This is my 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon 442. I purchased it in 2017 after wanting one of these cars for over 20 years, once I got serious about buying one it took me several months to find one in my price range which wasn’t completely trashed. I picked up this one that looked good on the surface 800 miles away down in Texas. At the time I was searching in 2017 there were few cars available doing basically a nationwide search I’d find either immaculate cars that were museum pieces with low miles for well north of $20,000 or completely roached out cars for $3,500 - $5,000. Once I found the car and took possession I started digging in and found it was an absolute disaster mechanically but was a straight and rust free (not exactly easy to find a Gbody project that’s rust free and straight). After getting it running, I immediately got to work on upgrading the brakes, suspension, steering and added an Eaton Posi to the rear end. The engine was junk (despite the seller claiming it ran great) so I built an Oldsmobile 403 (pulled from a Trans Am) with 455 “C” Heads, 330 Forged Crank, 10:1 forged pistons, J&S machine stud girdle, a Lunati Voodoo 272/280 Hydraulic Roller cam, Edelbrock RPM intake and put a beefed up 2004R behind it. Of course fueling is 100% Holley with the Sniper EFI! The engine build is pretty unconventional but similar builds have been done before, although this is probably the first one with EFI and Hyperspark Ignition. There were only 3500 of these cars made in 1985 and many of those were driven into the ground and either wound up in the crusher or were turned into dirt track cars. These cars really never got the respect of the original 442s of the 1960s and early 1970s so not many people kept them up. Even today at car shows the guys over 50 will say “they’re not real 442s”. Thanks to the Buick Grand National getting all the attention the 442s were in the shadows making them a much more affordable alternative. While these cars and their predecessors the 83 & 84 Hurst Olds didn’t have the turbo power like their turbo Buick cousins they did receive most of the other performance upgrades installed on those cars; like the 8.5” rear end, upgraded 2004R trans for quicker and higher RPM shifting, bigger sway bars, quicker steering ratio and chassis reinforcement. With the Small Block Oldsmobile V8 being in production from 1964 to 1990 with no external changes it makes swapping in an engine with more respectable power very easy, even a Big Block 455 fits, you just need to find the right headers.
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