10k: 1976 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Custom Cruiser Wagon; Minty Clean
The Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight was a full sized flagship model from GM and by 1976 it was celebrating its 9th generation of land yachts. The A-body beasts weren’t just big, they were enormous and just about the heaviest Oldsmobiles ever built. This 1976 Olds 98 Custom Cruiser Wagon is in remarkable condition and offered for sale on ebay in Staten Island, NY – currently bidding at $9,100 reserve-not-met with 1 day to go.
This wood-sided schooner is not a restored show car – but an unrestored original condition classic that would love to be driven every day. But with only 60k miles on the odometer we wouldn’t recommend driving it too much – also with gas close to $5/gallon it would rapidly deplete your bank account.
The Oldsmobile 455 cubic inch 7.5 liter rocket V8 puts out an emissions choked 190 horsepower and will likely return 6-8 mpg. The torque is multiplied by a 3 speed turbo-hydramatic transmission in an attempt to push the 5200 lb behemoth around at something above a snail’s pace. This was the last year that Olds built the Rocket V8 and its huge displacement and appetite for fuel would be missed.
The inside of this Ninety-Eight looks minty fresh and surprisingly clean for the age. This isn’t a Mercedes built with fantastic MBTex synthetic seat fabric – this was the cheapest Motown crap found down by the docks, so the previous owners of this car must have parked it inside and been very petite.
The Olds has a wicked sliding rear door window and half-opening tailgate that is an interesting alternative to the swing/tailgate style double doors available on other GM products from the era. This wagon also has the third row forward facing seats -good for children, midgets and storage space.
We still have a rust concern about a 40 year old car from New York, so a thorough inspection of the bottom of the car would be prudent. Lastly – it’s reaching a price on ebay that classic wagons seldom get to unless they are totally clean or tastefully modified and we hope the reserve will be met or lifted soon and the seller doesn’t want a king’s ransom for this cool old boat.
See another land yacht survivor? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
I love wagons. Even obnoxiously bloated 70's full-size GM wagons. But it's getting a bit pricey with reserve still not met (remember, sellers – just because you think it's worth a million dollars, doesn't mean the rest of the world does). After all, the only thing they really do well is fill up a lot of garage space. Assuming you've inherited enough cash to fill the tank, they aren't even much fun to drive. Besides, "rust free New York car" is an oxymoron.
Your reference to "land yacht" "schooner" and other things nautical got me thinking about the lyrics to Love Shack by the B52's:
I got me a car, it's as big as a whale and we're headin' on down To the Love Shack
I got me a Chrysler, it seats about 20
So come on and bring your jukebox money
BTW: I am surprised that in keeping with your nautical theme you didn't refer to the Oldsmobile's tailgate by the name it was commonly known by, namely a clamshell tailgate:
youtube.com/watch?v=wg0fShIQIpQ