1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 Convertible Documented Dover Downs Pace Car on 2040-cars

South Carolina native C. McClure bought this 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 convertible around November, 1970 from Kent County Motors in Dover, DE. Not only did he buy a car that was 1 of 264 built, but he bought a car in a rare color combination (blue stripes) with pedigree, as it was previously leased to Dover Downs Raceway for pace car duties. Mr. McClure was not a car guy per se, but he was a young man with a wad of cash in search of a sporty, young man's car. With the assistance of his car pal, they went on a search for a sporty car in the fall of 1970. Kent County Motors had the Dover Downs demo for a good price, so Mr. McClure traded in his 1966 Dodge Polara and bought the Olds over a Corvette because it could hold his golf clubs! Original list price was over $5400 but Mr. McClure bought it for a lot less. Not long after, he married the Missus and they started a family; his kids learned to drive in the Olds but, around 1985, after being sandwiched in an accident, the McClures sold the 4-4-2 to owner #2, Mr. A. Taylor of Christiana, Delaware. He was around 19 years old at the time.

Around 1986, I was in my freshman year at Brandywine High School. I saw this car across the street from Christiana High School, where I was playing in a soccer match. I never imagined that a year later I would end up with this car, but I was a Pontiac guy. Later that year, I had looked at a 1969 GTO with a Ram Air IV 400 in Newark (DE) but my dad said $4000 was too much money for a car whose engine was modified (not a good thing, according to Dad). But sometime in March, 1987, an ad popped up in the Wilmington News-Journal that said, “1970 Oldsmobile 442 convertible, rare, loaded with options, $3000.” Being a precocious kid, I called him and let out a barrage of questions. Although he didn"t specify in the ad what engine it had, I knew enough to affirm, “And this car has the W-30 engine?” to which he replied in the affirmative, also claiming it was a pace car. My mind was working…..”W-30 + pace car = jackpot!” I then tugged on my dad"s sleeve to drive me to Christiana to look at this 4-4-2 W-30 convertible.

I had known about Oldsmobiles because a family friend of ours (in Green Acres, for you Delawareans) was the original owner of a 1971 Cutlass Supreme. The oldest son bought a 1968 4-4-2 when he became of driving age, and he found some Forced Air scoops from a Hurst/Olds in a junkyard. There were several other performance Oldsmobiles in the northern Wilmington area, so my exposure had primed me to know what a W-30 was. Plus, several months earlier, in an issue of Muscle Car Review magazine, Paul Zazarine did a “Muscle Car Profile” on Bill Streeter"s burgundy 4-4-2 W-30 Holiday coupe, which also listed the production numbers of the convertible: 2,933 with 264 having the W-30 package.

When I finally laid eyes on the 4-4-2 W-30 convertible (and realized it was the one I saw a year before), I thought it was the neatest car in the world. However, the reality was it was in fair condition, with plenty of rust around the wheel wells and behind the front and rear wheels. The hood still showed damage from the accident, and the grille was missing. Inside, the interior was old and musty, with the dash being prepared to be butchered for an aftermarket radio (the original which was in the trunk, thank God!). But the numbers checked out to be a real 1970 4-4-2 W-30 convertible in Porcelain White with blue top and interior. Dad got Mr. Taylor down to $1800 and it was ours. I was 15 years old and had yet to obtain my license.

But now what? I checked the numbers and it had the numbers-matching OW transmission and numbers-matching block. The heads were not F, and headers were installed. The distributor and carburetor were from 1973. While I was a precocious kid who had a lot to learn about working on cars, I also became intimidated by the amount of work that was needed.How do I remove a fender? How do I get it running right? I brought it to Auto Shop class at Brandywine High School and learned a little, but it became clear that this car was not going to be my daily transportation….yet I had dreams of cruising to Rehoboth Beach in it, so I was determined to enjoy this car.

In the meantime, I had done a title search (remember when you could do that?) and discovered that the McClure family now lived in Newark. I chatted with the Mister but he didn"t remember too much about the car because he wasn"t a car guy. In fact, he didn"t even remember if it had stripes, which is quite unusual and makes me wonder whether he simply didn"t remember or when Kent County Motors sold the car to him they removed the pace car lettering AND the stripes.

I also contact pace car expert Mike Furman, formerly of NJ, who told me how to find out if it was an Indy Pace Car replica. When I discovered there was no Y74 code on the data plate, I was miffed. I called Mr. Taylor back and said, “What"s this about the pace car? It doesn"t have the pace car coding!” to which he replied it was a pace car at Dover Downs. Fast forward a little bit, I had a photo of this 4-4-2 W-30 convertible all lettered up and pacing the races at Dover Downs. I also discovered that Bowers Signs lettered the car up, but a phone call to them was all for naught because while they did letter up the car in 1970, they had no old photos.

Meanwhile, I called Kent County Motors to see if they had any records on this 4-4-2 W-30 convertible. They said they had nothing. Then I wrote a letter, which resulted in a letter back stating the same thing. (I still have that letter, plus there"s a follow-up to this story that you can in a few paragraphs below.)

And then my family moved to Princeton, NJ. I sulked at being in a new school in a new state and having to make new friends. I turned inward. I stopped playing guitar – I was sad, and I ignored the Olds. I missed an opportunity to actually learn all the things I was supposed to learn about these cars. But I also managed to save my money. While entering college, I commissioned M&M Restoration in Fairfax, VA to bring my car up to snuff (including finding the correct F heads and exhaust manifolds). Yeah, Dad helped a bit (thanks, Dad!), but overall it was a typical story of owner vs. resto shop with some issues arising and even lawyers being consulted but overall it wasn"t a disaster. Two years later, I had my car.

And drive it I did. First weekend, I drove it to the NMCA Nationals at Maple Grove and won a trophy. Then I drove it to a show at Dover Downs . . . but not before stopping by Kent County Motors to show them this very special 4-4-2 W-30 convertible. When I pulled up, several salesmen came out and oohed and ahhed, and I found one salesman sympathetic to my story. This salesman, Jim Mayberrie (RIP) told me he"d see what paperwork he could scrounge up from storage. Sure enough, six months later, I received three pages in the mail that confirmed (by VIN, no less!) that my 4-4-2 W-30 convertible was the Dover Downs Pace Car in 1970 and was the car in the photo that Dover Downs sent to me a few years earlier. (I have one page posted.)

Since that time, I"ve had even more fun, attending the Olds Nats in "93 and then, after graduating college, driving it to Colorado where I lived a year – yes, I drove it from NJ through PA, OH, IL, IN, MO, KS, and finally to Boulder. When I moved a year later, I took a different route, going to WY, NE, IA (with a visit to the Surf Ballroom), MN, WI, Chicago, and a stop in Lansing where my car was built. It was during that time I also participated in the Pure Stock Musclecar Drag Race in Stanton, Michigan. Afterwards, I continued on to OH, PA, and DC to visit my sister before I arrived back to my parents" in NJ.

Work took me elsewhere, so the Olds sat at my parents" home for awhile until I brought it to the Detroit area where I lived for a few years. Life took me elsewhere once again so I stored the car for a year or two and then drove it from MI through Ontario, Canada and into NY, CT, NJ, DE, MD, and finally DC, where I stored it at my sister"s. Less than a year later I had it shipped to my parents" new digs in Phoenix. I spent a few years in NYC and then found myself with a new job in CT, so I was once again reunited with my 4-4-2 W-30 convertible.

But, after a few years, I found myself being beckoned to NYC. I left my 4-4-2 W-30 convertible in storage and returned to the Big Apple.

And here we are today.

If you know anything about cars, you know that an old car sitting around is a car that slowly loses its integrity. That"s what happened over the years. Don"t get me wrong – I love my car – but this 4-4-2 W-30 convertible deserves to go to a better home than I"m able to give it. I"ve had my fun with it to the Nth power, so it"s time for a new caretaker who will respect this Olds in ways that I currently cannot.

You will see from the photos the numerous road scars that have accumulated over the years, such as the left rear fender dent, right side scratches, stress fractures on the hood (it"s the original one that was in the accident, then fixed), etc. - they all have some story to them. One fender well is cracked due to a tire blowout. Motor is tired and may need a rebuild . . . or maybe not, but it needs to be gone over. The shifter is out of adjustment so sometimes I need to change gears with help from the steering column. Top stopped working a number of years ago but I suspect it"s low fluid or a wiring issue rather than anything being broken. Interior was redone 20 years ago but the door panels have fallen apart. The front fenders are 1971-72 items (yes, I learned about those dimples about 10 years ago). ADDENDUM: And the spots you see under the hood are from water from the radiator when it overheated when the clutch fan malfunctioned not too long ago; that's since been fixed but I didn't have time to clean it up.

Here"s the skinny on my 1970 4-4-2 W-30 convertible:

THE GOOD
• Correct white/blue/blue/blue scheme with original factory-installed/matching engine and OW transmission
• Original OAI ram air breather
• Owner since 1987
• Correct F-heads, OLDSMOBILE 455 aluminum intake, and "W & Z" manifolds are on the motor
• Air cleaner original as far as I know

THE BAD
• I took apart the ventilation ducting and haven"t put it back together yet, which you can see in a photo or two
• Power steering reservoir is leaking
• Distributor is not correct for a W-30. Neither is the carb, apparently being one of those restamps that was floating around.
• Due to an accident with the first owner, the hood was cracked. I had it patched up and it was fine but stress fractures have begun to appear.
• Dent on left rear fender
• A few paint chips – ask me and I"ll tell you the story of each!
• Large scratch on mid-right side of car
• New gaskets possibly needed for exhausts, intake, and/or heads
• Top stopped working but I think it's a connection issue – just haven"t had time to go through the manual and figure out the wires. Top also has a minor tear or two and should be replaced.

Here"s the list of options that came with the car when I bought it (one of the Kent County Motors' price on the documents shows it to be about $5400 with the first owner spending $3900 after it was leased by Dover Downs):

- Air conditioning
- Posi with 3.23 gears (due to the AC, of course)
- Map light
- Power windows and trunk
- Power steering, and disc brakes
- Tinted glass
- Remote mirror
- Rally gauges with Speed Minder speedo buzzer
- AM/FM Stereo
- Inside hood lock (broken/missing when I got the car)
- Console with standard shifter (nope, Dual-Gate was NOT standard with the console!)
- Power top
- Super Stock II wheels
- Bucket seats
- “Sport” steering wheel
- Convenience lamps and mirrors

Otherwise, I"ve had noted Oldsmobile expert Steve Minore of CT help me with a few things under the hood. He"s known about this car since seeing it at the Nats in "93 and now, 20 years later, he"s seen the car again and can vouch for the things I"ve said above and below. What it comes down to is that you have a chance to buy a 1 of 264 (168 with automatic) 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 convertible with the W-30 package that has a pedigree like no other car out there – it is documented to have paced the races at Dover Downs in 1970. I do not have the buildsheet but you can see from the original Dover Downs photo it"s a real W-30 – let"s call that “deductive documentation” since the paperwork I do have shows my car to be the one in the photo per the VIN with the factory-installed, #match engine and tranny! Not only does the Dover pedigree give it a distinction (I hate the word provenance) different from all the other W-30 convertibles, but it"s trimmed in a very rare and nice color combination of white and blue with blue stripes. Ever see blue stripes? I know of two other W-30 convertibles that are white with blue stripes, and most of the blue-striped cars I"ve seen have been Azure Blue. This car is gorgeous, and aside of natural beauties like the 1963 Corvette and 1968 Charger, I"d be hard-pressed to find another muscle car that"s as gorgeous as the 1970 Olds 4-4-2 convertible. With the W-30 package? Icing on the cake! Pace car pedigree? This is a neat car that pretty much has it all!

I know what restored W-30 convertibles go for. In fact, the May-Aug 2013 NADA old car guide pegs a "low"-condition W-30 automatic convertible without options at $121,000, which is quite crazy. You can spruce up my car with a little effort and enjoy it for the summer, then give it a proper restoration over the wintertime....or go all-out now and make it the truly special specimen that it really is. This 4-4-2 W-30 convertible can stand on its own merits, but it's time to let go of my baby because nothing would make me happier to see it go to a home that bring her to the glory she truly deserves. 

OTHER NOTES:

- More photos available upon request

- Mileage is about 150-160k or so - can't remember offhand

- Anything else? JUST ASK!

Please note that the winning bid beyond the reasonable reserve means the sale is binding and final. This 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 convertible is sold as-is with no warranty expressed or implied. I have described this vehicle to the best of my ability with the intention of full disclosure, but the potential buyer must bare the responsibility of asking any questions that haven't already been answered. I will not release my reserve price. If you have less than 10 feedback on eBay, please contact me to request permission to bid. Please read the terms & conditions of the sale carefully before bidding. You may inspect this vehicle before the end of the auction, but winning this auction does not mean you can come and inspect and decide you do not want to buy it. A $1000.00 deposit via PayPal is due within 24 hours of the auction close FIRM. Final payment and pickup will be within 10 days unless agreed upon by both parties. Title currently is from the state of Michigan.