Everyone was getting into the Muscle Car game, even brands that you wouldn’t usually associate with high performance. Oldsmobile first released the 442 in ‘65 as an option on their Cutlas model. The real “performance” image didn’t kick in until ‘68 when the 442 started looking “tough.” By ‘70 the W2 455 Olds 442 was a rip-snort’n pavement burner.

The odd thing about the 442 was that even though the car was a solid performer (and why wouldn’t it be, it was the same size as a Chevelle and a GTO) the car just didn’t have the street brawer-like image that the SS-454 Chevelle and the GTO had. The 442 price was higher than the Pontiac and the Chevy and it still had the “only our father drives an Oldsmobile” stigma.

A well tuned big-block 442 with headers, the right gears, and fat tires could eat almost anything on the street.