Are station wagons catching on with collectors or not ? This is a good looking and now rare car and the bidding stops at 8k. Maybe collectors are more interested in recapturing their youth (muscle cars/convertibles) but not so much their childhood (being driven by parents in the wagon). Could we wagon lovers have had happier than average childhoods ?
While this Olds was a super clean wagon, it lacked the appeal to bring the big dollars we have seen with other auctions. First, it was just a F85, not the highly sought after Vista Cruiser. It was sparsely appointed; most money cars have A/C and power options. Also color, and the appeal of woodgrain add to the value. Basic beige is well, boring. Throw in some needed upholstery work and $8000 was not unreasonable. Compare this to the ‘68 Caprice also on BAT, which exudes sexiness and you can see why the Caprice is bringing in bids 4x the Olds.
I just don't think this car shows very well in the pictures. You can see in a couple of pictures that the paint work looks pretty good, but it doesn't show in a majority of the pictures. If it were mine I'd replace the rubber mat with carpeting and have the seat fixed. That would make the interior look loads better. An engine detailing wouldn't hurt either. I also think it looks better with the dog dishes and black wall tires. Overall the car just looks blah in most of the pictures. I'd bet it looks better in person.
That design was always ill-fated to end up blah-blah. Those colors don't do it justice, either. At least, he tries much harder to make it presentable than most sellers. Especially the ebayers and Craiglisters. My dad bought the '67 F-85 and it was also blah-blah, compared to the upper class Cutlasses. It was a dependable car, though. It never gave us trouble