73 Grand Safari

This one could be a sleeper. Near me and right in CE's home town.

http://madison.craigslist.org/cto/2540393181.html

EDIT:
The more I look at this car the better I like it. From where I'm sitting it looks really nice. I may have to go look at this one to satisfy my curiosity.

 

I don't blame you SF. It looks like a real beauty and I think the asking price is realistic.

 

You never know about Wisconsin cars. For the most part they are rust buckets if they are old. But I have seen some people here wash and wax their car every week, keep it in the garage and only drive it to church on Sunday. I knew a farmer like that. He had beat up trucks that he drove around but on Sunday he took out his 12 year old cherry Oldsmobile with 3000 miles on it and drove it to church. Not a rust spot on it anywhere. These are getting more rare all the time with the disappearance of many family farms, but, they are still out there. This car looks extremely nice from here but I would have to take a look underneath. The ad seems to be written by the owner that is just selling his car. Seems to be no big hype here from a turn & burn jockey.

 

I know exactly where this is. I've had about 20 people in Portage tell me about it. I stopped and looked at it and it looks good, granted I didn't look underneath. If anybody is serious about it, I'll be glad to go look at it again.

 

If you happen to go by it again, CE, take a look underneath. That car looks good from here. And the guy says OBO.

 

OMG, I love this wagon and would love to have it! I would even sell my 1972 Kingswood Estate to get it if I could! The irony is that I also have a 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville with the same front clip. These are also my favorite colors too! I would trade my 72 wagon and my 95 Lincoln for it if the underside of this wagon was nice.

If only the money we have been expecting was already here... its been taking longer than we thought.

 

I have been waiting for you on this wagon, 72King. Knew you'd be sniffing around this one!

 

You know it! LOL. The 1971-73 Grand Safari (especially in green) is my most favorite wagon ever! This one looks nice! Thanks for posting it, at least I can dream!

Would also be interesting to see how well its optioned... I do see it has woodgrain, 3rd seat and power gate. Wonder about power windows, locks, tilt, etc? I notice it dont have cornering lights, but no biggie. My 73 Grand Ville has power windows, power locks, tilt, etc. Most of the Grand Villes and Grand Safaris had that.

 

OK...I finally heard from the owner of this car. It is, as I suspected, the original owner that is selling it. I am posting my email to him and his answer below. It is not highly optioned enough for me so I have lost interest. I also don't like hearing that it has a little rust. It is, after all, a Wisconsin car. I'm not saying that it's salt rust...I haven't seen the car...I'm just saying it's lived in Wisconsin. Here's out communication...

From here, that looks like a nice wagon.
If you still have this wagon I have a few questions:
Is the car highly optioned? Power windows, locks, seats? Tilt steering wheel? Cruise control? Air conditioning?
Does the interior have rips in any of the seats? Is the dash cracked?
Finally...is it rusty anywhere?
I would appreciate knowing these things before I come and look. I look forward to your answers...or...maybe you have more pix that would simply show me these things. More pix is always good.
Thanks. I like what I can see.
Fox

I was out of town for a couple days so I haven’t read my email. The car has air, none of the other options you mentioned. The interior and dash are good, 2 small rips in the head liner, 1 inch. Rust behind the front tires, small amount in the rear fenderwell. The rear gate and window are electric, the window control is not currently working, I haven’t looked into why, could be minor. We are the original owner, the car runs great and was garage kept. The car is all original except for the new radiator. Let me know if you’d like to drive it or if you have any further questions. Thanks for your interest.
Jeff

 

Thanks SF, I've been in contact with him as well, I am also waiting on additional photos and will post when I recieve them... so long as the rust is minimal, it looks like it could be a nice wagon.

 

Thanks, Heritage. It sure looks nice. If you don't mind the lack of options that I like it may suit you. The rust is the worry here. If it's salt rust then it's going to be trouble. I will go look for you if you are still interested after seeing the pix.

 

Thanks SF, that's very nice of you, I've sent a msg to CE as well, any additional eyes and opinions would be very helpful. I'll get back to you after receiving the pics. I'm hoping the rust is minimal!

 

lol, looks like we have all been on contact with him... a few days ago I had emailed... curious as to how it was optioned. I had mentioned I had a 72 Chevy wagon and a 73 Grand Ville, so I had a mix of his wagon. I had mentioned that my Pontiac Grand Ville had power windows, power locks, tilt, etc and wondering if this Grand Safari did as well and basically what he said to Silverfox, he said it didnt have any of that mentioned.

Seems odd though considering it was the top-level Grand Safari, but back then as we all know, cars were so differently optioned where options were more individual rather than in packages. At least it does have the 3rd seat, power gate and woodgrain options. I thought it would at least have tilt wheel, most Grand Villes/Grand Safaris did, but this is one of those rarities. My 72 Kingswood Estate sounds like its about the same amount of options, but my car does have tilt wheel, but it dont have power gate.

Like Silverfox, I was really interested in this car, but the lack of options is a little disappointment... if it were a base Catalina it would not seem as bad, but it being the Grand Safari kinda sad its so low optioned. I still would not mind having it though.... just because its a green 73 Grand Safari, as they are getting hard to come by these days. I hope it gets a good home.

 

I just received tons of pix from this seller. TONS of pix. I see that they were sent to others as well so the other members that had interest in this car should have them, too. The seller was diligent and honest with his pix. He jacked the car up and showed pix of just about everything but the inside of the tail pipe. The seller is nice and the car is a one owner that he took care of over its lifetime on the road. With all that said, it was Wisconsin roads and it pains me to give my opinion of the car. If the seller is monitoring this thread I feel bad about what I see in the multitude of pix. Sadly, reality is often brutal.
The car has typical Wisconsin salt rust. I have seen worse undersides but the body has rust through in the usual places. For those of you who live in areas that are not familiar with salt rust...it IS like cancer. Once it starts there is no stopping it. Some here that are not familiar with salt's onslaught will look at this car and say that those areas can be patched. They can. But, like cancer, salt gets into unseen and unthought about areas. It lies there and will slowly eat away and WILL show up later. I hate saying these things but it is reality. This car reminds me a lot of the Chrysler T&C that Wixom and I discussed here not long ago. Nice car but it, too, had salt cancer. We both passed on that car and it was a fourth of the price of this one.
Some opinions may vary from mine. Someone may even want to buy it. I have given my opinion and that's all it is...my opinion. Although, it is based on over 50 years of building cars and a few years in the used car biz. I wish you well if you buy this wagon. But I believe you will put a LOT of money into it and the cancer will still come back to haunt you later. There are many good body men here that may disagree but I will stand by my experience with Wisconsin cars that are daily drivers.
Again, I feel bad about my comments because I think the seller is a nice guy, has a lot of love for this wagon and was honest with his pix. I lost interest in the car because it is bare bones option-wise. After seeing the pix I would not buy it at any price unless I just wanted it as a driver for awhile. But at $4500? Sorry, Jeff, you may very well get your price but I could not justify it.
The pix came to me in attachments in 7 emails and I don't know how to get them on here. Perhaps other lookers with better puter skills will be able to show the pertinent ones.

 

Fox, if you want to e-mail them to me, I can put up most of them on my Flicker account for a while..... karguy427@sbcglobal.net