jaunty75

Someone go buy this car. While it's not as "rust free" as he says (check the tailgate), it looks clean around the roof glass, and the interior looks excellent.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RUST-FREE-19...p2054897.l4275


Heck, this PHOTO alone is worth the price of admission. Normally, photos of a car for sale in the snow don't help so much, but, with that background, this could be a Christmas card!

anthonyP

Hopefully, no one takes the suggestions of the seller and installs ridiculous looking tall rims, street rod changes, or anything else that would ruin this almost 45-year old original Vista Cruiser. It does look good from the photos.

Octania

FEEL FREE TO MAKE AN OFFER AT ANYTIME. I CAN TALK VIA PHONE IF YOU'D PREFER. THANK YOU.

1970 OLDSMOBILE VISTA CRUISER WAGON

This is a clean, rust free classic cruiser wagon. It has the great vistacruiser roof glass that is unique to the vistacruiser and buick sportwagons. This particular wagon was owned by one family until I purchased it this year. The original owner bought it new in California, where it remained until the last few years. I bought it from his daughter who lived in Idaho. It has the original protecto plate, owners manual, and original registration from the same day it was bought new. You don't see that very often. Also included are some other neat original dealer pamphlets and stuff. I have pictures of everything. This is a clean survivor and is a great candidate for restoration, drive as-is, or do minor work to it and make a street rod. It would look great with some pro-tour sized torque thrusts or? I'm sure it would look cool with just about any cool rims, or leave the hubcaps on if that's what you like. Here are all the details. MANY MORE PICTURES AVAILABLE AND VIDEO. I can send a photobucket link with many more pictures. Thank you.


BODY

The body on the car is in nice shape. It is rust free. The car had lower front fender rust when I bought it, but they have been replaced with repair panels. The repairs were done correctly. The rust was only in the very low rear corner, of each front fender. The repair weld is under the trim. Repair panels are still bare metal. I left them bare because I know some people want to inspect the area, and are going to repaint the whole car possibly anyways. If you want, you could just paint the lower fender to match and drive it as-is. I may have paint that matches, but many napa stores and others mix spray cans to match. I know spray paint is crap, but it's a very small section under the fender trim, and most people would never notice. The butt welds are not ground down, which will need to be done. The trim hides most of it, so bodywork needed on these repairs is very minimal. I can primer the new metal if you prefer before it's transported. The rest of the body has no rust. This car was in dry california nearly all of it's life, and that is documented. It's very straight. The passenger rear quarter was lightly dinged by the taillight, by the original owner. Nothing major and no thick bondo. I'm not sure that there is any filler there at all. Glass is nice overall. One small chip in the windshield. Vista glass is very nice. No rust or pitting around the glass. Rear window is slow to roll up. The track and regulator stuff probably needs lubed. Worse case, you'll need to rebuild or replace the window motor. If you don't help it, it's pretty slow to roll up. Tailgate either swings out, or folds down like a pickup tailgate. Floors, spare tire tub, frame, quarters, wheelhouses, doors, fenders, hood, firewall, cowl, tailgate, jams, roof, etc. etc. have no rust-through. This car is dry. Reproduction woodgrain vinyl is available. Most of it is ok, but it's peeling in some spots. These days, you can redo the faux woodgrain in a variety of ways. You can use the reproduction vinyl available, get reproduction type vinyl wrap from a print/sign shop, hand paint it, or airbrush the woodgrain on. Airbrushing is the best, but the most expensive.

INTERIOR

The interior is in nice shape. The seats have been recovered and are nice. Original upholstery may be under there, I'm not sure. Seats look nice, but are not original match. Most people will not know that upholtery is not original. Original upholstery is readily available. Besides the seat upholstery, the interior looks 100% original. Headliner is nice, with one tiny rip about 1/2" long. Dash area is nice. Door panels are pretty nice but sun damaged a bit right on top by the windows. I don't think its on every panel but I'll double check that. Visors are nice, and this has the larger visors in the passenger area. Carpet is in good shape, but has a wear spot in drivers floor where a heel sat. Floormat hides it. Cargo area has usual scratches and wear. Original radio is included. Aftermarket cassette player is in it now and I'm not sure that it works.

MECHANICAL

This vista has the 350 v8 with 350 automatic transmission. The engine runs nice. No ticks, knocks, or anything abnormal. It runs cools. No oil in water, or water in the oil. It's a little coldblooded but always starts. You just have to pump it 2-3 times. I don't think the choke is setup right and the carb may just need to have some fuel ran through it. Runs great when warmed up a bit and starts at the touch of the key. This is an A/C car but it is not connected. The A/C pump was taken off, but everything was kept including pump, bolts, bracket, and belt. This has an automatic transmission that works fine. Shifts as it should, doesn't slip. Tires are 14" and aren't anything special but drive fine. The car goes down the road straight and nice. Doesn't wander, pull, vibrate, or anything abnormal like that. It cruises nicely and has good highway gears. This car has power steering and brakes. Muffler and tailpipe are new but I think it needs a little work still. It sounds like it has a leak back by the muffler. Brakes and steering work as they should. All gauges work. Heater fan works, but not on high setting for some reason. Probably the switch. Heater works as it should and selector works. Valve covers either need to be tightened, or need new gaskets. They are easy to do on this car, and I'm sure the gaskets are cheap. I don't know when the last time the car had a lube job, plugs, wires, etc. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to do that stuff but it doesn't appear to need anything really. Overall, it runs nice and is very good mechanically.

OVERALL

This is a great wagon to drive or restore. I like all the old wagons, but the vistacruisers are really cool and the kids will love looking out the windows. Feel free to ask questions and happy bidding.

jaunty75

And the point of repeating the entire text of the auction listing is....?


This is why God created hyperlinks.

dc2x4drvr

A steal at his asking price.

deaddds

I guess I didn't see an asking price, just a reserve not met.

dc2x4drvr

Hmmm, I looked to fast, wonder what the reserve is?

Texas442

eBay hyperlinks listings are up for 90 days only. This forum is up for a long time helping those of us looking to compare values.

jstrits

I like that the ad is here, one less site to go to now.

Allan R

There's a lot more rust than the tailgate. I enlarged pics of the doors and they don't look good, especially the RF. Stains on the rear door interior suggest the floor pans should also be carefully checked, as should the rear storage tub and wheel storage well. I don't believe repop sheet metal is made for those areas. If reserve has not been met, this car is overpriced for what it is. Plus it's likely had some hard miles pulling a trailer. Sky blue is not helping the sale either.

jaunty75

Except what is there in the ebay listing that helps you compare values? We don't know the car's value.

jaunty75

Yes, clicking a mouse button is damn hard these days.

Allan R

Naturally it will be 'worth more' to the seller than a buyer. But with the issues it has I'd say somewhere between 4-4.5K.

jaunty75

When and if the bidding reaches the reserve, then we'll know what the seller thinks it's worth and that at least one buyer agrees with him. So that would be something. People always say that the true value of a car is when a seller who is not under pressure to sell and a buyer who is not under pressure to buy agree on a value.

But posting the entire auction description as was done above doesn't help this, which was my original point.


The Old Cars Price Guide lists the value of a '70 Vista Cruiser in #4 condition (runs and drives but needs full restoration) at about $4,000, and that's right where you are. I would agree.


Collector Car Market Review is a little more pessimistic. They show the value of a #4 car at about $2800.

I hesistate to put the link here because that would mean people would have to click on it if they want to see the page. That could be a struggle for some.

http://www.collectorcarmarket.com/co...***-value.html


Interesting that, as of this moment, the bidding is up to $4,550, and the reserve is still not met. But at least one person, as well as the seller, thinks it's worth more than we do!

Allan R

Cool link. I for one have never found my finger was too weary or heavy to clik on one. Sometimes I just don't if I'm not interested, but this one is interesting. I think the appeal that's being generated with this car and potential buyers is the draw to it being a CA relatively 'rust free' car in the text.

As you and I both know though, a fair number of eBay car sales fall through when buyers decide not to pay. There are so many behind the scenes manipulations that can be done with bidding I'm not going to extrapolate on, but we know they exist.

As is said with all car sales and price points, there's a seat for every a$$. It will be interesting to see if the reserve gets met on this one. The bad part about Vista's is there aren't any of the significant replacement parts made for them, so restoration is labor intensive and a $$$ pit for any VG-Ex parts that are found. Just my 2¢.

jaunty75

Very true. We usually don't know if an ebay sale actually completes, but we generally assume they do, or the car is sold outside of ebay, unless the car reappears in a new auction.

True, but I'm thinking that, as Vista Cruisers go, this one is not too bad in some of the areas that count. In particular, the roof glass and the area of the body right around it look just fine. You often see these with rust around the roof glass. But not here.

Certainly the tailgate, which is certainly also station wagon-specific, will need work, but perhaps that can be repaired rather than replaced.


Overall, in my opinion, as I said, as Vista Cruisers on the market generally go, this one looks good. It's not been modified or has had an engine swap or anything like that (at least, it appears not to have had an engine swap), it appears to be complete, there has been some attempt to keep the interior nice with the reupholstery work that was done, it's essentially one-owner with all the original paperwork, etc. If you're looking for a Vista Cruiser, and if this is what it appears to be, you could do a lot worse.

Allan R

Yes, I agree with most of your points. I'm not sure but I believe that a 70-72 Cutlass/f85 Town sedan door might be the same on the front. The passenger side door looks horrible on the lower edge, much like it's rusted through. There are no pictures from the seller showing the integrity of the door pinch welds, or even his patch panels for that matter.

I don't know if it has had engine/tranny work or what mileage is on this car either since the reference to 2488 miles is obviously incorrect. Whether it's turned once or twice is the question. I don't see any references to maintenance receipts for the car either. No pics of the engine or bottom of the car either. I'm surprised the seller hasn't posted the link to his pictures. That would be a much better representation of the car IMO.

Wonder if this car has the HC 350 or LC? Going by the law of averages since it's not a highly optioned car, I'd guess it has the 250HP LC 350 engine.

Straight out of "That 70's Show" in a manner of speaking....


Can't seem to access evilbay right now as it's not recognizing my PW. I wanted to ask the seller to post links to the video he has and the picture album.