I bought this '76 442 in 1993 for $1,500 1 month before I turned 16 and have had it ever since, although it was on the back burner through college, starting a career, wedding, babies, you know the story. Piece by piece I am finishing the restoration process.
I have the build sheet showing it was ordered form the factory with a 455 matched to a Turbo 400, FE2 suspension (this car has always handled great) and of course the 442 package, build sheet code "W-29". I still have the original #s matching block in storage, although keeping everything "exactly" stock has never been a priority; this Olds has been known to haul ass.
I had the body restored in 2008, with a complete stripping, all dents and rust repaired, and a new coat of green and silver in all the right places with 4 clear coats over all of it. As a lifelong Georgia car (built in the Doraville, GA plant), the body has no terminal rust issues.
The black interior is all there, highlights being the 120 MPH speedo, console shifter and swivel buckets (really cool). A new dash pad, head liner and back seat reupholster would be nice if I was going to car shows; but they don't slow me down at the dragstrip.
The engine in it now is a .40 over Olds 455 (462 CID?), 9.5:1 Speed Pro pistons, self-ported J heads w/ Edelbrock springs, Edelbrock Performer intake, Holley 750, 8 qt Milodon Pan, Mondello 22-25-10 cam, etc, and it's all painted GM corporate blue. 2.25" Primary headers send the exhaust out through Flowmasters with turndowns just before the rear end. The motor spins the gears via a 10" GER converter in front of a TH-400 with a Hurst kit. Power hits the pavement via the factory 10 bolt stuffed with an Auburn posi unit spinning Richmond 3.73 gears and Yukon axles mated to Cragar SS mags. On worn-out slicks with open headers it has run a best 1/4 ET of 13.26 @ 113 MPH. With a decent set of slicks and aybe some traction bars, this should be a 12 second Olds. As with any built 455, traction is a problem, but a great problem to have.
