1973 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olds-wagon-...town-455-/161450328336?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

 

Car is missing the side spear trim that runs nearly the length of the car on both sides from a slightly ahead of the front door to the tail lights.

Three pretty lousy photos is the best he can do?


A few statements in the listing caught my eye:

"21 feet 6 inches long." This is a selling point?

"Two Seat: which fewer were made than the 3rd seat option model." Turning lemons into lemonade.

"Most options work and some need a blessing for assistance." Who does the blessing, and which options need it?

"will answer e-mails through Ebay only .....If I am flooded, then Next day response is all I can try." If I am "flooded?" Does he expect to be inundated with emails about this car?

"was told that it came from California and was built in California." You can determine in a second where it was built from either the VIN or the body cowl tag.

"Stitching separated on front seat bottom, foam is okay. The vinyl is dry but intact. Dash not cracked but some interior chrome has faded." So how about posting a photo or two of this!!!

 

Isn't the Custom Cruiser badges in the wrong location as well? Well one of them anyway, the other looks torn off. I thought these were on the front fenders on these cars.

 

I would be shocked if this one reached $4000.

 

Yes and no. You are correct that the badges are in the wrong place, but they should be in the rear of the car if the car does not have woodgrain siding. On the ebay car, the left side badging is too high as it's above the side marker light, not forward of it.




and the right side badging does look, as you say, like it's not there at all.





For a car with no woodgrain siding, the Custom Cruiser badging should be just forward of the rear side marker lights, and the chrome spear I was talking about in my earlier post should be above that and running along the side of the car to just forward of the front door. Note the locations of the badging and trim on my car:





On a '73 Custom Cruiser WITH woodgrain siding, the Custom Cruiser badges are just forward of the front door opening on each side as can be seen in this photo:

 

I also just noticed that this car is missing part of the luggage rack. It has the on-roof spears, but it's missing the rack itself.




I don't think Custom Cruisers that came without luggage racks had anything on the roof, so they wouldn't have those spears.

 

I see! Thanks.

 

I happened to find an acupuncturist's illustration (or is it from a illustrated parts catalog? ) of the 1973 Custom Cruiser, and it suggests the script may be placed correctly on this wagon.

 

That diagram is incorrect. First, it shows only woodgraind-sided cars. Second, there was never a badge above the woodgrain towards the rear, only one just behind the front wheels on each side ahead of the front doors. The diagram shows badges at two locations along the side, front and rear, and no Custom Cruiser ever had that. The arrangement of the badging and side-spear trim as shown on my car as I showed above is what it should look like.

The manuals that included these exploded-view diagrams were often published very early in the model year, usually before the cars entered production, and they often contain illustrations of things, including actual model names (in one case I know of) that never made it into production. One should not take what they show as gospel.

 

On the other hand, I take back most everything I just said!


Here's a page out of the 1973 Oldsmobile Trailering brochure showing a Custom Cruiser without woodgrain, and look at where the badge is! It's above the rear side light just like it is on ebay wagon. This car also does not have the side-spear chrome trim. Now I'm wondering if that side-spear trim was actually an extra-cost option, and, if the car had it, the badge was moved down and in front of the side light.





Now here's another, two-page spread out of the regular '73 Oldsmobile brochure. Note first for the woodgrain wagon where the badge is. Just behind the front wheel, and there's only one, with nothing above the woodgrain at the rear.

Then look at the smaller image of the yellow wagon at the right. This one has no woodgrain, but it does have the side spear, and the badge is below the spear and ahead of the rear side light as it is on my car. All very interesting.






But I still stand by what I said in my post above this about there never being two badges on the same side of the car and that manuals like the one those diagrams come from often had errors.

 

Here's the Custom Cruiser page out of the 1973 Dealer Specs book. It's not a very good scan, but it's all I have. It's not the easiest to read, but the bottom two entries in the second column show exterior moldings as options, and the second from the bottom is the one of interest, I believe. It's a $33 option, and it says "Moldings, Protective-side. N.A. on R35 and R45 models." The "R" in those model designations refers to the versions with woodgrain, so it makes sense that this option wasn't available on woodgrain cars.

Learn something new every day!