What's Wrong With This Picture: Vista Bruiser Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

As tipster starbird80 notes, “you see the strangest things on eBay!” But a Vista Cruiser Coupe (or is that a shooting brake)? Surely not…

Strangely, the $5,000 reserve was not met… meaning it might not be too late to make this piece of history/homemade hack-job yours.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Porschespeed Porschespeed on Mar 08, 2010

    @Starbird, There were a few factory 455 W30 Vista cruisers. Don't remember how many, but I think it was less than 10. But, they really did make them.

    • Starbird80 Starbird80 on Mar 08, 2010

      The particular example I'm thinking of was a factory 455 with 4-barrel (thus the Rocket designation) but didn't have the W30 package. The seller noted he'd put the hood on himself for looks, and still had the original hood. Those factory W30 455 VCs may have been limited to the ones built as support vehicles for the Indy 500, as companions to the convertible as pace car. I think only one is still known to exist. I've always said there should have been a 442 wagon, using the VC body. Saw a picture of one online once but couldn't confirm it was a factory build. One really rare car if so. [EDIT]: here's the 442 wagon I was thinking of: http://www.stationwagon.com/gallery/1972_Olds_Vista_Cruiser_442.html. The owner claims it is one of three built in addition to the 6 Hurst/Olds VCs for Indy (http://www.stationwagon.com/gallery/1972_Hurst_Olds_Vista_Cruiser.html).

  • MadHungarian MadHungarian on Mar 08, 2010

    In 1970, the Cutlass platform came in THREE wheelbases. All coupes has a 112 inch wheelbase. For sedans, it was 116, and the Vista Cruiser wagon stretched all the way to 121 inches, which was actually two inches longer than the full size Chevy wagon wheelbase of that year. The extra length was necessary on the Vista Cruiser to permit a front-facing third seat, to take maximum advantage of the Vista windows. It also permitted Olds to market the VC as almost equivalent to a full sized wagon, since there was no wagon in the 88/98 line at the time. I can't say for sure what wheelbase this job has, but it could be the coupe wheelbase, and if so that would explain the extreme awkwardness of line, and would also mean the three rows of seats are all jammed up against each other, which is sort of what it looks like in the last photo on the eBay listing. Definitely the answer to a question nobody asked.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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