1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 bookends mining career

Restored ‘Aeroback’ model was a major retirement surprise for B.C. man who bought it new 43 years ago

When Russ Hallbauer came down the driveway after a golfing outing at the end of June, his family and fellow executives at Taseko Mines were there to greet him. It was his hastily organized retirement party.

But the big surprise was parked sideways across the driveway at his West Vancouver home: The freshly restored black and gold 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 that Russ had purchased new, 43 years ago. Russ had just graduated from the Colorado School of Mining when he paid $7,000 at Sid Smith Chevrolet-oldsmobile in Kamloops, B.C. for the Olds.

“I think I got a good deal because my father purchased all his mining trucks from Sid Smith,” Russ says of his mining legend father Bob Hallbauer, who was then president of Cominco — now Teck Resources.

The black Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 was well equipped with a 305 cubic inch V8 engine coupled to a four-speed transmission, power brakes and steering, AM/FM radio with tape player and adjustable tilt steering. The 442 was a performance option package for the Cutlass models from 1964 through 1987, originally standing for four-speed transmission, four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts.

In 1978, Oldsmobile introduced the fourth generation 442 as an option package for the Aeroback Cutlass Salon, which would only be available for two model years with extremely low production numbers.

Russ drove his 1978 model to first job at the Newmont Mine in Princeton. When

the instant town of Tumbler Ridge sprang up to serve northeast coal development, Russ drove a truckload of furniture north while his wife Dawn carried their house plants in the Oldsmobile. She learned to be proficient with the four-speed manual transmission.

Russ was a young mining engineer hired for the opening of the Bullmoose Mine for Teck Resources, when, in 1981, a consortium of Japanese steel mills agreed to purchase 100 million tonnes of coal over 15 years for US$7.5 billion. Tumbler Ridge had been carved out of the bush in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There were only dirt roads. The grocery store was a double-wide trailer. Russ and Dawn Hallbauer would be there for 13 years.

“The Oldsmobile was like a combination sports car and family car with a back seat,” Russ says. “But it wasn’t the car for dirt roads and the north.”

He traded the Oldsmobile to his brother in Fernie for a three-wheel all-terrain vehicle and bought a four-wheel-drive Chevrolet Blazer. Much more practical. His brother drove the car for a while and then it went into long-term storage in the barn on the family farm where it was largely forgotten.

But the birth of two grandchildren to daughter Ainsley and son-in-law Andrew Wooding rekindled interest in the car. The little boys loved cars and Russ began to think of his Oldsmobile 442 as a family legacy to someday be passed on.

“Let’s have it restored,” he told his daughter and son-inlaw. They made the trip to Fernie, retrieved the car and arranged for a full frame up rebuild. The car was rusty, tired and neglected. But it had good bones.

The restoration took eight months. It hadn’t been planned this way, but the job was completed within days of Russ Hallbauer’s retirement as chief executive officer and president of Taseko Mines, operator of the highly successful Gibraltar copper mine near Williams Lake.

Ainsley and Andrew Wooding, along with her brother Jefferey and mother Dawn, went into overdrive to plan a small surprise party to celebrate the retirement of a mining icon. The restored Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 would be the focal point. The cake would be in the shape of a mine haul truck.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the car,” Russ says. “It looks just like it did the day I bought it.”

Now back behind the wheel, the years roll back to when a young recently graduated mining engineer embarked on a new career with a hot new car.

It’s been quite a ride.