Thoughts on value of a 72 Plymouth Sport Suburban

Hi. The opportunity to buy a 1972 Plymouth Sport Suburban is upon me and I am trying to figure out a reasonable offer. Not an easy car to find comparison sales info on. Anyone have a recent info I can use in printed form with with sellers?

1972 Plymouth Sport Suburban
1-owner, garage kept (same house 1972-today).
128,000 miles
6-passenger
360 v8
Top Hat Package
Hide away headlights
Tow Prep (no hitch)
AC (worked when last ran...still R-12)
beige...beige...BEIGE paint in good shape
Has sat for 2.5 years. Will need all fluids changed
Was hit years ago in DS rear quarter. Body repaired back in the 90s. Gas tank has a bag inside as the junk yard replacement tank leaked.
2 rust issues. PS small area 4"x6" between rear wheel opening, rear door and rocker. Fixed once many years ago. Rear storage well (where seat would go) rusted through (about 20% affected).
Interior has minor issues, broken door pull on one door, worn out armrest on another, badly scuffed plastic in rear cargo area.

On a 1-6 Classic Car scale, the owner and I agree it is a 4.

Any thoughts? Anyone bought a MOPAR C-Body wagon the last 6-12mos?

 

1972 Plymouth Sport Suburban

1-owner, garage kept (same house 1972-today)..................... a PLUS .....
128,000 miles................................................... neither a plus of a negative....
6-passenger............................................................ for most,, a negative ....
360 v8..................................... neither a plus of a negative.... Depends on desires..
Top Hat Package........................................ neither a plus of a negative.....
Hide away headlights ................................................. definite PLUS .......
Tow Prep (no hitch)....................................... Neither a plus of a negative for most....
AC (worked when last ranstill R-12)definite ............. NEGATIVE.. Seals will be dryed out
beige...beige...BEIGE paint in good shape .............. not popular or most desirable color.. More negative than plus ...
Has sat for 2.5 years. Will need all fluids changed ........................... expected ...
Was hit years ago in DS rear quarter. Body repaired back in the 90s. Gas tank has a bag inside as the junk yard replacement tank leaked........... Airplanes have bags in them... However, most will not like this idea .... NEGATIVE ..
2 rust issues. PS small area 4"x6" between rear wheel opening, rear door and rocker. Fixed once many years ago. Rear storage well (where seat would go) rusted through (about 20% affected)................. If 'fixed many years ago' and showing now,, could be a major problem.. Hard to tell w/o a decent pic ....
Interior has minor issues, broken door pull on one door, worn out armrest on another, badly scuffed plastic in rear cargo area..................... Expected, so neither a plus of a negative.... Again, pic helps to make better determination ..

On a 1-6 Classic Car scale, the owner and I agree it is a 4.

With out pics hard to give accurate guestimate... Not a very desirable car to most, especially with no major options,, so price will be THE most determining factor...

 

Picts are not possible as it is in the garage and it is a "tight" fit. The paint looks thick and should clean-up nice with a lot of elbow grease or a polishing machine. Life in a garage served it well. The only downside is that it is soooooo BEIGE. Flat...non-metallic beige. With it made road worthy it will achieve HPOF in a NY minute at its first AACA event and might make it into their new special HPOF class its second time.

A fully restored (abeit in 2-tone salmon with white walls) has been on ebay twice with no sales. It peaked just shy of $7,000 this last go round with reserve not met.

If it was running, I would think $2,500-$3,000. With it not running, I am thinking $1,000-$1,500. Sound reasonable? I don't want to insult them.

I did experience it running 2.5 years ago. Needed a proper tune-up by someone experienced (not the local gas station) and fresh gas back then.

 

Kinda hard to pin a value on a wagon we've got no pics on. You know what they say about what a picture is worth.

In any case, i did a Search in the 'E-bay, Craig's List section here, and this is what returned. Seems a lot of people who own these Fury Suburbans are adverse to posting pics of their wagons in the ads......

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25136&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24745&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24523&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24521&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24296&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24222&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23855&highlight=72+Plymouth

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23720&highlight=72+Plymouth

Who knows - maybe one of these is the one you're checking into...

Good luck.

Marshall

 

Hope its not like the lady that had my '72 Kingswood Estate. I "hounded" her for years to sell my her wagon. She finally called up one day and said she would sell it and wanted me to make her an offer. I didn't want to insult, so I insisted that she make me a price, thinking she may say $1500-2000. I was sure wrong! She said, how about $6000? I about fell off of the porch! She said that she felt it was worth $12000 according to what her son had looked up in sales/price guides. Well the car had not been driven in years and had some rust issues on the lower rear body and engine work (and I am still working on the engine. I told her I would have to think about it, then she came out with a $5000 figure. I told her it was still more than I could afford, so we finally agreed on $4000 (and then asked if her son could keep the original hubcaps!), which IMO was still $2000 more than it was worth.

With that said, don't worry about an insult, start with a low offer, very low. lol.

*I had a set of the same hubcaps that came off of it, so I didn't bicker about it, lol.

 

what to do

HEY ! I'd buy one , if'n I had the chance...

 

Btw, what is a "top hat" package?

 

I believe a 'Top Hat' package was a list of equipment that a manufacturer would put on a line of cars and sell them at reduced prices. Ford did this with 'Spring Specials'. Other makes have had them as well.

 

I wouldn't buy that car without a looking at it or or having an inspection done by a pro or a very knowledgeable car person. That crash damage and subsequent repair would concern me a lot, especially on a unibody car. They're never the same after a fix like that unless it wasn't anything worse than a very low speed bonk, the rust can also weaken the unibody. There's more rust than what the seller knows or is telling you, there has to be. If it was a substantial hit there probably isn't a straight panel gap on the car and it may dog-leg down the road if it effected the rear structure and wasn't repaired correctly.
Be careful.

 

Thanks for all the good info. Something we might all consider, whenever posting ads from 3rd party sites like CL, post the text and price for posterity to be used in future valuations. Just a thought.

This wagon I am looking at, I have been driving past for years. Only ever seeing the trail lights when the door was up. Then it popped up on eBay in the fall of 2010. I saw those Hideaway headlights and went right over to see the car. Frankly, if it didn't have the headlights, I wouldn't be very interested because it is sooooo BEIGE!. I grew up in a 72 Fury Gran Sedan. It is my first automotive love. My mother actually got it on two wheels once. When this wagon was up in 2010, it was up for sale by the family...not really the owner. From talking to the owner then, a nice lady who picked it out and bought it new herself back in 72, it was clear she was not ready to sell the car. I gave her my number and said when you are ready, give me a call. I followed up with the Holiday card later.

I owned a 72 a few years back. Base model wagon. Sadly, when I got it home and could really get under it, I found the swiss cheese unibody. This car has none of that. Their garage is as clean and dry as my living room. Probably hasn't been driven in the snow since the early-mid 80's. Some one left the rear window ajar after the accident because of the leaking gas tank and the rain that got in pooled in the Storage well hence the rust out. The rust is only at the low corner. Not sure how the other spot got rusty.

In 2010, we were looking at $2700 when it was on eBay. I am thinking $1,000 now. There is the known work ahead expenses (Tow, fluid flushing, tune-up) but then the unknown (tires have a permanent flat spot, suspension issues from not moving, rubber seals everywhere - good or bad after sitting). Thankfully, seats and windows are manual.

 

1972 was a very good year for cars.
Sure would like to see pics.

 

The best price of all!!!!

The beast is mine now. The owner gave it to me. It was her intention all along. Apparently I did not hear her say that.

Fluids flushed and the hard to kill 360 roared to life. Gas tank is at Looper Service in Rockville MD getting the RENU treatment. No more bladder and no more leak. In about a week, it will begin crowding our garage at home.

To Do List, besides the obligatory Tune-up, the rear tailgate only swings. No drop down. A small spot of rust repair lies ahead too. An AC servicing is probably ahead. Thankfully I have some R12 in the garage. A new gasket is needed for around the tailgate opening. The carpets need cleaning. And...a lot of waxing for the paint. The roof should be fun with that rack.

 

That wagon is beautiful! The tailgate not dropping down is likely the safety switch. Probably not a bad fix.

 

After all that, she gave you the car! Bless her heart! I wouldn't sweat the beige paint too much, but then I'm a beige kind of guy anyway. I hope you get years of enjoyment out of it! Oh, and it looks great!

 

Thanks. The beige actually looks like it will be more of a pale yellow once the decades old layer of dust is blasted off!

Gas Tank will be ready on Thursday, I might be driving it by Saturday!