Broken Clamshell, should I still buy it?

I'm thinking about buying a '71 Pontiac Catalina Safari but the clamshell does not work. The tailgate goes down very slowly and goes up even slower. The glass doesn't work at all. The rest of the car is OK and the price that I can get it for is pretty good, but the clamshell is the 'wow' factor on this car and I don't even want to think what it will take($$$) to fix it. It has been years since I've tired out my mechanical ability and my neighborhood seriously frowns on having cars in pieces in front of your house. What do you think?

http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/cto/3537105016.html

 

Look at the pics carefully the back corner pass side you can tell it's been leaking right under there is your window mechanizm probly rotted the ground off or rusted the motor up. Or the switch is over there too and could simply be corrosion on that. i have parts for that.

also i call total BS on the milage claim look at the steering colum,drivers arm rest and the pedals. Doesn't have full guages either it's worth about what i paid for my buick BEFORE i redid the whole car 2800 to 3500 tops. i would like to see a straight on of the odometer too thats a dead giveaway also. I would guess with the door working if you lubed it up good and wd-40'd the moter it would work better the more u use it but i would do like vetterman did and have it rebuilt,i have one of those too very similar to an electric power window motor

 

Here's the thread where this wagon was previously discussed:

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23140&highlight=1971+Pontiac+Catalina

 

I'm not that sure about the mileage either, the guy who has it is selling it for the original owner and has a pile of paperwork from the time the car was purchased until the owner wasn't able to drive it anymore. I looked at some of the paperwork but unless I went through it all there is no way to tell about the mileage for sure. It is possible the mileage is correct but I'm assuming it is not. I'm just mostly concerned about the clamshell not working, that's what really makes these cars stand out.

 

Knowing that someone from the Forums was thinking about this one, I looked more carefully at the photos. Bring a magnet! I cannot tell off hand if it is the angle of the car, or my computer screen or the car itself, but there would seem to be something up with the passenger rear door. The body crease about a foot up from the bottom of the car does not seem to match the one on the driver's side, and the rocker molding under the front passenger door seems to be slightly twisted. I may well be wrong, but something about this car has been sending up caution signals since the first time I saw it. Something just doesn't see quite right about it. That, plus the fact that it is parked with 3 wheels on pavement and one of the grass, so the stance is impossible to see properly. If you decide to go ahead, check it over very carefully for accident damage. I suspect you will find evidence of major repairs on the passenger side.

 

check the door bottoms,bottom rear of the fenders and 1/4 panels especially by the gas tank on the bottom and the front of the 1/4's in the dog leg area

 

Watch out for shotgun shells in the tailgate!!! Hehe.

I was pretty intimidated by the clamshell tailgate, but after looking at Wixom's link that was posted above in this thread I took mine apart. In reality, the concept of a tailgate going into the body is tricky but the application is pretty simple and straightforward.

If you'd like to see some of the problem areas on these cars you can check out my thread:
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19936

As I mentioned in the other thread, my dad sold these cars new (he actually told me a story about going to Atlanta at picking up a Caprice wagon and a Pontiac wagon and he and the guy raced them on the way back, getting up to, I think he said, 110 miles per hour). He said that back then the Catalina wagon, which was a lower trim package, often times came with cloth front seats and vinyl rear seats.

If you see my build thread you'll see that my window motor had been badly damaged with water but was able to be rebuilt.

The bottom of the spare tire indention should be black, so I would expect a repaint. It's hard to say from the pictures, but I think considering the condition of most clamshells today this one looks pretty good, as long as it isn't hiding a lot of stuff. Try finding another '71 clamshell and I think you'll find not only will you have to wait a while, if you find one it will either be in pretty bad shape or completely restored and they'll be asking a lot more. I think, and this is just my opinion so keep in mind others may disagree with me, that finding a decent, driver condition clamshell is pretty difficult and to me it's a pretty good find, especially if he came down on the price any.

I wish mine had that trailer hitch.

 

Thanks for the all the input and information. I just talked to the seller and the car is sold. It sold for more than I would have paid so I don't feel too let down. The car is going to South Carolina so perhaps it is one of the members here. I put some real thought into buying this car but the bottom line for me is it just wasn't in as good shape as the ad and the pictures made it seem. I was actually a little disappointed when I first saw the car in person. Oh well, I'll keep looking around and see what pops up next.

 

I was curious when I saw the ad. What things in person were there that didn't show up in the phots?


Brandon

 

The car looks great. I don't Know if it's worth that kind of money though (just my 2 cents) (I like what Vetteman said about the shotgun shell.) Is the seller entertaining offers?

 

I think I just got my expectations up too high so that by the time I went to see it, it was disappointing. For a one owner, low mileage car I just wasn't expecting it to be so worn out. The emerging rust and the rust that was inside the doors were a concern, the interior was in bad shape except for the seats and of course the clamshell problem. It still was a pretty decent car and I have a little regret that I didn't buy it because 1971 Pontiacs are getting rare, but you never know what might show up next.

 

Ah, I see. I was wondering about what rust issues it might have that couldn't be seen in the photos. Just curious. Thanks for the reply.


Brandon