1974 Pontiac Grand Safari

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Auctions, Craigs List and Other Stat' started by jwdtenn, Dec 23, 2021.

  1. jwdtenn

    jwdtenn Well-Known Member

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  2. Krash Kadillak

    Krash Kadillak Well-Known Member

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    Is a VERY NICE 'clam shell' worth in the area of $50,000?

    I guess we'll find out. Personally, I think the N.A.D.A. guide prices he quotes are not an accurate indication of market value. They're more an accurate indication of what the N.A.D.A. WANTS car values to be.
     
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  3. wagon1

    wagon1 Active Member

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    It's a nice car, but I'm not sure about those dreamer numbers.
     
  4. jwdtenn

    jwdtenn Well-Known Member

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    The market will tell seller/owner what it thinks as to value. :scratchchin:
     
  5. Edv96buick

    Edv96buick Well-Known Member

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    My guess is mid to high teens. But who knows today…depends on the audience
     
  6. Bigboats34

    Bigboats34 Well-Known Member

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    There must be some skewed data on 74 Pontiacs in the NADA system. The picture below is current NADA of arguably the most desirable clamshell wagon, a 1976 Caprice Estate w/454 and A/C. High retail shows $22K which is definitely low in today’s market.

    The final bid price on this non-woodgrain, 6-passenger, 74 Pontiac on eBay will probably start with a 2 not a 3 or a 4 . 2D3CF3F4-4536-4145-BE04-3FEF4C70CE58.jpeg
     
  7. wagon1

    wagon1 Active Member

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  8. Bigboats34

    Bigboats34 Well-Known Member

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    Correct, I remember that one. Unknown mileage, not functional A/C, and the tailgate mechanism needed attention. Probably lots of emotions in that BAT auction for that car to sell for $36k. The color combo was awesome on that car.
     
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  9. 60Mercman

    60Mercman Well-Known Member

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    That tailgate demonstration film was awful. Pushing up on the trim to get it to line up. And his nonchalant attitude that this is what everyone goes through.
     
  10. wagon1

    wagon1 Active Member

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    tailgate demonstration?
     
  11. Edv96buick

    Edv96buick Well-Known Member

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    Yes he is speaking of the video in the link you posted to that 73 on BAT. It’s terrible…I wouldn’t even know where to start to fix that issue…much less source parts. And yes…he acts like it is simply “46 year old technology”.
     
  12. elB

    elB Well-Known Member

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    He's partly correct, the tailgate bars are not super well reinforced so practically every single one of these wagons that has had their tailgate used considerably or lube dry out has this problem. The way to fix it is to disassemble the ENTIRE tailgate assembly and weld up the broken pieces and reinforce them to prevent re-occurrence. There's a guy on the site here who did this some years ago and documented it in photos, it is not a trivial thing to do but if you are crafty with metal fab or welding it's very doable (I am neither). Ultimately though, a good amount of lube helps prevent this from happening too much. These tailgates were complicated back in the day and many cars were scrapped after a rear-ending simply because dealer mechanics and body shops couldn't easily fix them. After almost 50 years, these cars have not aged well because of this design flaw AND because they were worthless and not desired for decades, leading to a lot of abuse and neglect until the last 5-10 years when they suddenly became valuable. The *real* problem with these cars is the weatherstripping for the tailgate: it isn't available and the last time I saw a NOS piece for sale it went for like $1500 almost 10 years ago. No plans by any rubber house to reproduce it either because very few to no good examples are left and no one wants to pony up the money to get it made.

    I got to the point on mine (with unbroken assembly) that I just opened the glass and avoided using the tailgate as much as possible. Plenty of lube made it work smoothly when it needed to be. I personally prefer the manual tailgate\power glass combo over the power tailgate\glass combo because it was MUCH less complicated and less susceptible to these problems.

    That said, for the amount this car went for I'd expect better performance and less "oh well lol" from the seller.
     
  13. Edv96buick

    Edv96buick Well-Known Member

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    I understand, so I guess it comes down to if it were properly maintained as to how long the tailgate system would last. Maintained properly I guess it could last a good while, but if not failure could be premature. Remember, Cars weren’t really meant to last longer than 10 years back in the day. A lot of them would have rust holes in them before they were five years old, paint jobs would not last very long either. That is how Macco and Earl Scheib shops came to be. So I guess the tailgates didn’t really need to last all that long. I can tell you one thing though, I only owned one clamshell in my life and it was a 1971 townsman wagon that my dad bought new and we owned it up until about 1983. We never had any trouble with the tailgate but as being a lower model car it had the manual gate which you have said was more reliable. and believe me, my dad was not a car guy and did not take good care of this car. He used it well and hauled a lot of stuff with it, almost like a truck.
     
  14. wagon1

    wagon1 Active Member

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    you are right! How ridiculous ( push on the trim!) :
     
  15. jwdtenn

    jwdtenn Well-Known Member

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    Bidding ended at $9600 - reserve not met.
     

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