1972 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Oldsmobile-Custom-Cruiser/273145048411?_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIM.MBE&ao=1&asc=20150313114020&meid=c822af28aaf44ccb935a30e02f1cb1ff&pid=100338&rk=1&rkt=4&sd=123064660244&itm=273145048411&_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726

 

It's in South Dakota? What on earth? I'd have thought this car was in Nevada or Arkansas based on the amount of exposed metal without rust and the heavily cracked dash.

 

We've seen worse. It is well-optioned. But the car needs everything. I think his $3200 starting bid is a little high, and the rest of the world seems to agree so far as, after 2.5 days into a 5-day auction (as of this writing), he has no bids. $2000 would be reasonable for this car.

 

Yes but isn't it in derby territory at $2k?

 

So what. A car is worth what it's worth. He may be trying to keep it out of the hands of derbyists by setting the price high, but if it doesn't sell, what has he accomplished? If he needs it gone, he needs it gone, and he needs to price it accordingly. We can't save them all.

For a car to be saved from the derbyists, it needs to attract the interest of someone willing to buy it and use it/restore it. Frankly, were I in the market for a wagon, I wouldn't buy this one even if he was asking only $500 for it. As I said above, it needs everything, much of which will be hard to find if it is station-wagon specific. To be generous, it's a total mess. Better examples are out there for money similar to what he's asking, and, in the restoration business, it's always better to start out with as good a quality car as you can find. If I were restoring another '72, this one would possibly make a decent parts car.

 

That's the Great Plains where it's dry and there's comparitively little rainfall.
There's some rot. But, then again, it's not a desert car. Still, I think it's too good for Derbyists. He sounds fearful of it getting into the wrong hands. If he could be convinced that it will get restored, I'm sure he'd cut a fair deal. Maybe, give him a high deposit, under conditions that he refund the difference, once the car is set roadworthy. Put it in writing, making it all legally binding. What's under the rocker panel trim looks worrying, though:

 

I don't understand these ideas of selling a car with strings attached. If I buy a car, it's MINE. If I want to cut it up and make flower pots out of it, that's my business and no one else's, and I don't owe an explanation to the seller or anyone else. If a seller is going to require me to sign a piece of paper promising to do this or that or not to do this or that, I'll walk out the door so fast it would make your head spin. And by the same token, if you buy a car from me, so long as your money is green, you can do whatever you want with it. I don't want to ever see you or the car again.

 

That's why he's warning you, before you enter the door.
I suppose, if older cars were abundant, people wouldn't be so dedicated to putting obstacles in the way of Derbyists. Since Derbyists have so much spare time and expendable income, why don't they just use some of that ill-spent energy of theirs putting together rotted bodies on rotted frames or better yet order new cars for derbies?
I'm still devestated over that museum '59 Impala they used for a crash test against a 2005 Chevelle, back then

 

It wasn't a museum quality 59, according to this article; it was a solid survivor they wrecked into an 09 model.

Source: https://jalopnik.com/5364071/yes-the-iihs-crashed-59-chevy-had-an-engine

 

Okay. What I read at another site was exagerated, then. That's the internet, for ya'

 

I ended up buying this one last weekend. Sadly it will probably be a derby car.

 

One of the things I cannot understand is why whatever sanctioning body the derbyists have, do they let these big behemoths run around in a derby with say an early 2000s Impala or LaCrosse or such. Heck even a last gen Panther. You would think if they outlawed Imperials and the such, somebody would figure out that these GM clamshells aren't really fair game to run in a derby.

It just seems unfair to me.....

 

I thought some places did outlaw them. Guess it's not universal however.