1983 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser
Ahh, the station wagon...."Shaggin Wagon Part II" as I like to joke. If you don't get the joke, check out the 1990 Chevrolet Suburban. The Capri had a dry headgasket blow, which was going to turn into a wet head gasket failure(with coolant leaking, oil/water mix, etc) so naturally I sold it off pretty quick. I bought it for $900, invested about $50 more into it, and sold it for $1100. Not bad. Picked this Olds up for $1,000. The transmission(4-speed with Overdrive) had 7,000 on it, with reciepts to prove. He says the guy he got it from in early 2007 rebuilt the motor(a 307 V8 4bbl QuadraJet carb). It runs like a rebuilt motor, but the motor is fairly dirty. Not too bad, but still. It supposedly has 10,000 on it, no reciepts. Its POSSIBLE that the guy did it himself and didn't clean it. Personally, I would've cleaned it up and painted it orange, then put chrome valve covers on it. But thats me.
At any rate, it's a very nice wagon. It does have some surface rust on the fender, and some very light on the hood where the original paint is wore thin. No rust otherwise, though, not even in the door jambs or under the car. I was quite surprised, especially seems on the back, there is a dealer tag...Wisconsin or something like that. Starts up and runs well. The interior is very nice. The headliner is tacked up, the front two rows of seats have faded from brown to green(there is full brown under the headrests, though), but other than that, it's great. There isn't a tear, stain, or burn in sight, and the third row seat is perfect, not even faded. Cruise control doesn't work, even after replacing the control unit. I'm suspecting the vacuum control module that physically steps the throttle up and down, as it looks in rough shape. Or perhaps a vacuum line. I do know that the multi-lever is wired up, I checked that already. The radio is aftermarket, and I installed it. A hole was already dremmeled out, and the orignal plugs for the stereo are still there. To make matters even better, the wires were all labeled! The AC seems to have been redone and converted. Needs to be charged, though, indicating a leak of somesorts. Heater works on this one, even. The air didn't come from anything but the floor when I got it, but I have since propped open the redirecting doors in the vents to distribute air mainly to the floor and defrosters, but partially to the dash vents as well.
Overall, a nice score for $1,000. Hell, it's even got a trailer hitch on the back. Very nice car running beautifully. I PLAN to keep it until next summer, as it will prove valuable when I move out, especially with the hitch. But, I'd sell it for the right 75-79 Ford Thunderbird.
