part finding god

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i am a part finding god...

1965, less than 200 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442's were made with a 3 speed Ford Top Loader stick shift and Hurst Shifter.

thousands were made with the Muncie 4 speed stick.

My buddy Jack has a 65 with a Muncie in it but the VIN plate says it originall had a 3 speed. (the 4-sp Muncie was a better tranny but he's doing a 'numbers matching' restoration - motor is original and matches, and now he wants the matching tranny).

Well lil ol me spent 3 days on the internet and calling just about every tranny place in north america -- found one, rebuilt in Portland, Oregon.

Freight is gonna suck, but damn I'm good!

[audiobliss]

Yeah, but it took you three whole days! Don't you think you could shorten that just a little bit next time?

J/K I bet that '65 is fun with a 442 stuffed in there! You'll have to post pics of his car!

[hellohello]

I like to find things :)

[Jstas]

Dude, rare parts cost coin. Always have, always will. Just be glad you found one.

BTW, the 442 doesn't have a 442 "in there". The 442 means a bunch of stuff but there was never a 442 ci engine from GM. Here, for those that lack a clue:

Definition of 4-4-2 from the Oldsmobile Factory Literature:
1964 (Original meaning)
4: Four Barrel Carburetion
4: Four On the Floor
2: Dual Exhausts

1965 (First year of automatic transmission option on 442)
4: 400 Cubic Inch Displacement
4: Four Barrel Carburetion
2: Dual Exhausts

1985 to 1987 (Last of RWD 442s)
4: Four speed automatic
4: Four barrel carburetor
2: Dual exhaust

1990 and 1991 (FWD 442)
4: Four cylinders
4: Four valves
2: Two camshafts

That's from Oldsmobile, the experts on Oldsmobiles. RIP Oldsmobile.

[faster100]

for those that lack a clue:

Talk about arrogant

always correcting people

[Custom Jim]

Finding a part for an older car can be a chore but sometimes it's worth it. Even with an item with the right part number on it, some must also have a date code on them that must be before the car was assembled. If you have a February built car with a June dated part on it, that's not correct. A lot of dated parts will only be within a certain time frame and the more people that document unmolested cars the more info that will be out there to rebuilt one that is missing key parts.

Does Jack have any sites set up with the car or his work ?. It would be nice to see what another person is doing with a restoration.

Jim

[Custom Jim]

An amazing story of a true collector who died and left a gold mine of parts and cars... Believe me, this IS worth the read!

----- Original Message -----
From: jwvonl@juno.com
To: mnratrods@yahoogroups.com ; streetrod@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 7:00 PM
Subject: [Streetrod] Parts, parts & more old Chevy parts...

Fisette had no idea whether he was buying King Tut's tomb or Al Capone's
vault when he agreed to buy 21 trailers said to be full of Corvettes and
Chevrolet muscle cars and parts. Luckily, all of the rumors he had heard
whispered around his northeast Wisconsin home turned out to be more true
than he ever dreamed.

So far, Fisette, a De Pere, Wisconsin, restorer and automotive repair
shop proprietor, has opened 17 of the 21 sealed trailers one-by-one and
found a Yenko Camaro with 45,000 miles; a pair of low-mileage 1970 LS-6
Chevelles; a 1972 Camaro Z/28; two 1957 Corvettes, one a fuel-injected car,
the other a dual-four-barrel-equipped example; and several other Chevrolet
performance cars. Filling in the space around the cars like water around
pebbles is an inventory of NOS and used performance parts that would make a
Nickey Chevrolet parts manager jealous, and Fisette is not done cracking
trailers open. He's also confident there's more muscle hidden in the
trailers.

How the trailers came to be full of new Corvette side exhaust systems,
factory Corvette race parts, and highly desirable engines and parts is as
interesting as the man who filled them.

Donald Schlag's passion for Chevrolet performance cars, even when they
were new, gave him the foresight to realize that someday, others would have
just as much interest in them. So while he was working at his father's John
Deere dealership, Green Bay Implement, Schlag began buying the parts from
the local Chevrolet dealer's parts counter in the 1960s and stored them at
the John Deere dealership. He also made annual trips to California, pulling
a trailer behind an RV for a month at a time in order to retrieve more parts
for his stash. When his father died and the dealership was liquidated in the
early 1970s, he tucked the parts and cars in semi trailers.

But when the very people who Schlag was saving parts for betrayed him by
stealing a part, Schlag stopped sharing his collection. He even went so far
as to completely seal the trailers off once they were full. By butting the
trailers up against each other, not even he could go back in them. Schlag
also stopped driving the cars he collected after one of his Corvettes was
keyed in a parking lot. From that point on, he swapped the engines and
slipped the cars into the trailers, never to be gazed upon again.

Many local car collectors believe the reason why Schlag pulled the
engines from his cars and installed a different engine before he put them
away was to thwart thieves, since the cars wouldn't be numbers-matching.
Even rare parts, like a first-generation race Corvette gas tank, was
separated from its two filler neck pieces and its parts spread between three
trailers. Another theory to explain why Schlag swapped and separated engines
was because he predicted the engines would be worth more than the cars, so
he pulled the hot engine from most of the cars and put a slightly less
desirable engine in its place.

Despite his unfortunate interaction with some of his fellow hobbyists,
Schlag remained friendly. When scouring car shows and swap meets around
Chicago, Milwaukee, and Green Bay for more parts in his rusty El Camino, he
could be found engaged in a conversation in which he would even mention if
he had a part or a car.

"He'd talk about what he had, but he didn't brag and he didn't sell
anything," said Fisette, who met Schlag before his June, 2005, death on two
occasions. Through these brief interactions, people began to piece together
what he had hiding.

And while no one knew exactly what Schlag had, Schlag knew what they had
in their garage. By being the local expert on fuel injection units and
offering other mechanical services, Schlag became acquainted with cars in
the area, which also helped him feed his collection.

"There was a rumor that Don would remove your big-block and install a
small-block [as a gas-saving measure during the second fuel crisis],"
Fisette said. This would explain why about half of the engines Fisette has
uncovered are big-block Chevrolet engines.

Upon learning that Schlag passed away, Fisette took a chance on acquiring
the collection and contacted Schlag's family.

"I called her [Schlag's sister's] number, told her my name, and said I'd
buy everything and told her I had the capability to buy and disperse it
all," Fisette said. After checking with other hobbyists, Schlag's family
decided that Fisette was the right person to buy the collection.

"We were so lucky to find Larry," said Joanne Stepien, Don Schlag's
sister. "I received several phone calls [from people interested in buying
the collection], so I took their names and numbers. I had about five
different people to choose from." Stepien then researched the reputations of
each party, and Fisette was the only person to come back with stellar
credentials.

Once the deal was sealed, Fisette was ready to break down the doors of
the trailers to see what he bought, and the first trailer he opened didn't
let him down.

"I hadn't seen inside any of the trailers. I did it all on Donny's
reputation," Fisette said. "The first trailer I opened had two [1970
Chevelle] LS-6s in it," he said. "It was absolutely total amazement." The
Chevelles were parked bumper-to-bumper in the trailer, and the first he
gazed upon was a gold four-speed, bench-seat car that Fisette soon realized
was the LS-6 Chevelle his neighbor bought new. Fisette even remembers the
day the neighbor brought it home from the dealership and showed it to him.
Regardless of his memory of the car, Fisette prefers the Chevelle parked in
front of the gold, four-speed car: a blue Chevelle with bucket seats and an
automatic transmission, which he considers more driveable.

Unearthing the Yenko Camaro shortly thereafter was obviously an exciting
experience for Fisette, but it was opening a trailer full of factory
performance engines that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"The most exciting moment was when I opened up a trailer and saw shiny
engines up one side and down the other, and then two stacked shelves of
them," Fisette recalled. More than 150 high-performance engines have been
found, in addition to 14 nice, low-mileage cars, but the bulk of trailers
contain parts. And lots of them.

Since finding the trailers, Fisette has organized the parts in a
warehouse to best determine what he has. While looking down the line of
engines, Fisette smiled at a complete engine for a 1969 Camaro Z/28 engine
and asked, "Isn't that pretty? It's a DZ-302 that's complete down to the
breather!" The Camaro 302-cid engine is one of approximately six such
engines he's found, and he's hopeful that it and many of the other engines
will land back in the cars they originally came from, right down to the
cast-iron COPO 427-cid engine block he's found.

"I think it's going to give people a chance to make their cars correct,"
he said. One hobbyist has already contacted Fisette to ask if he has the
original engine to his Nova, which was sold to Schlag many years ago
following an engine transplant. Although Fisette plans to sell all of the
parts in one lot, he said he would try to reunite the Nova owner with his
car's original engine.

For Fisette, the hunt was more fun than the catch, and he wants to share
that experience with fellow car collectors. Pointing to a 1958 Corvette
radio, he said, "Imagine how happy this is going to make somebody."

A happy man himself, Fisette is thoroughly enjoying the challenge
presented to him. "I've done nothing but empty trailers since September,"
Fisette said while surrounded by all the parts he's organized in his
warehouse. "I walk in here and feel like Scrooge McDuck. I can remember as a
kid thinking, 'I'd kill for a four-speed.' Now look how many I have got!"

Finding such parts continues to be a treasure hunt in itself. Each time
he opens a trailer, Fisette doesn't know if he'll find it filled cars or SS
wheels hanging from the ceiling, engines lining the walls, and 55-gallon
drums filled with performance heads and crankshafts. And even when he finds
a trailer loaded with cars, he's never sure if he'll find another stash of
fuel-injection units or Corvette knock-off wheels in the cars' trunks as he
has on several occasions.

Regardless of his few interactions with Schlag, Fisette feels he's come
to understand the man, and if he's right, there are more surprises great
cars and parts waiting to be found. One of those potential surprises may be
another Yenko car. Fisette has found a rust-free front clip for a Nova in
one trailer, a hubcap center specific to a Yenko Nova in another trailer,
and he's heard that Schlag owned a Yenko Nova with a damaged front clip.
Combined with the fact he has a title and keys to a Nova, Fisette is
confident he'll soon uncover another muscle car icon from the Canonsburg,
Pennsylvania, dealership. "I've really got to know him through this puzzle,"
Fisette said.

Larry Fisette is a worthy caretaker to the cars and parts collected by
Donald Schlag, because he'll make sure that the cars and parts end up in the
hands Schlag was saving them for.

http://www.depereautocenter.com/parts.html

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whoa... that really is an amazing story.

it's kind of sad though. that Schlag guy collected all those parts and all those cars for all those years, but he never drove them, never really enjoyed them.

sure it's nice for this other Fisette guy who'll sell them off, take a trip through memory lane, and have a good time.

but that Schlag guy basically died driving an old beat up el camino when he could have had this pride and joy thundering him down the road.

kinda made me think of my grandfather and how he stashed the cadillac away for so long. it's sad. i feel bad for that Schlag guy.

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below's a pic of the tranny...

still need the correct shifter linkage for it and the correct hurst factory shifter with "H 442" on the side of it.