I have a 1968 Olds 442. It belonged to my dad who bought it used off a dealer's lot (Goodman Motors) in 1970. It was traded in by the original owner. It was Scarlet with the hood, tops of doors and decklid was white. The paint code says "R-R" (Scarlet/ Scarlet). I was told that this (white over red) is not a factory paint job. Dad repainted the car in around 1972 and insists he only found primer under the white. (He repainted the car a second time around 1976 and stripped it to bare metal; still no red he said). A family friend was a mechanic at the dealer and when he remembered looking at the car "back then" there was no evidence of being in a crash, etcetera. Any one have any ideas about this? Could someone custom order paint back then? Or? And is there an "Olds Historic Society" like Pontiac has/ used to have that could provide more info? Thanks in advance, Ed
Anything is possible. But I would say that Oldsmobile intended the car to be all red by the trim tag. The two tone paint theory would have more creedence if the paint code was blank. But from what I understand, the factory was more accomodating to special requests back then. Who knows, the dealer could of stripped that section of the car and painted it white to accomodate a buyer. You really dont know as it was already two years old when your dad got it. Alot can happen to a car in two years.
Correctomundo on the -- paint code for special colors. It was godawful expensive. That combo wasn't done at the plant. We didn't even do the black accents on the 68 Hursts. Bodies came across town from Fisher fully painted, and the front fenders and hood were painted in the Olds paint plant. There was nowhere to do a custom paint job. Maybe if you had a connection in Engineering, they could make arrangements to have that done. Most likely someone like Hurst, Demmer or any of many non GM companies could have done it. If the cowl tag decoded to Scarlet red, the only way it could be shipped legally was that color. Special colors were done when the plant wasn't running at both Fisher and Olds.
