1971 Buick Estate Wagon

For sale in Wisconsin on craigslist. Looks good but I would want to see the undercarriage and floors.

http://lacrosse.craigslist.org/cto/3072021989.html

 

Hmm, vinyl or painted top? Engine compartment looks good, shows regular dirt from use but no major leaks. AC comp is hooked up, maybe it just needs charging? Doesn;t seem to have a locked up compressor or bad clutch from pic? Low miles and no rust showing on firewall or inner fenders(topside anyhow). Maybe it was put up in winter time up there? Might be a good deal for someone.

 

I just emailed them, Brad. Told them where I was from....see if they respond. I'm not too far from this car....if I get a response I will let you know. Yeah...that's a vinyl roof. Prone to rust under those. Looks good for a Wisconsin car....I don't like the way he cut off the bottom of the rear bumper in the pic of the rear end....that's where a lot of WI cars show salt rust. Anyway...we'll see if I get an answer since I am here in WI and about an hour and a half away. Been 8 days, though...might be sold.

 

I emailed the seller and got a response which said, "There's very little rust. The frame is solid as are the floorboards. There's some minor bubbling on the rear quarters."

 

Looks nice. A guy at work argued with me yesterday that only the Oldsmobile had the 455 and that all other GM's had the 454. I wish I would have had this ad lol.

 

Careful on your phrasing here. The various GM divisions had A 455, but not THE 455 as each division's engine, while the same or similar in displacement, was completely different from the others in all other respects and had no interchangeable parts. I do believe, also, that the largest Chevy engine was a 454, one cubic-inch less, while Buick and Pontiac each had a 455, just like Olds.

 

My point was that you can order a Buick, Olds, or Pontiac with a 455 in the day. Regardless on how this guy wanted to split hairs, it was still a 455.

 

Yes! You are correct sir! Back in the day, each division had their own unique big blocks. 455's for BOP and 454 for the bow tie crowd. Cadillac had a 429 from about 65(?)to 67 then went to a 472 from 68 on. Some Cadillacs even had a 500 cid engine.

 

Email sent to you, Brad.

 

I have a theory. Probably dead wrong, but....since I feel that the seller seems to be hiding the bottom of that rear bumper and since he answered CCfan's email and did not answer Brads email or mine....I'm thinking maybe he only answers emails from a long distance away so the car has to be shipped without a close inspection. Brad is in Ohio which is not a stretch for him to look at the car in person, at least in the seller's mind, and I'm an hour and a half away from the car. CCfan is in California. Some seller's get the idea that they will find a buyer that will not send someone to look and he may believe he can fake a buyer out with pix. I can think of no other reason that he would answer CCfan in CA and not Brad in OH or me in WI. I'm probably wrong.

 

Could be, Silverfox. In my case, the seller explained his delayed response was due to an out-of-town emergency. He could have been called away again, perhaps? And I don't think I mentioned my location. He did provide pics and offered to take more if there was a particular area I was interested in. But what was sent looked too much like the recent '71 Custom Cruiser (also located in Wisconsin) to pursuade me to ask for more.

 

Thanks for the info CCfan....sounds like maybe I was wrong....imagine that.

Yes....if you can see exterior rust in the usual places on a WI car...it's history.