I believe you're right on that Diego. The Ford top loader was the only trans that would pas that torture test that John Sawruk described a coupla years back at the PSMCDR banquet. I believe 64 442's came with Saginaw 4 speeds. No big blocks in 64 in the A body cars.
That's corect Dave about the 66 4 spd Starfire..............actually his dad owned the car, but sold it a few years ago, it now resides in northern New Jersey somewhere with a fellow Olds enthusiast The MidEngine 442 now is in Nevada, undergoing a restoration, its going to look how it oringally looked in the beginning with the fender flares instead of the IMSA style body panels and the tru-spoke wheels Actually what I had meant was I thought someone was asking in general if there were any 65 442s made with the automatic shift on the column
When Bill Porterfield built that car, another friend that worked at Olds, Russ Hall, built a similar one, but used a Chevette with a 350 Olds mid ship. This was also a very highly engineered car. My mistake on the column shift thing. I still recall something about (9) 65 442's with three on the tree. There were lots of 3 speed floor shift 65's. The M21 was as expensive as the automatic back then and the 3 speed was standard.
I remember seeing that car in Hot Rod magazine way back in the day when I was a kid...............whatever happened to that car? Is it still around today?
Last time I saw it, Russ had the car at Bill Porterfield's "Cool Car Show" at the REO museum about 5 or 6 years ago. I would guess he still has it. I sat next to Russ in the drafting room for a few months while I was in school. Nice guy. Serious car. Guess who our Supervisor was then? Bob Stempel.
Here is a link to a 65 3 on the tree that is in Roger Greens possession. He is the OCAs 65 guru. http://rgrestorations.pennierich.com/finds.htm I have a 65 in mid restoration. Id love to have a 65 F85 post. The F85s didnt have the chrome on the side. Like this one