Well, hi everyone! My name is Virginia, I am 22 years old, and I have just inherited my grandmothers 1973 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser. All of it is original, has about 53,800 original miles on it. Beautiful red color, interior still in perfect shape. Not gonna lie this car is in perfect shape. While it does need a tiny bit of work, like putting new gas in it and cleaning out the engine bay but for the most part it's perfect! Not that I'm thinking of selling it, but how much is one of these cars, with as low mileage on it, worth? I try to look around online but never find any good answers...Well, have a good day!!

 

sounds like a great car welcome to the site.

 

Welcome, we play well with girls too. Pic's are a requirement!

 

of the car im sure you mean

 

Not too often we see a 73 Custom Cruiser here. Love to see what it looks like. What options does it have.
OOOOPS. Sorry for my bad manners, Hello Virginia - Welcome to C.O.

For the rest of us - SEE? When you find a girl named Virginia with an Oldsmobile? That proves there's also a Santa Claus !

 

Welcome , pics , we love pics.

 

Of course of the car!!!!

 

Welcome from a fellow newbie!

 

I drove a 76 custom cruiser. It was really..........really big! Welcome.

Lee

 

Welcome aboard! Love those Custom Cruisers. I think I remember every one I ever met!

 

Had a 73 CC - I think it was the biggest car I've driven. Only thing I didn't like was the 225hp 455. Don't think I ever got more than 14 mpg with it. Fuel gage gave me a false sense of security. Stayed on Full for over a 100 miles, then it started dropping like a rock. When you had 1/4 tank? It was more like 1/10 tank...

 

Welcome to CO

 

Wow. I'm envious. Original to the family. Very nice.

I have one of these, too, but it has 105,000 miles on it. Photos are below. I purchased mine from the family of the original owner in early 2010.

Is yours all red, or is it red with a white top? I learned to drive on a '73 Custom Cruiser (which tells you that I'm a little older than 22) we owned at that time. It was maroon with white top and had woodgrain sides.

Please post photos of your car when you can.


As far as value, a car like this, in spite of its condition, doesn't really command a premium price because there just isn't that great an overall interest in station wagons. In #3 condition ("car show" condition but not showroom condition), the Old Cars Price Guide puts the value of one of these wagons at $4,000 to $4,500, depending on whether it's two or three-seat and whether or not it's the "standard" or "deluxe" version of the wagon. Mine is the non-deluxe version, I think.

That doesn't mean, though, that there isn't a following for them. You might wander over to stationwagonforums.com and sign in. A few people with wagons on here are over there as well. You might also think about joining the International Station Wagon Club:

http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/website...?username=iswc

They have a yearly meet, usually somewhere in the northeastern part of the U.S., in late July. This year they'll be in Massachusetts.

 

Dam that car is HUGE! Whats that thing weigh?
Pretty cool though...
Steve...

 

The book says 5,177 lbs for the 3-seat (which mine is) and 5,058 for the two-seat. Both were the heaviest Oldsmobiles available, and both were the only Olds's to top 5,000 lbs.

But these aren't the heaviest they ever got. The heaviest of the '71-'76 era Custom Cruisers was the '74 three-seat, which came in at 5,300 lbs. The '75 and '76 versions were less but still over 5,000 lbs.

 

Glad to have you with us. Sandy the other main gal on the site will be happy to have another Olds gal among us. Lets see those pictures

 

Other than feeding it, you'll grow to love your big wagon. I had a 76 as a DD years ago and still drive a 78 CC- though it's nowhere near as huge as the 71-76.

I sometimes wish I could find a nice early 70s Cruiser. Only thing I would not want on it is power tailgate. I think power window and manual gate would be the way to go with these. Not that the one on me 76 ever acted up...

May I suggest Oldsmobile Club of America www.oldsclub.org and AACA www.aaca.org memberships? You and your Cruiser would make a great story for the OCA monthly magazine Journey With Olds. Its editor, Brad Bishop, is on here every so often.

**

I had a great aunt named Virginia who went by Virgie. Virgie always had Buicks... I remember one in particular she had when I was a little kid- a big black 1951 Roadmaster. She'd have felt right at home in a Custom Cruiser after driving those Buick behemoths. She was an admissions officer for Duke University and it was always her dream that all her nieces and nephews would attend Duke. Two things got in my way- money and grades.

She died over 40 years ago, but two things I remember about Virgie were her Buicks and her Viceroy cigarettes- her husband was a buyer for Brown & Williamson Tobacco, so it was a natural she would smoke a B&W product. And yes, I have family ties to the W part of B&W.

 

Yes

Yeah that too

Welcome to the site

 

hello, virginia my name is kevin, im 22 as well, and started driving oldsmobiles when I was 16. Though not quite so big, i started with a 70 cutlass supreme, then started trading my way up the rocket ladder to 442s and W-machines. Thats pretty cool that you were able to get your grandmothers olds, I would like to see some pictures of it,and does it have a 455? you normally dont see to many nice later model wagons especially with girl owners lol. good luck with your new car.

 

Welcome, Virginia!

- Eric

 

Hi Virginia, welcome to CO! I'm sure that your car is beautiful and love to see pictures! My daily ride happens to be a '92 CC, I love it. I have to ask, does your Cruiser have the same ultra rare rear quarter light pole beacon option that Jaunty75's example has!!??: Again welcome, lots of fun characters here.

 

Yes, welcome indeed! You will find plenty of friendly Olds folk here.

It is good to see both folks in their 20's, and females with an interest in old cars here. Maybe their is hope for the hobby yet?

 

Welcome aboard Va.

 

Yes, Santa Claus, there IS a Virginia.

 

geeeesh....I did not get that many "welcomes" when I joined...........

 

Welcome to our site! Such a big ole boat for such a young girl, lol! It's sooooo cool that it's been in your family all these years! Can't wait to see pics!

 

Welcome Virginia from across the pond.

I guess you've figured by now we want you to keep the car.
You'll find plenty of helpful advice to that end on this forum, let's see some pics please.

Hope you enjoy your car.

Roger.

 

Here's a song for you Virgie- cue up about 1:15 and have a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7tFeVLNH5E

 

Tooo funny - She's got a BIIIGGG Oldsmobile. You must really know your lyrics to pull that one out of the hat.

I was going to suggest something more like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=bltdZ8b7NVc

 

Welcome aboard Virginia You may want to keep the Custom Cruiser, it's a lot safer than these compact cars nowadays. Just saying...

 

Long Live the "Long Roofs"

Good luck with the car and welcome.

 

Welcome aboard, from Downunder.

John

 

Well thanks everyone! I'm surprised by all the comments on here.

I'll definitely have to get pics up when I get a good enough camera to take good enough pictures of my boat lol.

A little back story on the car and my family. My grand parents bought the car brand new in '73, they needed such a big car for such a big family. Well, I think in '75 my grandma, also named Virginia, was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in '77, she only got to drive it around for a few years, so that explains the low mileage. For the most part my great uncle Sam kept it in a barn for many, many years until around...2004 I believe, for a parade in my great grandmothers honor for turning 103 years old, in Condon, Oregon.

My uncle Sam finally towed it all the way down to Ontario, Oregon, where I currently am. And my dad was going to give it to my little brother to drive to-and-from school, but to save it from high school students from wrecking into it in a tiny parking lot I took the car off their hands. Currently, I don't know what to do with such a huge car, but I would love to keep it in the family.

I will get pics up soon, promise! lol

Thanks everyone for the welcome, it's pretty neat lol.

 

lol awww, a little envious i think???

 

Hahaha, I think we're all a little envious...

There are actually alot of younger guys on here and everyone is super helpful, when i started in college with my cutlass 3 years ago, i honestly didnt know much.

If you have trouble with the car, post lots of pictures and note everything that you hear/see. These folks will keep your car purring for another 40 years guaranteed.

I'm in much the same situation as you, my grandpa always talked about his "first cutlass" for my whole life, finally 3 years ago i bought my own, so i'm fixing it up and going to give it to my old man for his 60th birthday.

 

lol dang this is a lot of replies, could you imagine if she had a w30 or a hurst/olds!

 

Your story alone makes that car worth hanging on to.

 

Welcome Virginia, from Germany!
As you can see at the warm welcome, the guys here are really very helpful and friendly!
Enjoy your car! :-)

 

$4500.00

 

when i get a chance i will post pictures i promise lol