Curbside Classic Post: 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curb...dsmobile-vista-cruiser-gms-greatest-hit-no-8/



Olds Vista Cruisers and their corresponding twin, the Buick Sportwagons hold a special place in the history of the American station wagon. It was a highly unusual concept (for America): take an intermediate wagon, and enlarge it specifically for station wagon purposes, including a forward-facing third row seat and of course the “Scenicruiser” glass. Was GM trying to make up for the failure of the Greenbrier? And although it was eminently more orthodox than the Greenbrier, the Vista Cruiser’s life span wasn’t much longer. Can’t poor GM catch a break?

The glassy twins arrived in 1964, which was a bit odd, since both Olds and Buick were also still offering wagons on the traditional full size chassis too; with optional rear-facing third seat. Have it your way….​

Obviously, it was a one year head start into a period when Buick and Olds did drop their full-size wagons, starting in 1965, leaving it to the super-mid wagons to be their top offering. A curious strategy; I’m assuming GM knew something about the station wagon market that others didn’t. Even at the time, as a kid, I was a bit perplexed, if deeply enthralled.





If we couldn’t have a Greenbrier, a Vista Cruiser or Sport Wagon was the Niedermeyer-mobile most desired. To get out of the cramped ’62 Fairlane sedan into the third seat of one of these, especially on our trips to Colorado, was imminently desirable, never mind a genuine “Rocket V8″ under the hood. But no; it was a GM product, and my father wouldn’t (then) have given it a thought. So here again are the Not-Niedermeyers on their legendary (and all-too real) family vacation to NYC in 1964, spread out in air-conditioned comfort. Oooh; the views.



The key to these wagons was a full five inch stretch in their wheelbase, from 115″ to 120″, all of it in the rear, where it counted. That allowed for the first really properly engineered front-facing third seat, as there was a (modest) foot well just ahead of the rear axle. Combined with the elevated roof, it did make adult seating there theoretically possible, if not in practice. And it still left some decent cargo room behind the last seat, unlike the case in the typical rear-facing third seat wagons. The angle of the second and third seat backs left a nigh-useless and inaccessible cleft between them. Luggage racks were mandatory; as my brother and I remember all too well, being in charge of installing and loading the one on our Coronet wagon in an icy Colorado hail/rainstorm while my father sat in the driver’s seat pretending to study the road map.




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Now it wasn’t exactly an original idea; Peugeot had been doing the same thing since 1948 with their series of stretch wagons (full story here), but cribbing is perfectly ok, as long as it’s done for a good reason. And the Peugeot didn’t have the Vista Roof, sadly. That would have been even more useful in scenic Europe.





In 1968, the Vista Cruiser and Sport Wagon went into their second generation, now riding on a 121″ wheelbase. But I strongly suspect that much of the rear area hardware and maybe even the roof glass were carry-overs. Anybody know?





In any case, Buick bailed on the genuine Sportwagon after 1969, moving back to a full sized wagon. Another GM experiment that didn’t pan out?





But Olds stuck with the Vista through 1972, which meant that for two years Olds had the unique distinction of having two front-facing third-seat wagons, since the all-new 1971 Olds Mega Battleship Cruiser used many of the same ideas: elongated wheelbase, etc. It even has a slight bump in the rear roof section, but no Vista glass. For what it’s worth, I never even bothered to raise any hope for one of these in the Not-Niedermeyer garage. It wouldn’t have fit, for one, and my father wouldn’t even consider full-size cars, five kids or not. But the Vista Cruiser is an intermediate, Dad! (Just remembered the real reason; three of us kids were gone by 1971). Just as well; this was a vehicle to admire from afar; real far, even. You could see it a mile away.





The Vista Cruiser may have had a short life span, but perhaps GM did learn one lesson: the intermediate platform is a versatile one. Instead of lengthening the rear of the frame, GM started stretching it at the front, and created mega-hits with their super-intermediate coupes. Learn, and adapt. Families were getting smaller, and who cares if they have a view from the rear anyway? It was the beginning of the cocooning era.





Oregon’s climate may not provoke rust, but it does play havoc with leaky roofs. There’s lots of evidence of heavy-handed caulking having been done around all those windows.





This is quite obviously a one-owner Vista Cruiser, and I suspect that’s her, in the passenger seat, in a white hat and hunched over rather strongly. That explains why there’s no interior shots. I caught this at the Bi-Mart Pharmacy; what was obviously her middle-aged daughter who got out of the driver’s seat to pick up a prescription (and a tube of caulk), and left old Mom to ruminate on happy Vista Wagon memories at the Oregon Coast. I’m sure there were many.






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I had a '70 Vista Cruiser that I bought in WA. State - 455 auto car with a factory tach and a/c - no power wins or seat, cruise or tilt - an odd car. It was a very pretty soft yellow colour and the 455 had a terrible rattle in it.
I bought the twin to the green '69 in the pictures above for parts and gutted it out. It too was odd in the colour combination of that green with a VERY nice blue interior. It was pretty much a fully loaded car ( including factory 8 track player ) with the big block, air conditioning ( still working when removed ), power windows and seat, second rear facing rear seat, disc brakes, tilt and cruise plus some other small goodies. It was a score for $300.00! It had been rear ended and while the car looked basically perfect, ( the tail lights were intact and not even cracked ) the rear frame rails were bent and it was written off as a "dismantle only" car - here in B.C., our all knowing, ever-wise and omniscient government decides what "write offs" can be repaired and which can't. Being as they have a hatred for older cars. of course the poor Olds was doomed. So I bought it basically for the 455 , brought it home and totally cut it up, saving every scrap of metal that I figured could be used on another project. The deal was that the junkyard wanted back what ever I didn;t remove from the car so when I hauled the remains back, there was the frame, the cowl, rear quarter panels ( one had a crinkle in it from the accident and the other had some rust along the rear bottom edge ) and the roof minus the roof glass. I have pictures of the remains here somewhere - I just can't find them at the moment. Let's just say that nothing went to waste with that one.
I ended up selling the yellow car along with a brown '69 parts car but I kept all the stuff from the green car. But I regret selling it today and really wish that I had kept it.

 

It think its odd that the article doesn't mention the 73-77 Vista at all. I really like mine and wouldn't trade it for anything. All my friends ask me "why a station wagon?" I say why not? You get the hauling capability of a truck and the comfort of a car. You can't beat it, plus that fact that I didn't pay a dime for it also helps.

But I do like the patina of the 69 that's pictured.

 

Clearly, that was a car that someone really wanted. They ordered it to their preferences...when you still could. Now, the manufacturers dictate what you want.

I saw a scan of a 1973 (maybe it was 1974) Cadillac ordering guide (that dealers use to order a car for a customer). It had "guidelines" for color combinations that the designers recommended, but a customer could order the car in any color combination they wanted. The guide said that a customer should not be discouraged from ordering a color combination that wasn't recommended, as long as it was "in good taste"...but even still, a customer could order ANY combo...the dealer only needed to mark a box that indicated that the customer was sure of their color choice. IIRC, you could even order a different color for the headliner than the rest of the interior...I may be wrong. Even had the option of "Max Leather" (or something like that) where ALL the surfaces of the seats (sides/bolsters/backs/headrests/etc) would be upholstered in leather, as opposed to just the "seating areas" (with the rest upholstered in vinyl). The number of options/choices was astronomical.

By the way, it was refreshing to hear that the car was practically reincarnated in having its parts used to restore another...

 

A friend of mine in the 3rd grade had a 73 or 74 Vista Cruiser, blue with woodgrain. I thought it was cool. Even though our families were stationed in Arizona, her parents bought the car when they were stationed in New York...and the car was already rusting through...but it was still cool.

 

Wow, none of my friends had cars in the 3rd grade. Lucky!

 

Well....he was 19 but still in the third grade.