Original Owner: This Georgia Man Bought an Olds 4-4-2 with Money He’d Been Earning Since Age 9

A paperboy in the early 1960s would have been dropping some weighty headlines on his customers’ doorsteps. As a 9-year-old in Macon, Georgia, in 1961, though, Johnny Davis was more focused on a goal: earning enough money from his daily route to buy a car by the time he got his driver’s license.

Johnny remembers being heavily influenced by his 3-year-older brother Tommy’s interest in cars. Still, at that age, he could have no idea that his own auto curiosity would, eight years later, put him in a type of model not yet in the market: the midsize muscle car.

Outgrowing the paper route at age 15, the enterprising young Johnny boosted his earnings to about $1 per hour at a grocery store job. The muscle car scene was hopping by 1967, and Johnny began to follow it more closely. Two years later, with about $3000 saved, he went car shopping with his father, who would need to co-sign for the purchase, due to Johnny’s age.

Coming from a “General Motors family,” Johnny found just what he wanted with the 1969 Oldsmobile 4-4-2. Essentially a muscled-up Cutlass, the 4-4-2 was one of four corporate cousins from the GM fleet. It was sportier in design and character than that year’s Buick GS400 yet not as brash as the GTO, and it had a more upscale interior than the Chevrolet Chevelle SS396. Johnny found the Olds just right.

He took delivery of his dream car in April 1969 and found it worth the wait.

“I remember when I first saw it at the dealership. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen,” he recalls. (We’ll note that this was a few years before he met the woman he’d marry.) “I got to drive it to school for the last six weeks. It was a memorable time.”

The silver muscle car drew admiring glances at school but also made some people green with envy.

“A lot of people thought my parents bought it for me, but when I wanted something, I always saved my money. When I was a kid, an uncle started a savings account for me with five dollars at a local bank. Aside from what I earned, I always saved any money I got for birthdays or Christmas, which was probably a dollar or two. I knew I wanted to buy a car when I got my license.”

Nearly 55 years, 150,000 miles, and one restoration later, Johnny’s 4-4-2 looks and runs as young as ever, and he still drives the car to local shows and cruises, and just for plain fun. He never tires of the conversations sparked when old friends see him with the Olds.

“They all say, ‘I can’t believe you still have that car!’”

Factory basics: Oldsmobile 4-4-2

The Oldsmobile 4-4-2 entered its sixth season in 1969, having arrived in spring 1964 as the “Police Apprehender Pursuit” option package (code B09) for any F85/Cutlass, except the station wagon. The upgrade combined a tweaked, 310-horsepower version of Oldsmobile’s new 330-cubic-inch Rocket V-8 with a four-speed manual transmission, plus chassis bits from the police parts bin. The package price was $285 for an F85 model or $136 on the upscale Cutlass, which already had a 290-hp 330 four-barrel standard.

Cars so equipped wore cryptic “4-4-2” badges, which looked like a cylinder displacement figure but was not. Olds spelled out the meaning as “four-barrel carburetor, four-speed transmission, and dual exhausts.” (It was spoken as “four-four-two,” not “four-forty-two.”)

Olds went low-key on external styling differences for the 4-4-2, and even lower-key on the marketing. Ads touted the police car connection rather than overtly enticing young buyers with street performance. Pontiac, meanwhile, mashed the pedal down on marketing for its GTO option introduced the previous fall. Olds built just 2999 B09-equipped models for the second half of the 1964 model year, while 32,405 buyers scooped up GTOs over the whole 12 months.

On the street, the Olds 4-4-2 was quick fun, but the GTO outshone it on the strip, especially with its Tri-Power three-carburetor option for the 389-cubic-inch V-8. Things got hotter from there. While the GTO rocketed ahead in sales with the restyled 1965 version, Olds revved up its 4-4-2 with a new 400-cubic-inch engine, rated at 345 hp. A three-speed manual was now standard, and buyers could choose the optional four-speed stick or Jetaway two-speed automatic. (Now Olds said the first “4” in 4-4-2 stood for 400 cubic inches.) Production rose to 25,003, while the GTO tripled that number.

To match the GTO’s offerings, the 4-4-2 had a triple two-barrel carb option for 1965 and 1966, and Olds gave up on defining the meaning of “4-4-2.” Meanwhile, over at Chevrolet, it was just the sound of crickets chirping. The first Chevelle SS396 arrived as a ’65 in a limited edition of just 201 cars (option Z16), and the regular-production SS396 showed up for 1966.

General Motors introduced redesigned A-body midsizers for 1968, with the curvy new look injecting even more excitement into the muscle car versions. The coupes rode on a shorter, 112-inch wheelbase (down from 116) and flaunted semi-fastback profiles with the roof’s C-pillars flowing into the quarter panels. Olds made the 4-4-2 a separate model that year.

The 400-cubic-inch V-8 returned, but now with the longer stroke from the 455-cubic-inch version of the engine (4.25 inches) paired with a smaller 3.87-inch bore. The triple-carb option was dropped, but the standard four-barrel engine offered 350 horsepower, or 325 with the automatic and its milder cam. A W30 performance upgrade came with an official 360-hp gross rating. The 4-4-2 had its best year ever, with 36,642 made.

Car Life tested a 1968 4-4-2 automatic (now the three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic) with the 3.42 axle and got 0–60 mph in 7 seconds and the quarter mile in 15.13 at 92 mph. A four-speed with that axle ratio, driven by a hot shoe, would have easily dropped the figure into the 14s.

The 1969 4-4-2 was a mechanical repeat of the ’68, while the design gained a revised grille and headlight treatment, a dual-bulge hood, and vertical rather than horizontal taillights. Sales dropped to 29,839. Of those, the Sports Coupe (with B-pillar) accounted for 2984. The Holiday hardtop sold 22,560 and the convertible 4295.

Johnny’s 4-4-2

Having turned 17 in January 1969, Johnny went with his dad on the 15th of the month to Willingham Motors in Forsyth, about 25 miles north of Macon, to order his dream car. Educated by Hot Rod magazine, the teen knew how to properly spec his ride. He started with the 4-4-2 Sports Coupe, which was about $70 cheaper and a few pounds lighter than the pillarless Holiday hardtop.

The $3141 base price (plus $97 destination fee) included the 400 V-8, three-speed heavy-duty manual transmission with floor shifter, Strato bucket front seats, full interior carpeting, Deluxe interior decor, Deluxe steering wheel, Wide Oval redline tires, imitation wood grain instrument panel trim, chrome window and drip moldings, and a heavy-duty battery.

Johnny chose platinum for the color and ordered about $765 in performance- and style-focused options on top of that, but no air conditioning for the steamy Georgia summers. For $39.87, he at least got the Soft-Ray tinted windshield and windows.

“If it took away from performance, I didn’t want it,” he remembers.

Going right for the good stuff, Johnny specified a four-speed stick, anti-spin rear axle with 3.42:1 ratio, Super Stock I styled-steel wheels, and power steering (but not power brakes). He dressed up the cabin with the Rocket Rally Pac gauge option and center console. A stereo was too expensive, so he ordered the “Deluxe Pushbutton” AM radio and “Bi-Phonic” rear speaker for $87 combined. (That’s about $750 today—for an AM radio!)

All those goodies pushed the 4-4-2’s price tag to nearly four grand. Johnny got a much-needed $567 discount from the dealer, a friend of his father’s. That brought the cash price down to $3553 with Georgia’s sales tax.

“I had a little over $3000, so I had to borrow $600,” he remembers. That went against the practical young man’s grain, but he really wanted the car.

Daily driver and dating car

In September 1969, Johnny took the 4-4-2 to Georgia Southwestern College (now Georgia Southwestern University) in Americus, where he majored in history. In addition to occasionally making the 75-mile trip home, he would take the 4-4-2 to Daytona Beach, Florida, with some friends every summer. “We still get together with them sometimes,” he says.

A few years later, the 4-4-2 took on a critical mission. “I met my wife, Kathy, in 1973. We dated with the car, so that added to its meaning for me,” Johnny recalls. He adds, though, that they drove her Mustang for the wedding.

The fast Olds remained his daily driver for about another decade and was always parked outside. “The paint faded pretty quickly,” he recalls.

After college, Johnny made a career in the electrical wholesale business, and retired after 42 years.

A long sleep, and then awakening

In 1985, with 140,000 miles on the clock, the 4-4-2 went into Johnny’s one-car garage and under a cover for a 15-year rest. The family cars remained outside. He later built a two-car garage with a plan to take the Olds apart for a restoration and still have room to keep his wife’s car inside.

The restoration and rebuild would span five years. “After the first day of taking the 4-4-2 apart, the garage was already packed,” he says.

His son, Zack, began helping at a young age. “When Zack was 10, I’d go off to work, leaving him with degreaser and a brush,” Johnny says. “I’d come home, and he’d have the transmission cleaned up.”

Johnny credits friend James Powell with helping make the rebuild possible. (Powell also tipped off Hagerty to this story.) “I’m not that mechanical, but he’s been a mechanic all his life. He’d tell me the things I needed to buy. I’d get them, and we’d work on the car once a week, doing one thing at a time—the trans one week, the rear the next, like that. It took about five years to do it all.”

Johnny was particular with his choices. “I sent the bumpers to Michigan to get re-chromed. Trim and other pieces came from all over the country. I used mostly original Oldsmobile parts,” he explains.

With the body off and engine sent out for a rebuild, the frame was powder-coated. Johnny added front disc brakes, which necessitated 15-inch wheels to replace the original 14-inchers. He found the correct wheels in Portland, Oregon. The engine got an aluminum manifold with a Holley four-barrel carb to replace the original Quadrajet.

“I saved everything I took off the car and boxed it up,” he says.

When it came to paint, Johnny wanted silver but was willing to deviate from the original factory shade after seeing a 2003 Mercedes-Benz. “The Mercedes silver paint looked wet, and that’s what I wanted.” Johnny got the paint code and hauled the disassembled 4-4-2 to The Installation Center, Chris Hopkins’ muscle car specialty body shop in Cleveland, Georgia.

“They got everything good and straight. This was one of the best things I did for the car,” he says. “Almost twenty years later, the paint still looks wet.”

Other than having the original AM radio restored and converted to add FM, the interior was left stock. Johnny has driven the car about 10,000 miles since completing the restoration in 2005, and he looks forward to adding more.

4-4-2 Memories

Hagerty: There were a lot of great muscle cars to choose from in 1969. What made you pick the 4-4-2?

JD: Most people I knew had Camaros, Chevelles, and Mustangs. I wanted something less common, though I still looked at the GTO and the Plymouth Road Runner. When I closed the door and trunk on the Road Runner, the car felt like a tin can to me. The 4-4-2 seemed more substantial.

Hagerty: What did your parents think of your car choice?

JD: My father ended up loving the car, too. Six months after I bought it, he and my mom drove it on a trip to Florida.

Hagerty: A 17-year-old high-schooler driving an Olds 4-4-2 … that could have invited trouble for some young drivers. Were you ever in an accident?

JD: No real accidents, but the first month I had it, I drove to school, and a friend put a dent in the Olds emblem on the back—almost on purpose, I think. I was devastated! But I bought a new emblem and took it to a body shop. They pushed out the dent and charged me fifteen bucks. It really was nothing, just that the car was brand new.

Hagerty: What made you want to keep the 4-4-2 all these years?

JD: When you work for something, you appreciate it more. That’s probably the reason I kept it. It always meant something to me.

Hagerty: Have people tried to buy your car?

JD: When I had it sitting all those years, people would ask if I wanted to sell. And since I’ve had it redone, more ask when they see it. Anything can be bought, but the value to me is more than what the car is worth. I tell them, ‘If you buy the car, you have to buy my memories, too, and you probably wouldn’t want to pay the price for those.’

Hagerty: What are some of your best memories with the car?

JD: I enjoyed driving up and down the strip between Shoney’s and McDonald’s, with some occasional light-to-light races. But my favorite times with the car were when I was dating my wife.

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Car: 1969 Oldsmobile 4-4-2

Owner: Johnny Davis

Home: Macon, Georgia

Delivery Date: April 2, 1969

Miles on Car: ~150,000

Are you the original owner of a classic car, or do you know someone who is? Send us a photo and a bit of background to tips@hagerty.com with ORIGINAL OWNER in the subject line—you might get featured in our next installment!

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