Looking at it now in all its restored glory, it’s hard to believe that this 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 convertible was a Stock class drag racer and NHRA record holder. Living life a quarter-mile at a time, as the saying goes, has put just 29,850 original miles on the odometer. This is a two-owner car, and the current owner bought it in 1973. It went through a frame-off, concours-level restoration in 2008, was repainted again in 2017, has been certified and authenticated by Oldsmobile expert Stephen Minore, and won awards at the Oldsmobile Nationals and Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. It is also one of just 96 442 W-30 convertibles Oldsmobile built in 1970 with a 4-speed manual transmission. Rarity, authenticity, provenance and condition: this Olds checks all the boxes for a highly desirable collectible. Paul Mayo, an Oldsmobile factory-backed drag racer, ordered this 442 with the intention of racing it. Just months after taking delivery in January 1970, he and the Olds became regulars at East Coast dragstrips, and they raced together until he sold it in 1973. In April 1974, Ron McHugh set an E/Stock national record in the car at the Cecil County Dragway in Maryland. The Oldsmobile’s restoration was done to exacting factory standards. The matching-numbers M21 close-ratio 4-speed was retained, as was the original fiberglass forced-air-induction hood. Under that hood is a rebuilt 455/370 HP Rocket V-8 framed with red inner fenders and equipped with the correct F cylinder heads, distributor, alternator, intake manifold and Quadrajet 4-barrel carburetor. Minore, renowned for this kind of work, recently detailed the engine compartment. At the other end of the driveline is a rebuilt TM-code Positraction rear end with 3.42 gears. The Olds is also equipped with power steering and power brakes. Super Stock II wheels mount Firestone Wide Oval tires. Much of the car’s interior is new, including the blue Legendary upholstery (on resprung and repadded seats) and a black convertible top that stows beneath a blue boot. For a race car, the Olds is well appointed with a sport steering wheel, a center console, Rally Pac gauges, Y60 lamp and mirror group, and an AM/FM stereo radio—all items that Paul Mayo requested when he ordered the car. When it was repainted in its original Porcelain White with Azure Blue stripes by Thornton Reproductions in 2017, they were careful to retain the historic lettering and autographs on the inside of the trunk lid that speak to this car’s drag racing history. Among the notables who have signed the lid are the “real” Dr. Oldsmobile Joe Mondello, famed drag race announcer Jon “Thunder Lungs” Lundberg and Miss Hurst Golden Shifter Linda Vaughn. The historic Oldsmobile is being sold with a large volume of documentation from the window sticker, Protect-O-Plate and dealer warranty book to hundreds of photos and even some trophies from its days as an NRHA/IHRA drag racer.
