Seeing the success that Pontiac was having with its new mid-size performance car, the GTO, Oldsmobile got into the game as well in 1964. But unlike the GTO, the 442 was a slow seller in its first year – just 3,000 copies. That changed in 1965 when the marketing budget was increased and production jumped to 25,000, including the seller’s Cutlass Club Coupe with the 442 option. This car was parked for 10 years, but it said to run, though a lot of cosmetic work will be needed. Located in Wichita, Kansas, this “not your father’s Oldsmobile” is available here on eBay. The current bid is $5,600 and the reserve still looms.
In its early years, the 4-4-2 was an option package on the F-85 or Cutlass intermediates. Besides improved marketing in 1965, Oldsmobile gave the 4-4-2 a 400 cubic inch V8 that produced 345 hp which was a huge improvement over the 330 V8 at 310 hp from the year before. It also offered more torque at 440 lbs./ft., 85 over that in 1964. On the more upscale Cutlass, the 4-4-2 package only cost $156 extra. The 4-4-2 was available with an automatic for the first time, offering the 2-speed Jetaway automatic.
The Cutlass Club Coupe was a pillared 2-door sedan, and 5,713 copies were built as a 4-4-2 in 1965, like the seller’s car. As the story goes, the motor and transmission in this auto were redone before it was parked for more than a decade (reason unknown). In the process, the 2-speed automatic was upgraded to a 3-speed. The Olds was well-equipped, with power steering and brakes and factory air conditioning, although it’s not currently hooked up.
No check of the block has been made to see if this is a numbers-matching car. We’re told it runs and drives, but the fuel tank is going to need to be cleaned out. But the biggest issue with the automobile pertains to rust. There is a hole in the passenger floor, rust in the trunk, and in both rear quarter panels. And a leak developed in the roof that otherwise ruined the back half of the interior (check out the mold). No mention is made if that problem has been fixed, so the source of that issue still needs to be tracked down.
This could be a nice 4-4-2 once restored. But the amount of rust we see on the vehicle makes me worry about how much more will be found once things begin to get dismantled. The safe bet is to allocate extra funds to the body shop for this project to account for that.
I’m surprised that a “High Performance” car would come with
a two speed automatic.
Don’t be. GM made some of the sturdiest two-speed automatics on the planet.
GM’s two-speed PowerGlide is still used by heavy hitters in drag racing today.
This one, along with Buick and Pontiac, had the Super Turbine 300 2 speed. A friend of mine had a 67 GTO with a 400 and that transmission.
Anybody trying to back up high hp with factory 60’s early 70’s slip and slide cases must be a fan of grenades.
Oldsmobile called theirs a Jetaway. These things were a blast to drive when they downshifted to low gear at 60 MPH!
I had one just like this in Silver with the 2speed PG. I was a power house of torque. Could break your neck when it shifted. Wish I had it today.
Still not a powerglide trans…
They made more GTO’s with 2 speeds in 65,66 tjan 4so’s
There’s never been a two-speed transmission automatic that was high performance out of the factory that I know of
The ST300 used in the 442 came with a different modulator and governor for higher shift RPMs than the pedestrian versions. Also, the Olds (and Buick) ST300 used the switch pitch torque converter that provided a high stall speed off the line and for passing gear and a regular stall speed for normal driving.
Apparently 2 speeds did have drag racing applications. Amazing that Oldsmobile had their own transmission design. This car needs a ground up frame off restoration. Finding the original engine and transmission from this car is likely impossible. A restomod with an aftermarket chassis is probably the only viable, though very expensive way to go here.
With the mold and rust…this could be a flood car.
My neighbor friend has one of these. Not a post coupe. Has its original 400 4speed. Console with the clock. Only needs new paint and rechromed bumpers but he enjoys it as is.
Moldsmobile
My very first car in 1971 was a dark green ‘64 F85 Cutlass (not a 442) with basically the same body style. It had probably 65,000 likes on it and only cost me $350 and compared to this one was mint with the 330 V-8 and 2 speed auto. It had bucket seats and console with shifter. I customized it with a rattle can contrasting gold stripe down the side on the inverted curve. Biggest problem was it was hard to start in cold weather and I went through a couple starters. GM distributor on the back of the engine was hard to get to play with the points but it was the first of many cars in my life to work on.
My first car 66 olds f85 330 rocket engine 2 speed powerglide. I paid 18.00 for it was my father’s till it threw a rod.the 18.00 was the tow fee. really liked it alot. They were well built..
I’m guessing this didnt spend its life in Kansas ; I thought cars were less prone to rust. This one is quite the Bondo bucket , and its had a poor paint job as the door switches and strikers are painted over. I thinking the mold was from a leaky rear window gasket, something very common on GM cars at the time. Its not as popular as say, a 65 GTO , but its certainly repairable and I hope someone will restore this.
The engine in this car is not original, as shown by the oil fill tube and accessory brackets. It appears to be a small bloc Olds 350, not a big block 400 as the ad claims. The engine probably came from the same donor as the TH350 automatic. And FYI, the original ST300 two speed AT shares exactly nothing with the Chebby Powerglide. It was the only automatic that Olds offered in the A-body cars in model years 1964-66, and was used behind the small block through the 1969 model year, until the TH350 was introduced to replace it.
That’s just sad.
I bought a 63 Biscayne back in 76 that had a 283 and the 2sp powerglide. It was sitting in a field by a canning company. The maroon paint had faded to pink and it had one small dent in passenger back door, other than that a no rust clean car. Only thing was the seller wanted to keep engine and tranny to put in his Corvette drag car. I paid $50 for the car and dropped a completely rebuilt 66 327 and a turbo 350 trans(after shortening driveshaft). I then hand rubbed that paint back to a nice shine. I miss that car! Fortunately my dad managed a NAPA store at the time and parts were very affordable for me back then. I miss those days working next to my dad in the barn on different cars, favorite being a 69 Chevelle SS 396, got it running and sold it for $1800 in 1978.
I had a 65 442, 4 speed car. I bought it in ’72, right before gas went up to $1 for premium, which this car required. For being only 5 years old it had already been painted a non factory color. The rust on the rear quarters shown on this car was present on mine but not to this extent. The interior was perfect though, white seats and door panels with black carpet. The car was fast for it’s time.
Brian, I only saw this car pictured here a few times, but I seem to recall each time those back wheels were furiously spinning, burning up Davis Street.
Those 70 series bias ply tires would spin pretty easily.
I drove a friend’s pre 442 64 Cutlass with the “Ultra High Compression” 330 (believe it was 13 to 1 or 14 to 1 in the days of 105 or higher octane leaded pump gas and a two speed. It was fast. My Cousin had a 66 350 horse SS 396 Chevelle with a powerglide. But another friend had a 326 Lemans with an aluminum powerglide that leaked/broke on a regular basis.
The CR in that 330 was 10.25:1. Olds never built a production car engine with more than 10.5:1 CR, ever.
I was young at the time and was told that the ultra high compression was that high and didn’t do any research before posting. Still was a fast car at the beginning of the muscle car ear.
My wife’s aunt gave us her ’65 Cutlass with the 425 when we got married … AT, PS , PB … fast car, would leave a long burn-out strip … sold it for $25 in ’72 because I couldn’t pay the fine for parking it on the street on snow days in Chicago … we bought a ’72 Cutlass for the garage but had no room for the ’65 … still some great memories for that car … funny thing, sold it to a local skinny mechanic who had a wife called “Tiny” (she outweighed him by the weight of the engine) whom he boasted could change a tranny and still could supper … ah – those were the days …
The only V8 installed in a 1965 Cutlass by Oldsmobile was the 330. Your aunt must have been a motorhead to swap in that 425.
All I know, Joe, is what she told me and the guy who owned the garage/junkyard around the corner told me it had the 425 when he bought it … I was nineteen yrs old and needed a car for work (my ’59 Chevy was stolen) … after working for a few months I made a down payment on a ’72 Cutlass S … I only had it a few months and never even opened the hood … I just knew it got bad gas mileage and would leave a single burnout stripe for half a city block and got me thrown in jail for out of state (LA) plates …
The comments to this post are priceless. What stories from the hay-day of muscle.