Anyone else kinda tired of "One of ***" claims?

[69hurstolds]

Pretty much a "one of" type thing that I don't mind seeing is like One of 3500, such as the H/O, or any verifiable numbered series of cars, converted in-house or not. Like the 442, AeroCoupes, GNX, and other such stuff. Does it matter about options like radios or power windows, tilt wheel, etc.? Not really. How many W29 442 optioned Cutlasses were made in '72 compared to how many are available today? I think there's more out there today than were made because it's easy to fake one if you know what you're doing. But not the X -VIN cars (W-30). And those are worth some considerable coin if all original.

 

[dgmeadows]

rare doesn't always = valuable, just like old dosen't always = Antique

Precisely. The guy with the 260 diesel 5 speed thought it was worth more because "you will never find another one equipped this way in this condition." I told him I didn't care what the engine and transmission was, I was taking them out, so those were of zero value to me. EVERY model in 1979 was a dud, thanks to mileage and emission regs. I was mainly looking for a Calais, because that's what I previously had, it would have bucket seats, console shift, the better gauge package, and the front and rear sway bars. I was willing to pay more than average for zero rust and no missing "unobtanium" parts. But he wanted a premium price for the obscure, low-performance drivetrain. Fortunately, the seller of the car I bought was far more realistic.

I have noticed in a lot of used Mopar ads the sellers tout the 1 of *** stuff. I guess "Graveyard Cars" and the big auction TV shows contribute to that. It is just silly to me when they say "this car is one of one, it is the only 1971 with a 318, 2 barrel, 4 speed, NO A/C, white vinyl top, AM Radio AND factrory 8 track tape deck under the dash." Well now, other than the 4 speed, none of that is appealing to me, at all.

 

[303'505rollin]

Lol imagine a mark worman keeping all the Gbody options in his head like that plus Mexican montes and 4 doors and wagons his head would explode, oh and those inline 6 beauty's too

 

[rogue_ryder]

The guy with the 260 diesel 5 speed thought it was worth more because "you will never find another one equipped this way in this condition."

He was definitely ignorant as many private sellers with old cars are. What's truly laughable is no Cutlass from 1979 is a rare car besides the H/O W-30 cars with only only 2,499 cars produced (according to Hemmings). The 1979 Cutlass was the #1 Selling Car in America that year! With GM there's no way to verify the rarity of a cars option combo, just because you google something and come up with some numbers off of a website doesn't make that information true. To my knowledge Ford is about the only car that you can run a report on and get verified documentation of the car's option combo and it's production numbers via the Marti Report there's also Galen’s Tag Service for MOPARs too but I'm not sure the extent of option combos vs production numbers like you can get with Marti reports.

In the last 15 years the classic car market has gotten horrible IMO. Sellers think their clapped out oil burning 1970 Malibu with a 307 powerglide shift on the column car is made of Gold and think $30K is a good asking price. I see some cars linger for sale for years because the seller is off their Rocker. Locally there's a guy with some Junkyard quality MOPARs that has been trying since before the pandemic to sell and was even featured in Barn Finds yet the cars still haven't sold. Then there's the buyers, guys that ask the dumbest questions like "any paint work?", "Documented Service Records" or dumb crap like that on a 40 year old car. The best one I saw recently was someone b!tching about a Turbo Regal needing air conditioning work and wanted to know the "bottom dollar", FFS buddy it's solid Turbo T-Type and any halfassed mechanic at the local service station can fix the air con for a few hundo. The type of guys that learned all the car knowledge by watching the Barret Jackson Auctions or AssMonkey Garage on Discovery just peeve me. Just go look at the BaT comments for a good laugh. The MOPAR guys really get their panties bunched up if a car is missing the fender tag with the options! Hey I don't GAF and if it means I get to buy the car for thousands less that's a score IMO.

Personally I think It's gotten really annoying or maybe those finicky PITA guys were just buying stuff like Model As, or '32s 25 years ago when I first got into the car scene and I could've cared less about those cars then.

 

[scoti]

There are different types of 'Sellers' & different types of 'Buyers'. Always has been. Always will.

These cars (and any classic car) are not being made anymore so the market is what it is. Super clean 70 Malibu's/Skylarks/Lemans/Cutlasses will bring in a premium for the right car. A guy asking $30K for one might get it or he might not; on any given day. It will depend on how serious the buyer is. There are FAR MORE tire-kickers than legit purchasers. Way too many flippers trying to get a clean starting point of a car as cheap as possible only to turn around w/the price tag bumped $3-5k to make money.

A g-body I wouldn't give $3k for here in TX might be worth it to someone up North-East.

 

[dgmeadows]

I agree the classic car market has become crazy. I thought I was ready to buy an old Cutlass 3-4 years back, but with one daughter starting college and another hitting driving age, I had to put it on hold a bit longer. When I decided now is the time late last year, I couldn't believe some of the asking prices I was seeing - high teens, twenty thousand plus for a driver condition Cutlass Supreme or Calais with typical miles and typical issues. Prices higher than low mileage 79 Hurst Olds were selling for just a couple years ago.

I quickly determined to ignore Ebay dealers and the "classic car" dealers, as they apparently will set a high price and just wait on that "gotta have it" buyer. There are still reasonable sellers, but I had to really hunt. Finally found it on Craig's List, a long way from my home, but the price was reasonable in my view and shipping wasn't too bad. Funny thing was, when I talked with the Seller, I mentioned the Oldsmobile Club of America. He was a member, but didn't think about advertising it there in the FREE classifieds, where I had been running a "Wanted" ad for a car of these specs. Doh!

Craigs List is a weird thing. I don't look at it unless I am specifically searching for something, and I get frustrated with the BS ads and weirdos, but my Hurricane boat, my Honda Pioneer ATV (and, separately, the trailer I tow it on) and my 79 Cutlass Calais were all found on Craig's List, and I believe I got really good deals on all of them.

I joined BAT when I was searching for my car. Some cool stuff there, but yeah, some really high-strung people on there too.

 

[84cutlasssupreme]

Not sure of your age, but even back then, diesels weren't something everyone was jumping through hoops to buy. If anyone was, they were doing it for the wrong reasons. I admire diesels that were built and designed to be diesels from the start, and those can pull a bank safe through a brick wall for the most part without breathing hard for the most part, but not quite so the "gas engine conversions" that GM did to the Olds engines. There was a LOT of problems with them out of the gate. And this is hearing the sob stories from actual owners of said cars, and only after a few months of ownership! Perhaps they weren't used to the slightly different operation of said diesel? I dunno.

Saw a few of them when new when I worked at a gas station back then. The diesel pumps back then were off to the side where the big trucks filled up. It was so funny that most of the diesel owners couldn't read the signs and habitually pulled into the "gas" pump area. Oops. I would politely guide them to the diesel pumps.

You nailed it, though. Rare does not always equal desirable (read "worthy of a high asking price"). I can think of several butt-ugly cars that are rare, and thank heaven for that. Back in those days, the 79 Cutlass had Tahoe or Mojave, aka "Native American blanket party" interior fabric option sure did not make me want to sit inside. Nothing wrong with paying homage to Native Americans, but this wasn't how I'd do it. Unusual, yes. Rare? Most likely. Desirable? No. The Mojave reminded me a lot of my grandmother's couch fabric. *shudder* You know the one...wonder why it wasn't carried on to 1980? It's one of those things that make you go, "hmmm".

Two words for these two pictures: BUTT UGLY!!!!!!!

 

[84cutlasssupreme]

I've seen some of those Native American pattern seats. I assumed those were local dealer options in the SW. I was 11 in '79, so I was reading car magazines, but probably coasted right by the interior pattern and diesel engine ads.

I bought my car from the 2nd owner. 1st owner I am told was an Oldsmobile sales rep who ordered the diesel because they were promoting it for gas mileage at the time. As others alluded to, the diesel turned out to be troublesome, because the 1st owner was in MN, and the diesel didn't do well in the cold. Good news, that means it didn't get driven in the MN winters very much, and only had 39k miles on it. I'm surprised the 2nd owner spent the $$ to get the diesel operational again, as I would think the vast majority of guys would do what I am doing.

dg,
Reminds me of the time in the winter of '83-'84 one of the worst I lived through here in Mn. My landlord had a pretty new VW Golf with a diesel. I warned him to get a fuel line heater but he didn't. One morning at -25 he needed a jump to start the damn thing. We pushed it out of the driveway & in the process he hooked the 2" thick door on a frozen snowbank & bent the door back the wrong way. I went around the corner of the garage to lmao. Anyway we hooked up to the rear bumper of my '70 Olds 98 trusty beater & I towed him down the street a ways til he let out the clutch & it started. THEN, Mr. PHD went & got his fuel line heater installed after the door damage.
BTW, hope you like the parts!

 

[Flyers9928]

I agree the classic car market has become crazy. I thought I was ready to buy an old Cutlass 3-4 years back, but with one daughter starting college and another hitting driving age, I had to put it on hold a bit longer. When I decided now is the time late last year, I couldn't believe some of the asking prices I was seeing - high teens, twenty thousand plus for a driver condition Cutlass Supreme or Calais with typical miles and typical issues. Prices higher than low mileage 79 Hurst Olds were selling for just a couple years ago.

I quickly determined to ignore Ebay dealers and the "classic car" dealers, as they apparently will set a high price and just wait on that "gotta have it" buyer. There are still reasonable sellers, but I had to really hunt. Finally found it on Craig's List, a long way from my home, but the price was reasonable in my view and shipping wasn't too bad. Funny thing was, when I talked with the Seller, I mentioned the Oldsmobile Club of America. He was a member, but didn't think about advertising it there in the FREE classifieds, where I had been running a "Wanted" ad for a car of these specs. Doh!

Craigs List is a weird thing. I don't look at it unless I am specifically searching for something, and I get frustrated with the BS ads and weirdos, but my Hurricane boat, my Honda Pioneer ATV (and, separately, the trailer I tow it on) and my 79 Cutlass Calais were all found on Craig's List, and I believe I got really good deals on all of them.

I joined BAT when I was searching for my car. Some cool stuff there, but yeah, some really high-strung people on there too.S

I so glad I got my Cutty back in 2014. I was looking at one up in New York off of Ebay, but the seller was jerking me around. Found my car locally off craigslist, 86 Cutlass Supreme, 72,000 miles asking $1200. Went to look at and and didn't even try to talk him down. It was his Fathers car, his kid drove it for a bit, the heat stopped working so he just wanted to sell it. Got it to work and it needed a water pump and front brake hoses. Daily drove until 2017. Still cant believe the deal.

 

[olds307 and 403]

I like the ones that say their car is rare because they don't make them anymore and you don't see that many around. Then they point out the obvious by saying that Pontiac, Oldsmobile, etc are no longer producing cars so it will become even rarer.

This, there is the nostalgia and most of those idiots thinking their Ultra slow diesel or regular Cutlass is worth a fortune are true morons. Those two missing brands are a big part of why I could care less to visit a GM dealer. Buicks are all hideous, Chevies as well. Cadillac are nice but carry a Cadillac price. As loaded gas 1/2 ton top 90K here, maybe some of these oddball cars in mint shape that just need a drive train swap, aren't as bad deal as they were just a couple of years back. Patience is key, I should have waited a few years and bought a 87 442 that was a great deal at 5 grand just a few hours away. I paid $3000 for my 88 CSC, $2500 too much. The 87 was in better shape and was just a motor swap away from being fast. It also had a better 2004R, 8.5" and F41. Pretty sure it would not have handled like a marshmallow on marbles and no vinyl top to deal with. Patience is a virtue, I would not spend a dime again on regular car, too much to fix to bring it to modern standards.