back in the car, it worked perfectly with just the battery. With some energy left in me and time to extend the work, I put the lock barrel in the trunk. That went well, so I figured I’d do the ignition barrel as well. My last 442 fought me tooth and nail with this job, but this 442 was gracious and the barrel popped out quickly and the new one was in equally as fast. Total time for that job was 6 minutes. Now I have only one key for the whole car…… except for the locking gas cap key. A new gas cap has been ordered so I won’t have to contend with that for long. More to come!

GM

New trunk mat

[GMJohnny]

Old Package Tray

Rear seat removed

New Package Tray

Trunk Divider Beginnings

Completed Trunk Divider

I haven’t posted in a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’m not making progress. One small project seems to lead to another and another and another. I’m good with it. After working on the trunk, I decided to remove the package tray and replace it. The old one was a bit to funky for my liking. I opted for a mesh style tray. The removal and replacement was very simple. While I had the rear seat out, I decided to replace the trunk to passenger cardboard divider. I wasn’t able to find a company online that could get me one quickly ( a month wait! ) so I decided to make my own. I used the old crumbling one as a template. I opted to use corrugated plastic cardboard to avoid the breakdown of the piece over time. A bit of flat black paint and a little time and I was able to make a very suitable duplicate that wouldn’t hold up my progress. It’s tough to get a good pic of the new package tray, but it looks way better and was well worth the effort.

GM

[GMJohnny]

While I had the rear armrests out I had easy access to the nuts that hold the side scoops on to the quarter panel. No better time than the present to make a necessary upgrade! I purchased new 442 emblems that had the correct color and good chrome on them. The old emblems looked tired and nasty. I replaced all four on the exterior of the car. While I was inside the forward rear quarter panel area, I took the time to vacuum inside the window compartment and lube the window regulators. They wanted some love. Everything on this car is SOLID! No rust or bondo could be detected in the quarter area. I also replaced the hood emblem with one that was painted red around the rocket in the symbol. This and the new grill emblem really pop well against the light blue of the paint. The correct placement of the grill emblem was researched and I made the position adjustment. These small upgrades really wake up the car’s appearance!

GM

[GMJohnny]

I’ve been going back and forth and forth and back in my mind about a tire selection that works for me on the 442. I originally stated that I didn’t want raised white letter tires on this car, but after looking at about 750,000 pics of different cars with them on it, they grew on me a bit. I also wasn’t sure if a tire size, but came up with an idea to help me out. I put the rears that were 245/60/14’s on the driver side and the fronts which were 215/70/14’s on the passenger side. This gave me a real good idea of what the car would look like. I thought for sure I’d like the fatter tires all around, but to my surprise, I liked the 70’s better than the 60’s. Not wanting to dive all in, I purchased two new 215/70/14’s and I’m running them on the rear. I took the old two that were in the front, cleaned off the paint on the raised white letters and had them flipped around on the rims so now I have all four of the 70 series size all the way around. If I opt to keep this set up (and not go to wire caps and steel wheels) I’ll buy two more new tires for the front. This was a budget option that lets me live the look. I’m pretty pleased with the look and the stance right now. The wheels could use a real good cleaning and polishing, but they’re in excellent condition. Another thing checked off the list!

GM

[Basement Paul]

The white letters help the wheels stand out more. Good look for sure.

-BP

[Blue_69_malibu]

Shocker....but I think the RWL tires look great!

[TireSmoker]

Either looks really good, but I think the blackwall looks cleaner and focuses your attention more on those sweet wheels. I'm over RWL for the most part.

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

Either looks really good, but I think the blackwall looks cleaner and focuses your attention more on those sweet wheels. I'm over RWL for the most part.

-Dave

Everybody is going to be super sad when I go to spinner hubcaps and whitewalls!

GM

[wxo]

GM, it's your vision for your car. Make it how you want it to be.

[GMJohnny]

GM, it's your vision for your car. Make it how you want it to be.

WXO,

Turns out, collecting all the parts to do spinner caps and whitewalls is
way more costly than I thought. Steel wheels are not as easy to find on
the cheap as they used to be. Unfortunately, I had a super nice set on
my last 442 that I sold because I’d “never need them again.” I can find
spinner caps, but they’re pricey too. This option I chose gets me on the
road quickest and is pretty easy to sell should I want to do it in the future.
Who really knows, this car might end up with two different set of tire
and wheels….. but you’re right, I’ll make it how I want it.

GM

[Blue_69_malibu]

You're welcome to "try on" any tire and wheel combos that I have.

Most are 225/60/15 in the front and 255/60/15 in the back, IIRC....and all are RWL except my "racing wheels".

IMHO, the Torque Thrust Ds I have in black with RWL tires look great on any 64-72 A-Body.

I also have a set of Firestone RWL (courtesy of an Andy discount) that I pulled off the car only b/c they were on there for ten years. Lots of meat left on the tires. I kept them as "burn out tires". I couldn't toss them with so much tread left.

Up next on Hoarders......

[GMJohnny]

^^ Admin….. We need a “like” button!
Tony— I’ll let you know if I’m needing to borrow your tires!!

GM

[TireSmoker]

^^ Admin….. We need a “like” button!
Tony— I’ll let you know if I’m needing to borrow your tires!!

GM

With all the other upgrades completed, this is something I could look into.

-Dave