Classic Recollections: 1970 Oldsmobile 442
Ken DeBreau is unable to tell you why, but he’s always known he couldn’t part with a long-ignored 1970 Oldsmobile 442.
How else would you explain him transferring its custom FO FO TU license plates for more than twenty years to several other modern commuters — including the family minivan — to preserve those special phonetics?
“The Olds should have been driven regularly but it simply became regarded as a piece of furniture in the garage — my family always knew it was there but we grew accustomed to walking around it,” the Gurnee resident said.
Before the car was rolled into solitary confinement, it served as DeBreau’s high-school transport. “Call it youth, testosterone, hormones, whatever, I was psyched to have a 442 as a teenager!”
In an era where the auto manufacturers’ let the numbers do the talking, those simple digits equated to a 455 cubic inch block, four-barrel carburetion and two Howitzer-sized tailpipes poking through the rear chrome bumper. Add it all up and you’ve got one seriously muscled machine for a driver of any age.
“My parents must not have loved me, allowing me at 17 to buy a car without ABS or air bags and all that horsepower,” DeBreau jokes.
Following the teen’s graduation in ’77, the brash bruiser endured the rigors of daily driver duty. A complete restoration commenced in ’79, taking place in his parents’ garage.
“Except for the roof and hood, all the sheet metal was replaced along with all the trim, lights, bezels, grille — you name it and it was switched out,” DeBreau said.
Once completed, he cruised for a few years before making a beeline to the DMV to participate in the newly created Vanity License Plate program. Despite freshly minted custom tags, priorities changed and interest faded.
“Eventually, I never gave it attention,” DeBreau said, attributing the neglect to having a young family, a demanding work schedule, as well as the stringent emissions laws in place. “On the one hand I couldn’t justify spending the cash, time and effort to use the car regularly, but given the amount invested, selling wasn’t an option either.”
Caught up in indecision, DeBreau surrendered to inaction, leaving the Olds buried in his garage until 2007 when a breaking point was reached with the passing of his father.
“After seeing Dad never drive his classic pickup and not wanting a similar fate, my wife encouraged me that it was time, and she was right. No more walking around it. Time to get in and drive it!”
General maintenance was all it took to make this V-8 brawler road worthy again and it has since logged serious mileage as DeBreau keeps the odometer rolling, heading regularly to the Gurnee and Ingleside cruise nights.
After a two-and-a-half decade hiatus, filled with highway confusion and lengthy parking lot explanations, area motorists will no longer scratch their heads when they catch sight of those custom three syllable plates, as DeBreau plans to never again mount them on anything other than his classic FO FO TU.