JoanieCutlass

I'm new to this site. I inherited a 1972 Cutlass Supreme from my mom. Her wish was to sell it to someone who would restore it (i.e. no flipping). My mom was the original owner. The vehicle has just under 198,000 miles and is in running condition. It has a 350 cu in engine with console shifter. This vehicle is pretty stock (no air, no power windows, etc.). I am asking $7500 USD. This Cutlass is located in Santa Rosa, California.

Allan R

Welcome to the site Joanie.
It might also be a good idea to let the potential buyers know what options the car has (ie: Air conditioning, PW, AT, PS, PB, P.Trunk etc. Although looking at the rear hood vents, that's not an AC car.) The 72 Cutlass Supreme came standard with bucket seats so that's not an option. The console shifter is though. Is it a 350 engine or a 455? If it's a 455 it's worth more. Easy way to check if it's a 455 is look at the cars VIN. If it starts out 3J57U2 you've got a relatively scarce car. On the other hand if it starts out 3J57M2 it's the standard 350 4 barrel engine from the factory. It looks to be in decent condition overall and the interior looks great.

In my opinion you're in the ball park on pricing. Good luck with the sale.

jaunty75

I think one thing people would want to know is what's the deal on this piece of wood sticking out of the trunk? Is it there to hold the trunk lid down or something like that, or were you just back from the lumber yard and hadn't had a chance to unload? In the photo, the trunk lid edge does not look level, which is concerning.




To add to Allan's comments, yes, it looks a nice car, but for the money you're asking you need more photos. We can't see the front seat. We can't see the dash. We can't see the trunk. We can't see the engine. What does the underside look like after almost 200,000 miles of driving? Etc.

Allan R

True enough Dan. I did look more closely at the photos on a very enlarged scale. The front drivers seat back appears to have some serious damage (which is why it may be folded forward), although the rest of the upholstery looks fine.

The vinyl coming off on the rear of the sail panel doesn't show any signs of bubbling or rust, which is a good thing. That's where a lot of these cars had water penetration.

Hmmm, it appears to have option A01, which is usually an indicator of C60 AC, but the hood is wrong. Was the car in a front end collision and hood replaced?

Was this car originally yellow? There are places all over the car that show flaking of the brown (which is not a 72 Cutlass color btw) that show what is likely pnt code 56 Sunfire yellow.

The body looks really nice, which is what you'd expect from a California car though.

JoanieCutlass

Hi jaunty75,


Wow, I'm clearly out of my league with you gear heads. This vehicle was repainted. But it was never in an accident. The piece of wood is to hold the trunk open, in order to not trap moisture. There is some rusting in the trunk, so I will post some photos. How the heck am I supposed to take a phot of the underside of the vehicle? Do you guys all have racks in your garage or something. Anyway, I'll do my best to respond to your posts and update the information on this Cutlass. Please be patient with me, I'm really new at this. Most important, this is not about maximizing the cost of the sale. The objective is to find someone who wants to restore the vehicle, per my mom's wishes, and make it all pretty.


JoanieCutlass

jaunty75

Like this!





Let me answer your question with a question. If you were standing next to your car, getting your keys out of your pocket or purse or something, and a quarter fell out and rolled under the car, how would you retrieve it? Why, you'd get down on your knees, reach under there, and grab it!

So that's how I took this photo. I rolled a quarter under the car, then I got down on my knees, scrunched down low, and, with camera in hand to snap some photos while I was down there, grabbed the quarter.

jaunty75

I don't think we're asking anything unreasonable. What we're talking about is what anyone interested in your car would likely be wondering and would want answers to. The more information you can provide up front in the ad in terms of photos and descriptions, the better for all concerned. You don't spend time answering the same questions over and over, and people who contact you will likely be the more interested ones as a great deal of information will have already been provided.

I believe that the higher the asking price for a car, the more information the seller should provide in the ad. If you're selling a $1,000 beater, fine, a couple of photos and a two-line description is probably enough as no expects much from a car that cheap.

But someone asking in the multi-thousand dollar range needs to show people why that car is worth the asking price. I can't tell you the number of craigslist ads I've seen with two rather poor quality photos, a one sentence ad that basically says "here it is, come buy my car," and they're asking $10,000 for it. Yeah, right.

JoanieCutlass

Jaunty75,


I get it now. I'll make my husband take the photo, but I understand what folks are looking for now. Thanks.


J

svnt442

If you were a bit closer I'd run over and take some good photos for you, but it's a bit of a drive to get up there.

jaunty75

There isn't A single photo of the underside that people are looking for. What I've been trying to get at is that people want to see the car from all sides, especially a car that has seen as many miles, almost 200,000, that your car has. That's a lot of miles in anyone's book, and even a California car could have some rust underneath after all of that time on the road. That's what people are interested in. As much as its cosmetic appearance, people will want to know how sound the car is structurally.

oldspackrat

Jaunty,
I'm guessing that's a '73 or older clamshell wagon?

jaunty75

Yes, that was the underside of my '73 Custom Cruiser. I took that photo when I had the car for sale last fall.


Very good! I bet you can tell trees from quite a long ways away, too!

oldspackrat

I kick myself for not buying that car from you. IIrc, you had done a ton of work to it & I'm sure I'll never find another that nice for that price. Stupid car addiction!!

jaunty75

The major work, expense-wise, had been done by the prior (original) owner, and that included a $5,000 paint job, which was really quite excellent, and rechroming of both bumpers. I just basically put it back together, as it was partially disassembled when I got it, and put in new carpet and had the front seat reupholstered. Everything else was pretty much just keeping it going. I did also have the A/C system resurrected and changed over to 134A refrigerant.

It went to a good home. Another member of this site, who lives in Illinois, bought it. As I recall, he told me he was trying to collect one full-size (or largest size available) Olds wagon from each era ('50s Fiesta, early '60s Fiesta, Vista Cruiser, clamshell, and post '76 box wagon Custom Cruiser. I don't know if he was trying to get an example of the final era ('91 and '92) of the CC as well.