“Were you born in a barn?” How many times did we hear that growing up when we left the door open? It almost looks like this 1965 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser was born in this open-door barn in Polson, Montana – it appears that it has been sitting there for quite a while. It’s posted on Craigslist with an asking price of $1,200.
There are only four photos of this rare first-generation Vista Cruiser wagon and unfortunately none of them are interior, engine, or underside photos. But, for anyone who is interested in these cars this may be worth a gamble, at least as a parts car. They were one of the first if not the first wagon to offer the split-roof with the skylight-windows which became, yes.. iconic for the Vista Cruiser wagon. Our own Brian Birkner showed us a couple of white ’65 Vista Cruiser wagons last year and those looked like a good deal.
The seller’s entire description is: “Barn find,no title,bill of sale only,car is complete.” Bummer on no title, so this may be relegated to being a parts car even though it appears to be in decent condition if not good condition, at least what’s seen from these four photos. I’m always worried about rodent damage on vehicles that were stored like this one appears to have been stored. Even if there is/was a door on that metal building, critters could most likely get in there and work their magic on the wiring and interior. But again, as a parts car, $1,200 may be a good buy even with shipping at least doubling that price.
The first-gen Vista Cruisers are the ones that we probably see the least of and they are very desirable, if not very monetarily valuable. Hagerty puts a #3 good condition value of $10,200 and a #2 excellent condition value of $14,700 so I’m reasonably certain that this car won’t be restored back to perfection again, at least by a reseller/flipper. This car should have Oldsmobile’s 330 cubic-inch V8 engine with around 250 hp but I’m assuming that it’ll need to be rebuilt like the rest of the car. Have any of you purchased a non-running parts car from several states away and had it shipped back home? If so, what was it and was it as good as you thought it would be?
1949 Hudson and it was better than described! Between the carferry ride and gas and food for brother and nephew, ‘shipping’ only came to 700 bucks! 19000 miles original car.
1965 F250 4×4, engine apart, shipped from Oregon to Michigan, $1200 shipping. Way better than I thought it would be. $1200 purchase price. Turned out to be a 57K original mileage truck that drove great once I got the 352 humming again.
Whoa, what?! I’ll give you $2,400 for it right now, Warren! Kidding, that’s a great looking truck, nice work, sir. Do you still have it?
Chuck, Warren and Scotty… I thought this was a piece about a ’65 Olds wagon. ????
If I had the space, I’d jump on this beast
no interior, engine or underside pics. Title? Maybe $800.00, tops.
For $1200., it might not be a bad gamble. No body damage in the few horrible photos I see. Bumpers appear straight. Rockers and behind rear wheels don’t show any serious rot, but you’ll need a windshield. You might be able to source some interior replacement panels from ‘Year One’ or SMS; not sure. I’d say it’s saveable. I’ve definitely seen worse. The one setback I see is shipping costs, depending on where you are. I can see that being $5-800 or so?
1988 Mazda RX-7 GXL, non running but in mint condition from Seattle area…I gave $1000 for it plus $600 shipping. Better than expected!
That’s a beaut, Rx7turboII! I bet that you got it running like a top in no time, given your user name. Nice find.
Anyone think it was rolled into that barn /shed ?
Would do it if I were in better health.
Wouldn’t pay $1200 for it either. $750
tops, that’s it! Some states will issue
something called a driveaway title which
means that you can register it in the state
you bought it in and then either drive, or
transport it to your home state. These
are only temporary with a lifespan of 5
to 14 days. Here in Florida, the registration process is quite expensive–
$600 alone just to title an out of state
vehicle here. Even if you buy a car here,
they sock you $400 just to transfer a
title from the seller to the buyer! Found
that out when I bought Mom’s 2015
Hyundai Santa Fe. You can bet that I
won’t be buying many cars here. It’s
just too damned expensive.
can we say the Olds 442 Olds did not build ? would be great for making a 442 out of wish there were more pics, and a better description
Had one of those pass me by on the hiway today.sure was cool lookin
Not as big as I thought. Same color
I took a gamble when I bought my 68 Country Squire. had it shipped from Colorado to CT. The motivation was that it was a 428 and was one of (possibly) one special ordered with bucket seats, console and floor shifter. It hadn’t run in 25+ years.
The motor turned, so I knew it could run.
Fast forward 3 years. Car runs great, all of the mechanical items were cared for: tune up, timing chain, carb rebuild, heater core, trans and engine re-seal, new dual exhaust and suspension and brakes.