81 estate wagon

this is mine and I hate to part with her/him. But......no room and to little time.

 

If you're selling it perhaps adding some information would help. Condition? Mileage? Options? Location? Oh...and price?

It would also be better to put it in the Station Wagons and Parts for sale area.

 

oops have to have 5 posts to post in the for sale section but here is a link http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/4437452869.html

 

What may also help you sell is correctly identifying the car for sale. A Buick Estate Wagon is the full sized car, not the mid-sized based on the Century/Regal.

 

Actually, the car IS correctly called a Century Estate Wagon. See the page from the '81 Buick brochure below.

However, I agree with you. Calling it simply an "81 Estate Wagon" is ambiguous as most people will assume what you and I apparently did, and that is that it's a full-size wagon. Buick used the term "Estate" in its wagon names beginning in 1971, and it referred only to the full-size wagon through 1979. Buick began using "Estate" in the name of its Century wagons in 1980, and it did so on and off through the '80s while continuing to use it for its full-size wagons.

 

what are you guys wagonmasters ha ha this may be my 5th post BTW

 

my bad that was only 3rd this is my 4th one more

 

since you wagonmasters are the "man" what about my price??? be honest. Something like this most likely has to sell locally???

 

The Old Cars Price Guide, at least, is not kind to these cars. In #3 ("car show") condition (not quite showroom condition), the value given is about $1700. The next level down, #4, is "runs and drives but needs complete restoration," and the value given is about $800. Your car is better than #4 but is certainly not at #3, so maybe $1200 or $1300? Your asking price of $1500 is reasonable, in my opinion.

One big IF, though, is the blown headgasket. The engine may run, but would anyone want to drive it regularly in that condition? Probably not. In this case, the car can't be accurately described as being in good running condition, and the value is probably more like $500.

Probably, but your craigslist ad goes nationwide if anyone is willing to search. But, yes, the person who buys your car is more likely to look at it as cheap transportation more than as a collector car, and that person is likely to be local. With this in mind, it might be smart to fix that blown head gasket as, otherwise, people who aren't inclined to do that kind of repair will likely pass it by.

 

You might also want to be more complete in your description. You take pains to point out that the car is NOT an Ohio car.

Fine.

So where IS it from?

If the point of this comment is to suggest that the car has less rust than you would expect from an Ohio car (which is how I took the comment), it would be helpful to your sales effort to mention exactly where it is from. If it's a southern or western state, that will help. If it's just another northern state, I'd remove that comment as it's not helping and could be construed as misleading as you're hinting that it might be a southern car without actually saying so.

Plus, who cares where it was titled before if it has a good Ohio title now?

 

One last comment, since you asked, is that your ad could stand about three dozen more photos. I've never understood the reluctance of people selling cars to post photos in this age of digital photography. You're trying to sell a car, aren't you? So why are you hiding it?

If you can take two photos, you can take 20 or 200, and if you can upload two photos, you can just as easily upload 10 or 20. Potential buyers don't want to just read about the car's issues or wonder what the interior looks like, they want to SEE it along with photos of the engine, the underside, etc.

Be complete!

 

ouchy boy you wagonmasters pull no punches.... Thanks for the honest feedback. One thing I have noticed about myself is my unwillingness to spend the time and effort to make something look more saleable. Take for example I went to Buick show sunday and took some stuff to sell. While there I looedk at my stuff and its all dusty from sitting. Who wants to buy dusty stuff? But the worse part is when I do take the time and effort I fall in love with the project and am reluctant to sell it. Does this forum have a couch I can lie on to be psychoanalyzed? Thanks again!!

 

Well, hey, you asked!

Which tells us that, in your heart, you don't really want to sell it. You throw it up for sale with minimal effort just to see what happens because you never know, and if someone snaps it up, great. But, if not, you can tell yourself that at least you tried, and you can keep it in good conscience.

That's what we're all here for. Think of stationwagonforums.com as one big couch you can lie on and everyone else here as your psychoanalysts!

 

well you have me figured out Only thing left to do is build it and then peel rubber in front of all you naysayer. How do you like me now?