Muskego Jeff

I don't want to do it, but I may need to sell my Olds. The big question I have is what a good price range would be.

I understand condition dictates price. I would consider this car a daily "good weather" driver. Runs fine, is presentable, but has a little rust in the typical spots. Top is in good shape (pads look like crap since the shop which replaced the top didn't think to do pads at the same time). The paintwork was done around 20 years ago, so it's a bit faded, but not bad for it's age.

Typical 350 automatic, front buckets. The sale would include an extra set of doors which are in great shape, two extra sets of grills and one extra center piece between the grills. Original radio and other misc parts too.

I need to get some kind of idea as to the price so I don't end up selling it for a drastically low price.

The picture on my signature is the car in question.

Any thoughts?

Dan Wirth

My suggestion is to take a look at the NADA Price Guide and start from there. This guide lists Low, Medium and High prices for your car, depending on its condition and specific guidelines. You will want to read what Low, Medium and High means so you can make the right decision on a fair price. The extra parts that you have for the car may be a bonus and motivator for some prospective buyers, and should if possible (and if not too expensive to you) be considered as part of the sale. You may only want to include the parts that are more managable (smaller). I loved it when the seller of my Olds included an extra clock and heater valve assembly - it was free with my purchase.

Regards, Dan

Olds64

You should also check out Evil-bay and Craigslist to see what other cars like yours are selling for. Don't forget to check out the Chevelles, GTOs, LeMans, GS, etc. This will give you a good idea for a starting point. Plus, I think Dan is on the right track. Make sure the buyer understands the doors etc. are part of the deal. Why would you need Cutlass doors and extra grills if you are selling the car? They would just take up space in your garage.

Lady72nRob71

Good advice given - take it all.
Given your short description, looking at that one picture, and comparing yours to mine when I bought it, I would probably accept no less than 15K for it.

Here is a nada value I pulled for mine last year (3-08). Keep in mind location makes a difference too!
Hope this helps...

kaz442

I just sold my "72 442 conv. for $16500. It was not a numbers matching car by any means, there wasn't even a numbers matching body panel on the car. It was just a clean driver that was turn key. Two yrs ago I probably could have gotten $19-20k for it but times have changed. Its deffinitly a buyers market out there. JKaz

Muskego Jeff

It's the pricing on CL and Ebay which has me wondering. Seems like prices are all over the board, and many cars aren't selling. I just don't want to put it up on Ebay (or elsewhere) and get way under value just due to a sluggish economy. I'd much rather sit on it for sale for a few months than short-change myself on a quick sale.

All good food for thought, thanks!

RAMBOW

In my area, i've seen cutlass converts like yours advertised between $8-$15k

Many of The ones between $12-15k are still for sale months and months later.

The car market is not even close what it was 2-3 years ago, unless it is a rare specialty car.

joe_padavano

ASKING prices are meaningless. Ebay has an option under Advanced Search that lets you search completed auctions. You'll get everything from the last 30 days. You will find that the high dollar cars rarely meet reserve and are not sold. Also, note that some buy-it-now auctions will show completed with green (as opposed red that indicates "not sold") even though the item did not sell. Even more telling, cars that supposedly sold end up being relisted a few weeks later.

wmachine

Absolutely. Converts tend to have a more steady and higher dollar market, but they are understandably suffering in today's economic conditions.

As Joe says, you can pretty well not even look at the asking prices. Look under completed auction and ignore the ones that didn't sell. (Um, there's a reason they didn't sell.......)
If you decide to try Ebay, a reserve price will keep you from selling it for less than you want.
And I've always found NADA prices to be on the high side of real world prices. Plus if you look at the goofy options they "account for" and what premiums they give for certain options, you'll see that it can't be an really accurate measure.
That's why the bottom line is that it is worth what someone will pay for it.

jaunty75

For what it's worth, and it may not be much, the August '09 issue of the Old Cars Price Guide puts the value of a '72 Cutlass Supreme Convertible in #4 condition, which I would guess your car is better than, at $4,800, and it's puts one in #3 condition (a "20-footer"), which I would guess is better than your car, since you can probably see that the paint is faded and that rust you describe from more than 20 feet away, at $10,800. That's a relatively wide range, but, based on this, and based on your verbal description, your car is probably worth somewhere in the $6,000 to $8,000 range, give or take a few.

By the way, the guide puts one in #2 condition, which is just under showroom condition, at $16,800. A #1 condition car, which means it's better than showroom new and not driven, is valued at $24,000.

MN71W30

$4800 to $10,800 Seems like a more realistic estimate to me for a car with rust in usual places. I saw one sell locally for around $7000 that needed alot of work.

jaunty75

I think that if Muskego Jeff puts it up on eBay, he should put something like a $7,000 or $8,000 reserve, and if he gets that or more, he's cooking with natural gas!

Olds64

What good is a car that is never driven? Then it is just an overpriced piece of furniture.

My wife and I bought a 3 person overstuffed couch by Flexsteel with a lifetime warranty for less than $900.

jaunty75

But you have to think about the other side of this coin. If the doors and grilles that are currently on the car are OK, why would the buyer want the extras just to take up space in HIS garage? If the ones on the car are not ok, why doesn't Muskego Jeff put them on now to make the car more sellable and get rid of the poorer ones.

In other words, pushing unneeded parts onto the buyer as a requirement for the deal might might make the car less attractive, not more, particularly if the price is perceived to be higher than it would otherwise be. Remember, the guy interested in buying the car might say something like "I'll give you $9,000 for the car alone, $8,500 if you make me take the doors and grilles that I don't need along with it!"

Olds64

That is a decent point. However, I would think most of the time a person buying a classic car would be happy to get any extra parts he or she could. You never know when some stupid guy might bash your baby.

jaunty75

I've always thought the exact same thing, but there are certainly trailer queens out there. I know a guy who has an '04 (as in 1904) Curved Dash, which he trailered everywhere, which you might expect, and a '68 442 W-30 that he also never drove and trailered everywhere. He would start up the Curved Dash at car shows just so people could hear (and see) it run, and he would give people rides around the parking lot in it, but that was it for that car. As far as the 442, not only did he not drive it, but it was not stored on its wheels. It was always on jack stands just slightly lifted off the ground so that, while the tires did touch the ground, they did so just barely and would thus not develop a flat spot if sitting for a long time.

Of course, this fellow owned nine other Oldsmobiles, including three other 442s, two H/O's, and a Vista Cruiser, among others, so he could afford to keep the two he didn't drive in a hermetically-sealed container and still have enough other cars to drive around to keep him busy. But the point is, this is the kind of person who will have cars that he does not drive and for whom the value of a #1 condition car is of interest and relevant.

jaunty75

I would take them, too. However, if I were selling this car, I would price the parts separately. I would say something like "$9,000 for the car, and if you want the extra parts, $250 and you can have them as well." Or whatever those parts are worth. Plus, I would price the car high enough so that if a prospective buyer were to say "throw IN the parts and I'll take the car," I would say yes.

jaunty75

True, but not terribly comparable. The couch is meant to stay in one spot, and you can't drive it around if you wanted to. At the same time, a collector car cannot (easily) be put in your living room (and would probably drip all sorts of things that would not be good for that hardwood or carpeted floor!). Plus, your couch is brand new and could be easily replaced if it was lost in, say, a fire, while the car was made decades ago and could not easily be replaced.

Olds64

I can understand that. I would hope he entered it in a parade from time to time.

He should have taken the crank shaft out so it wouldn't start by mistake.

Good idea. That is the best of both worlds.

I guess so. I have seen sofas bolted to go cart frames however.

Our house does have french doors in the back. Conceivably I could get an Oldsmobile into my living room if I could turn it on its side. However, I already have an Oldsmobile wheel table in my living room and that is pushing my luck with the wife.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...utrements.html

True, but the couch is comfortable.

jaunty75

I don't think he went this far, but I do believe he not only kept the battery disconnected, he kept it out of the car altogether. No chance of battery acid getting out and gumming something up. With cars from those days, there is no need to worry about the radio station presets being lost or the engine computer needing to relearn all its mixture settings!

Muskego Jeff

Again, all good thoughts (well, most of 'em anyway!).

In an interesting twist, I ran into an old friend who grew up around the corner from me. He remembered this car from when my brother owned it 15 years ago and always coveted it.

Decades after growing up 1/2 mile from each other we now are now both in a different city about 1 mile from each other, and our kids go to school together. We ran into each other at the school recently and he and his wife are interested in the car.

I've seen what he can do with cars and would be thrilled to sell the Olds to a friend who I know will take care of it and get it back into shape.

If they want it I'll give them the option of buying with or without the extra doors. Considering the extra doors are rust-free and still covered with the original paint my guess is that he'll jump on 'em. If not, I'm sure they'll be easy to sell elsewhere.

Muskego Jeff

Well, my buddy looked at it and liked it, but the timing just isn't going to work for him. I've decided that it'll be put up for sale on e-bay with a reserve using the information above. I've put together a photo-bucket of additional pictures. If anybody is bored enough to take a look at them and give me some feedback I'd greatly appreciate it.

I know this isn't the best time to sell a car like this, but in the past two years I've put less than one tank of gas through it, and I've actually got the ok from my wife to buy an enduro motorcycle with part of the proceeds. Now that's something I'd get some use out of!

http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/u...ff_christbaum/

Olds64

Good luck selling it!