1977 Oldsmobile Toronado XS

Discussion in 'Car & Truck Talk' started by jaunty75, Sep 7, 2019.

  1. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    This one doesn't look too bad, although it does have an issue in the front filler panel just below the headlights on the passenger side (second photo). But overall, I like it, and I've decided to go for it as I want a '77 Toronado XS to go with my '78 XS. This one is in the Phoenix area, which is not too far away from me, relatively speaking.

    He's got a reserve, and I put $5,000 on it, but the reserve is still not met, so me actually ending up with the car seems unlikely unless either his reserve is not much more than this or he decides to lower it. I really don't think the car is worth much more than that given the issues it has, but if he's one of these sellers who thinks his car is worth $20K, it's all over as far as I'm concerned.

    But, at the moment, I have no idea what the reserve is. I'm going to send him an email and ask if he'll reveal it. I'd like to know if my bid is a few dollars or many thousands of dollars short of what he wants for it. If the latter, there's no point in me wasting time on it.

    The photos are not the best, but, from the auction description, he sounds like he could be 85 years old, so I forgive him.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/143375708360?ul_noapp=true&autorefresh=true

    photo 01.jpg


    photo 07.jpg
     
  2. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    Messages:
    14,928
    Likes Received:
    2,950
    Trophy Points:
    710
    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I once saw an Eldo in that color (with green vinyl roof and dark green interior), and it was quite striking up close and personal.
     
  3. jwdtenn

    jwdtenn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2011
    Messages:
    21,287
    Likes Received:
    1,414
    Trophy Points:
    746
    Location:
    Nashville
    That green was a GM factory paint color for 1977, but to my memory it usually appeared in much lower level models.

    The lack of any factory body side moldings also does not seem correct.

    Is AC supposed to be operative? That is not mentioned in the ad. Potentially expensive repair.
     
  4. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    Here's the 1977 Olds color paint chip chart. It's not the easiest to see, but it looks like this car is #44, second column, bottom, "medium green poly."

    1977-oldsmobile-pg01.jpg

    You are correct. There should be side moldings. Possibly the car was repainted and they weren't replaced.

    Not specifically, but he does say this:
    One would assume that "everything" includes the air conditioning, but who knows?


    As of this writing, I have not gotten a response to my question about the reserve. I'm still the high bidder, but bidding by others has pushed the current high bid to $4550. The reserve is not met, though, so this probably doesn't mean much. We'll wait him out.
     
  5. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    An update. I sent the seller questions about the air-conditioning and body side moldings. He says that, in fact, the A/C does not work. I didn't tell him this, but he shouldn't be claiming that "everything works" when, in fact, a major system like the A/C does not.

    He said the body side moldings are in the trunk, and he doesn't know why they were removed. Weird.

    He also said, without my prompting, that the inside rearview mirror is in the trunk as well. I didn't notice before because, as I've noted, his photos are not very good, but the windshield-mounted rearview mirror is actually missing in the few photos where you should be able to see it.

    I don't consider any of these really show stoppers. It is not uncommon for A/C systems not to work on cars this old, and lord knows I've had issues with getting the A/C to work on my '78. The rearview mirror is nothing as I had to remove and replace the mirror in my '78 because the original mirror reflective surface was degraded. I found a perfect, OEM-look replacement at Amazon for $17. The body side moldings shouldn't be too much of an issue to replace. The important thing is that they're there. Given that they're already off the car, if they need it at all (and assuming I win the auction, of course), I could repaint them before reinstalling them.


    Another weirdness. I asked him what his reserve price is, and he said it is "slightly under $5,000." My high bid is $5,100, and ebay automatically jumps the bid price to the reserve if anyone submits a maximum bid that equals or exceeds the reserve on a reserve-price auction. But ebay still shows that the reserve has not been met. I sent him a note telling him this asking him to check and make sure the reserve is set at what he thinks it is.

    It took him 24 hours, but at least the guy replied to my questions.
     
  6. jwdtenn

    jwdtenn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2011
    Messages:
    21,287
    Likes Received:
    1,414
    Trophy Points:
    746
    Location:
    Nashville
    I know you want a '77 XS but this '78 looks like a far better original prospect and better priced too.

    You could always switch out the grille for a '77 - I don't know of any other real difference. :biglaugh:

    Don't care for the Continental-style trunk lid, but that is an easy fix as well.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/254354100025

    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2019
  7. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    I saw that one, and, no, I don't like the trunk lid, either. I don't want another '78, I want a '77 to complement the '78. There are differences between the two in several areas. One is in the electronic ignition system. There are some differences in the power sunroof design, even though the sunroofs outwardly look the same between the two years.

    There's also a difference in the rear side-marker light location.

    On the '77s, the side marker light is built into the side of the chrome trim piece on the fender extension.

    Capter 3 - cropped.JPG


    On the '78s, it's built into the rear quarter panel in alignment with the trim strip.

    photo 27 - cropped.jpg


    But, overall, yes, the two model years are substantially the same.


    Nothing new on the auction as of the moment. The seller has not responded to my question as to why the reserve is still not being shown as having been met if his reserve is "just under $5,000," as he put it, and my high bid is just over $5,000. I think the seller is a true amateur at selling on ebay (his feedback is zero, and he just registered on ebay on August 29) and may very well have input his reserve price incorrectly, maybe typing $49,000 when he meant $4,900 or something like that. Whatever. The auction ends Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, and I assume everything will come out in the wash at that time.
     
  8. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    I've been outbid. The high bid is now $5200, which is clearly over $5000, yet the reserve is still shown as not met despite what the seller told me about what the reserve price is. I do not plan to raise my bid any higher for now. Let's see how the auction comes to an end.
     
  9. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    OK, this auction has just taken the weirdest turn. It is now completely gone from the ebay site. I went back just now to see if the bidding had changed, and the listing does not appear on "my ebay" anywhere. If I search under "1977 Oldsmobile Toronado," it does not turn up, not even under the "completed listings." If I go back to an earlier email I received from ebay alerting me to the listing and click on it, I just get an ebay "page not found" error. Very strange.

    Usually, when an auction is ended early for whatever reason, you can usually still find it under the completed listings. But it's as though this one never existed.

    I'm wondering if the seller, who was a rookie, realized the error of his ways with regard to the setting of the reserve and canceled the auction somehow. Maybe he'll relist it.
     
  10. cammerjeff

    cammerjeff Longroofs Rule!

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2008
    Messages:
    5,187
    Likes Received:
    904
    Trophy Points:
    427
    Location:
    Belleville, MI
    That is odd, even the 1 time I had to cancel an auction due to a mistake on my part the auction number still brought up the canceled auction, but that was about 10 years ago, so who knows what they have done to the system sense then?
     
  11. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    It continues to be weird. Even though the auction is gone, the messages I exchanged with the seller where I was asking him several questions were still in the "My Messages" section of My eBay. I thought I would reply again to one of his responses and just ask him what happened to the auction. But ebay wouldn't let me. It said I was trying to communicate "about an invalid item." Ebay really seems to want this auction expunged from the universe.
     
  12. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    Messages:
    14,928
    Likes Received:
    2,950
    Trophy Points:
    710
    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Perhaps they found a dirtbag fraudulent thief.
     
  13. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    5,845
    Likes Received:
    750
    Trophy Points:
    295
    Location:
    Southeast Michigan
    I searched the ebay site under the terms "dirtbag fraudulent thief," but it turned up nothing.
     
  14. Leadslead

    Leadslead Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2016
    Messages:
    799
    Likes Received:
    328
    Trophy Points:
    166
    Ebay sellers have the right to sell the vehicle locally, and can pull the ad if the vehicle sells with no repercussions from ebay.
    I dont know if that is the case here, or if they pull the whole history of the ad if they do sell it locally or not.
    But thats my 2 cents of input.
     
  15. KevinVarnes

    KevinVarnes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2010
    Messages:
    3,028
    Likes Received:
    310
    Trophy Points:
    195
    Wagon Garage:
    1
    Location:
    Grand Rapids, MI
    They can end the auction early if they want for various reasons, but I've never seen an auction completely disappear like that. You can usually view an auction after it has ended even if they ended it early.
     

Share This Page