Im 19, im a university student and this summer im going to be living at my parents cottage and commuting to work 45 minutes away.

I need a vehicle. ever since i was 14 i have admired this 1972 oldmobile cutlass that lives in a local's car yard. It has some obvious wear and tare. i havn't looked very thoroughly however the car is clearly not in mint condition by any standards. The owner want $2000 for it and will include the parts car. he has also agreed to help with any repairs needed over the summer as he has a car lift in his auto garage. (one of those pits you drive your car over to be precise)

I want to insure the car as a classic to get the break on insurance. I wont be driving it in the winter and hope to use it for the next 2 summers to make my commute to work.

If this a terrible idea? How bad is the fuel economy on these cars? how prone to major break down will this vehicle be? I have never owned a classic car before and im not expecting alot out of this vehicle, just to keep it in running condition this summer and next. I want to eventually repaint and rechrome it as well as reapolster it but thats a topic for another thread.

Cutlass owners, what do you think?

 

no help? common!

 

what engine does it have? how good is the tranny? How are the tires? I would buy it to restore it! Gas mileage? Miles per gallon or gallons per mile would be the question.

 

I agree with 198544too on this one - almost any Olds is a great car, but there are some that you just can't save, sadly. Take a good look at the engine and tranny, etc, but if they're beyond saving it probably isn't fiscally worth it at this time in your life - trust me, I justdropped out of college with two nice cars and a room full of basses. It isn't a good sign that he has a parts car, is selling both for 2000, and gave up on it even as a mechanic himself, but if the car's worth saving and you're committed to it, then you may find yourself driving a beautiful vintage Olds, and it doesn't get much better than that. But whatever you do, if you get the car, don't ever sell it. I know some cars of that type get hundreds of thousands at barrett-jackson, but being a former muscle racer's kid, I know it's much more fulfilling to keep the car. Hell if I had even one of my Dad's old GTO's right now it'd be better than the $300,000 I could probably get for it. Not to mention, it's an Olds. Any idiot can fix up a Honda, but an Olds is an Olds. I'm in a club full of people with Supras and VW's, but I know that if I can make a busted '91 Cutlass perform like thier cars do, then I've got heart. That's what being a good car owner is all about.

 

EXACTLY!


I bought my 85 442 5 weeks ago for about 2k, had it repainted the original color, and just cleaned up the interior.She is a beautiful piece of American steel! Now kids cruise past my house back and forth lookin' for "trouble. But, point is I'll never sell her!!! She will be worth alot more in the future!

 

Yeah. I mean, think of it this way - there are gonna' be thousands of parents from our generation that hand their firstborn the keys to the beautiful Hondas they're driving now, but we'llbe the parents that hand the kid an OLDS. People may not look at my car now like it's worth a million bucks, but it's not the same crap you see everywhere else, and I'll teach my kid that. You'll never see another new Olds, so we've gotta' cherish the few we've still got - we don't have the luxury of ten more years to wait for the perfect model to come out.

 

OK . NOW FOR THE TRUTH ... IF YOU HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY AND TIME BUY THE OLDS BUT BE PREPARED TO WORK ON IT. OLD CARS REQUIRE REGULAR WORK, NOT MAINTENCE AS THIS IS A NORM FOR ANY CAR I MEAN WORK. IT IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY AND YOU WILL HAVE TO WORK ON IT. IF YOU BUY IT BE PREPARED TO WORK ON IT WITH A LUCRATIVE BANK ACCOUNT. SIGNED ....REALITY. WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE OUT OF SCHOOL AND MONEY TO BLOW...THEN BUY AN OLD CAR......................