They don’t come much cleaner than this–believe it or not, this car has 106,000 careful one-family owner miles! I applaud the seller for not trying to say it’s 6,000. It’s up for sale here on craigslist for $13,700. The car is currently located in East Valley, Arizona. Thanks to Barn Finds reader and commenter Rocco B. for this cool find!
I’m almost thinking this has to have been repainted, considering how nice it looks, but if this is the original paint, wow, has this car ever been taken care of! We’re not told if it is or isn’t original, although apparently it’s been an Arizona car all it’s life having been sold new in Mesa. The build sheet is included with the car.
In the pictures, the paint looks awfully good up close as well. Look at the definition in the reflections in this picture and the others. Plus, I flat out like the color and the shape of these. I remember this car being the basis for many NASCAR racers in it’s day, and I remember putting a stereo in my best friend’s Dad’s 442 like this while I was in high school. The white seats were spectacular!
We do see some dirt and fading here on the red components; I’m hoping some elbow grease and maybe re-dying can take care of it. I think I’d also replace the blue mats, although hopefully they have done their job protecting the upholstery.
Under the hood we have a “true” Oldsmobile V8, a 403 cubic inch, 180 horsepower version in this case. Note that we know the picture was taken with the engine running by looking at the alternator fan–and everything under here looks nicely taken care of while not being pristine. That works for me. And with only 11,649 1977 442s manufactured, the odds of finding another one this clean and apparently rust-free are probably pretty slim. I could find room for this survivor or restovivor in my garage–what about you?
Nice looking car .You could get one with a 260 V8 and 5 speed in 76 and 77 would steel be slow but neat
I wonder how much to the penny he/ she paid to drive this off the dealer lot in nineteen hundreds? What a special day that must have been. Cool 😎 wheels.
6350.00 I know this as I purchased one new just like it when I was 18 mine was copper colored with beige stripe and interior
I had one, it cost $6,465.64. I never forgot that number
I bought a brand new 1977 Olds Cutlass 442 with a 403 engine when I graduated from high school in 1977. It had automatic trans., power steering and power brakes, no other options. Price tag was $7400.00 plus tax, CAD.
I always wanted to build the Hurst Olds prototype car they had this year.
+1
i really miss the thumbs up button! that is sweeeeeet!
+2
There were only 2 or 3 made, and I had one of them with the 350. Still looking for it out here in the ether…. If anyone has a 1977 442 or Cutlass S for sale (lets call it as it is, the 442 package was a stripe and the suspension package, that’s it), I’m interested. I always wanted to hand down the car to my son when he became of age (which OMG is next year)
I am actually getting ready to buy the car you are looking for. Yellow, racing stripes, 1977 olds 442. 36k miles. 350 engine. Not sure of condition yet but I will post that when I find out. If you are still interested in buying it, let me know.
contact Unique Classic Cars in Mankato, MN. they have a white one now.
I like the white seats. I had a 1975 Lemans GT sports coupe in around 1985 and it had white seats like that. Nice and cool on a hot day.
These cars didn’t get much respect when they were new. Anyone old enough to remember the pre-70 cars just laughed at them. The younger people were more interested in Ponycars. From 73 to 82, we suffered through the absolute worst time in automotive history.
nice color combo, love the white seats and different colored carpet (blue carpet mats have to go), great to have the color combo sport wheels, the stripe package, the fastback style with *no* silly trim around the rear quarter windows (how did they do that?). the 403 v8 is nice but gutless and the 3spd auto is…..well…..outdated by todays standards.
i know it was customer ordered, built in arlington, tx and shipped, sold, and lived in mesa, az since new so it should be as rust free as you are ever going to get for a ’77.
so having said all that i dont know if it is worth 13.5k. a quick check of what nada thinks the value for this car is here:
http://www.nadaguides.com/Classic-Cars/1977/Oldsmobile/Cutlass-Supreme/Brougham-2-Door-Hardtop-Colonnade/Values
and they place the value somewhere between 15-23k. wow.
personally, i would be sorely tempted to drop something bigger in from the oldsmobile offerings and beef up the suspension – and change that rear axle ratio from 2.41 to something a wee bit more fun.
originality be damned the next owner can convert it back if they like.
the 403 made this “less” gutless than when equipped with the 350 or god forbid the 260 V8. my buddy had a 77 Cutlass Supreme which he de-smoged and added dual exhaust it was a good running tank! this one is nice but I think for this year I would rather have a Supreme…
same buddy also had a 73-442 that was equipped with the 350 and a Muncie M-20 it was a cool car to have a four speed in!
You could have also gotten a ’77 442 with the Buick 231 V6 and 3-on-the-floor, not exactly a common find either. Most had the 350 V8 and Turbo-Hydramatic – the only transmission offered with that engine and the 403, and optional with the other 2 engines.
The 403 can be made to have a lot of power . Hotrod network
I would Love to own this one, but what would I do with the one I already have. I bought this 442 in 1998 from an estate sale in Cape Girardeau, for 3500.00, all I really did was got it running again and cleaned it up.
Hey Mike… I’m just South of you in Kennett…
Hey Mike, you could sell yours to me. I would double your money then you could put that much more with it and get this one! Good idea man! LOL Just kidding, or am I… da da da dummmmm
Comment on the location – “east valley” isn’t an actual place in AZ – it’s a description of an area of the ‘Valley of the Sun’ that holds Phoenix and surrounding cities. Mesa is generally considered to be in the “east valley”.
Great car….the 442 and recent Pontiac Colonnade would make nice garage mates.
Looks like a match. Whoever owns this car, I found this on CL Minneapolis.
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/cto/6044456377.html
My best friend Tom had an early ’70s 442 when we were in college at Texas Tech. That was a fast running car! We both worked on the news staff at the campus radio station; and Tom also worked with me on our standby ambulance service. One day a friend of ours from the radio station was riding with Tom. Like me, he went nowhere w/o a scanner. And while he and our friend were driving down the street, Lubbock EMS dispatched on a serious MVA that they were close to. So Tom says to the guy, “Let’s run hot (Code 3) to the scene. He flipped a switch on his dash that I think when to the AC or heater, but it had a little red LED that came on. The other guy almost dumped on himself, and Tom laughed all the way! Good ol’ college days, and I still miss that Olds!
When it comes to a 442 you are either a 1st gen, or a 2nd gen guy…NOBODY is a 3rd or 4th gen guy……nobody………………Clean looking car, but when swivel seats are on the option list you just know the cars wasn’t about performance
I just picked up a red on white ‘77 that has a rebuilt olds 455. You could order a factory 455 in ‘76 but they were almost impossible to get and most arrived with the 350 as a poor Compromise. This car is a one owner car from Calgary and is awsome( no salt it’s too cold to be effective so it’s life has been all sand. )
I resent your comment about the 76-77 442 and would like to remind you that in 1976-77 olds got back into NASCAR and King Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough were the drivers.
So while I do understand the common belief about these malaise era cars as I’ve owned a ‘68 firebird and more recently a ‘68 chevelle true ss 138 vin code followed by a ‘69 chevelle …those cars were very cool but to tell you the truth the colonnade cars are very rare and I catch a lot of looks at the car shows. They will appreciate and gain future respect…they’re part of history too..cheers g
Wow, I never knew they offered the 403 in these, and I don’t know if you could get anything above a 350 in the other A-bodies this year? I hope they beefed up the suspension, because the standard cutlass of this era was super mushy (great on the freeway I suppose). I am skeptical about AZ cars of this era…last year I bought a low mileage Laguna S-3 from AZ, all the suspension bushings were squeeky and needed to be replaced, and much of the plastic interior was fried from the heat and brittle. Paint takes a hit from the heat too…looking at the wavy white paint line around the wheel well, I bet it’s been repainted.
Tom,
I remember seeing a lot of wavey trim lines around wheel wells of this era. The factory just didn’t care. A butt for every seat didn’t matter what it looked like.
I was always under the impression that 442 meant 4 barrel, 4 speed with dual exhaust, am I wrong, Oldsmobile tagged these as 442’s but they really weren’t, they were a really awesome Olds Cutless but that was it, they were not a 442 by any means…2 barrel carb, 3 speed automatic with dual exhaust doe’s not make a 442
When it had the automatic, it was 4 barrel, turbo 400 and dual exhaust.
That is what I always thought growing up.
I didn’t know you could get the 403 in ’77 in an Olds intermediate. I thought it was only a full size and Trans Am engine. All you need is to add a 4 barrel and 3.73 gears to wake it up.
You’re halfway there…build sheet says it comes with a 4 barrel….
Wish I had the money,I would love to have this car,I had a 76 supreme,blue with white vinyl top,white interior with keystone klassics,my first car.This one would be ideal,it a 77 model just like me
I hope I’m not insulting anyone here but what would be the point of having 442 so called muscle car or anything for that matter that was considered sporty I guess but it only had 180 hp, didn’t know they even existed, I’m from an earlier era obviously
Hi Gary, that’s a good question. The “muscle car era” was winding down, dramatically, and it was no coincidence, that sporty, fast cars moved cars off the lot. Trouble was, insurance, price of gas, and sporty imports blew that flame out, so carmakers, resorted to slapping fancy monikers of the past on compliant (boring) cars, to try and keep things going. This was the last year for this type, and ’78, was a much different car, even though, you could still get a 442 into the 80’s, although, a shred of what it once was, they were still cool cars.
Good looking. A lot of the interior looks pretty dry. Needs the four spoke olds steering wheel.
The sporty packages of this era were a great alternative to the usual Broughams and Landaus.
That steering wheel threw me too, especially since the build sheet lists the optional steering wheel…???
A really nice car, although I’m puzzled by the fact that it’s a 442, but is completely bereft of any gauges at all : no tach, water temperature, oil pressure, volts ?
All those were order extras. I have 68 442 with no gauges bench seat post car.
Speaking of white seats, I had a ’99 Z28 with them that I bought off the showroom floor. This was not a factory color choice, and when I asked the sales guy about it, he said that there were several that were special ordered and then cancelled. I never could find out if that was true.
It was red with every single option, 6 speeds, T-Tops. Very sharp looking.
I saw the car advertised several years later for sale, and the interior had been changed to black. Sad.
I want that 442!
Cool car. I had a 76 black/gold 260 5 speed. I miss that car. Did last long in the wisconsin winters.
We have to remember they measured hp at the rear wheels in this day, in early years they measured hp at the crank shaft. So bet even all pollutioned out this motor puts 200 plus at crank.
Who remembers Olds Engineer Bill Porterfeild’s 1978 Blown and 6-71 injected 403 mid-engine 442???
http://www.hotrodharrys.com/cars/showarticle.php?articleID=4
There is always a lot of questions about what 442 means every time one shows up here or other boards. I’m not much of a wiki fan, but they have a lot of info on said question. Seems the definition changed every couple or three years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_442
I love this car . I am serously interested ..Please send a serous price for sale .
I will repaint , new big tires and rims and baby this baby