Everything but the engine is original on this 1970 Oldsmobile 442 w30 owned by Greg Byer, of rural Wapakoneta. The color of the car is Arcadian green.
Submitted photos|The Lima News
WAPAKONETA – When Greg Byer looks at his 1970 Oldsmobile 442 w30, he sees an old friend.
That’s what Susie Kaple wanted.
That’s why she approached the 60-year-old Wapakoneta man eight years ago to buy the car owned by her late husband, Mike Kaple.
“Mike owned that car for 20 some years,” Byer said. “He was big on keeping everything original. All the numbers matched with the exception of the engine. She didn’t want to sell the car to someone who would hop it up. She knew Mike and I were friends and I would respect the car and his memory.”
Mike Kaple had purchased the car from a man who bought it off the original owner. It had been sitting beside an old gas station with weeds growing up around it when Kaple saw it. He did a complete restoration on it, one that Byer has maintained.
Byer has his own shop where he works on his cars. It’s strictly a hobby both he and his wife of 42 years, Elaine, enjoy. The cars they’ve worked on all have a special meaning to both of them.
They recently restored a 1970 Ford 250 camper special pickup truck that reminded Elaine of the one her parents had on their farm.
Greg will begin working this spring on a 1973 Cutlass that he’s had tucked away in a barn for 10 years. That car is a story in itself.
It is the original car he purchased after he and Elaine were married. Four children and one transmission later, he sold it in 1991 – something he later regretted.
Elaine knew he missed that car and hatched a plan to try to find it and buy it back. She wanted to surprise Greg with it on his 50th birthday. So in 2012 – 11 years after Greg sold it — Elaine launched her search.
Amazingly, eight months of letter writing and phone calls saw her locating the car in Michigan. But her requests to speak with the owner went unanswered, so she bought another 1973 Cutlass she found on the internet. Then, two weeks before Greg’s 50th birthday, the owner of the original car finally called Elaine back and said he would sell it, so Greg ended up with two cars.
“The (original) Cutlass needs a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to bringing it back to life,” Greg said.
Greg and Elaine hope to one day have a special car for each of their four children.
“Working on old cars has been a lot of fun for our family. It has brought us and the kids and grandkids all closer. It’s been a great hobby.”
Byer has taken the 442 to local car shows as well as shows in Cincinnati, Columbus and the Blue Suede Cruise-In at Norwalk, Ohio. It turns heads wherever it goes.
The 442 was produced by Oldsmobile as an answer to the Pontiac GTO. It debuted in 1964 and included a 4-barrel carburetor, 4-speed manual transmission and dual exhaust – hence, the name 442. The muscle car rolled off the assembly line until 1980, then was brought back in 1985 for two years.
Its w30 package added a hotter camshaft, a trunk relocated battery, and a special cold air induction system.
The fact that Byer’s 442 is a 1970 model also makes it extra special. That’s the year it was the official pace car for the Indianapolis 500.
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