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Rare to me then I guess. I never see them. All the ones I find online are 2 row or 3 row front facing. When you consider how many Mustangs or Corvettes were sold in the same year, they're rare.
Isn't something wrong here? ALL three-seat raised-roof Vista Cruisers (1964 through 1972) had a FORWARD-facing third seat. There is no such thing as a rear-facing third seat 1970 Vista Cruiser. Olds didn't start making the third row rear-facing until the 1973 model year, when the A-body cars underwent their major styling change.
From the ads, we can't tell how many seats it has. The barnfinds ad says this:
"Best as we can tell, this wagon only has two sets of bench seats"
The craigslist ad has almost no description at all, and we can't tell much of anything. From the photos he provides and what we can see of the cargo area, if there is a third seat, it's folded down.
Where are you getting the idea that this car even has a third seat, let alone that it's rear-facing?
Frankly, for an asking price of nearly $20,000, it's a very crappy craigslist ad.
I don't buy it for a minute. Ask him to show you a photo of the third seat in the "up" position. My guess is that he's never raised the rear seat in the time he's owned the car, and he's just assuming the seat faces rearward because that's what he's seen in later cars.
This image below is from the 1970 Vista Cruiser brochure.
Here's another clue. You can pretty much make out a split in the rear seatback (as is described in the ad in my previous post), with the seat split 1/3 - 2/3, which is the way the seat was split on three-seat Vista Cruisers (and on the '71 to '76 Custom Cruisers with three seats). The shorter side folds forward to allow access to the third seat. This would be useless if the third seat faced backward because then you would access the seat through the tailgate.
I think we can safely say two things. The car has a third seat that faces forward, and the owner doesn't know what he has. If he's that clueless about something as obvious as which way the third seat faces, I wouldn't trust much of anything else he says about the car.
Fair enough. The dude said he was selling it for his 84 year old father, so all the info I got was secondhand anyway. Glad I know that 68-72 Vistas don't have rear facing 3rd rows now. That's kind of disappointing, I wish they had the rear facing seat cuz I like that styling way more than 73 on. Is there a way to convert them to rear facing?
Nothing that doesn't involve major surgery to the rear of the car, and you'll destroy the value of the car in the process. Most people look at the forward facing third seat as an asset, not a detriment. When my kids were young, we had a Ford Taurus wagon with a rear-facing third seat, and the kids hated it primarily because they'd get carsick all the time looking out the back window. So we never used the seat, and it was worthless to us. It's one of the reasons we moved on to minivans as no one made forward-facing third seat wagons any more.
I talked to the guy and he said it was a rear facing 3rd row.
That would be a one-of-none car. The whole point of the raise roof and extended wheelbase on the Vista and SportWagon was to allow the third seat to face forward. The Chevelle flattops had a rear-facing third seat option. I guess someone COULD have installed one of those into a two-row Vista. Obviously that would not be factory.
Here's another clue. You can pretty much make out a split in the rear seatback (as is described in the ad in my previous post), with the seat split 1/3 - 2/3, which is the way the seat was split on three-seat Vista Cruisers
You could actually order the split second row seat as an option on the 1964-67 two-row Vistas under RPO A66. That option was not offered on the second-gen cars, however. It was great for carrying long items while still allowing some rear seat passengers.
It's really funny about this rear facing rear seat memories! I drove my 70 Vista to a friend's granddaughter's birthday party a few years ago. A woman asked about the car and said her family had one just like it with a rear facing seat. I said no those cars had a front facing seat and then showed her. She got really pissed and said something to the effect of " well I remember it and I am sure"!! I dunno.....
I DO know. The whole point of the extended wheelbase and raised roof were to specifically allow the third seat to sit on top of the axle and face forward. Flattop wagons from other divisions DID offer a rear-facing third seat. Olds did not. And this "I remember" is exactly why eyewitnesses are so unreliable.
And as I noted above, the Chevelle and Pontiac flattop wagons DID offer a rear-facing third row seat. This space was used as below-floor storage on the Vista and SportWagon.
Anyone want to bet that these "I remember" recollections are actually NOT from a Vista Cruiser??? Heck, most people can't tell a Vista Cruiser from a Country Squire, let alone remember exact cars from their childhood.
The raised roof provided the necessary headroom and the extra 5" of wheelbase allowed the footwell behind the second row.
It is. I was clarifying whether it was "Hey, we want the 3rd row seat to face forward, so what can we do? We can raise the roof and sit it on the axle" vs. "Hey, design just raised the roof for appearances, we could turn the seat around and sit on the axle now that we have the headroom."
It is. I was clarifying whether it was "Hey, we want the 3rd row seat to face forward, so what can we do? We can raise the roof and sit it on the axle" vs. "Hey, design just raised the roof for appearances, we could turn the seat around and sit on the axle now that we have the headroom."
I DO know. The whole point of the extended wheelbase and raised roof were to specifically allow the third seat to sit on top of the axle and face forward. Flattop wagons from other divisions DID offer a rear-facing third seat. Olds did not. And this "I remember" is exactly why eyewitnesses are so unreliable.
I'd like to add one possible explanation for the "I remember" crowd.
Olds also offered a flat top wagon which was NOT a Vista Crusier, but most people call any Olds wagon a Vista Cruiser. It had the shorter wheel base and flat top with no vista windows, just like the Chevy and Pontiac wagons. Although I am not sure, I would suspect that Olds offered a rear facing, 3rd seat in the short wheelbase wagons and perhaps that's what people are remembering from their youth.
Does anyone have any 68-72 brochures within east reach to confirm? I have a few but they are packed away who-knows-where.
Just a thought...
Sorry, but all of the non-Vista Cruiser A-body (Cutlass flat top) wagons were two seaters only. No 3-seaters were offered.
^^^THIS. There was no reason for Olds to offer the three seat version of the flattop wagon - it would have cannibalized sales of the more profitable Vista. That's why I specifically said "Chevelle and Pontiac" in my post above. Olds and Buick offered the Vista and SportWagon.
I stand by my prior post - most people couldn't tell a Vista from a Country Squire. C'mon. How many times has someone at a car show come up and said "I used to have one just like this" and it turned out to be a Ford or Chrysler?
Here's another clue. You can pretty much make out a split in the rear seatback (as is described in the ad in my previous post), with the seat split 1/3 - 2/3, which is the way the seat was split on three-seat Vista Cruisers (and on the '71 to '76 Custom Cruisers with three seats). The shorter side folds forward to allow access to the third seat. This would be useless if the third seat faced backward because then you would access the seat through the tailgate.
I think we can safely say two things. The car has a third seat that faces forward, and the owner doesn't know what he has. If he's that clueless about something as obvious as which way the third seat faces, I wouldn't trust much of anything else he says about the car.
As the owner of a 3 row vista cruiser I would consider this car has no 3rd seat. The separation in the second row to allow 3rd row access has huge gaps where the seats come together. That looks like it's just different patterns of vinyl.
