They must not want to sell the car very badly. Almost no detail in the ebay ad, poor pictures, and will not provided detailed information when requested. I sent my queston on the first day of the auction, got a reply within a couple of hours that he would get the info for me. He said he would call the next day. Never heard anything. I can't bid much for a car that I can't see in person and can't even get a couple of questions answered about it. They are not motivated sellers I suppose since they won't even answer basic questions. Why even put it on ebay with a description that specifically says "Please message me with your contact info if you have additional questions. I will do my best to answer your questions." if you won't really answer questions? Strange....
Feeling out the market without answering very simple questions from legit, potential buyers? Who wants to bid serious money on an item they can't see or even get a reponse about?
You would be surprised at how many people don't ask questions. A lot of people already know enough. It is a 72 GS stage vert. This alone will justify bidding a certain price. Also keep in mind if the car is not what they want when they win the bid. They will try to talk the owner down or just not buy it and you will see it listed again and again on eBay.
Sure being a real Stage 1 convert means a certain price, but not $20k+ in my book. I need to know that there is at least a trunk floor under all that stuff in the trunk, and also know if it has the orginal engine & trans. You are right that many people bid without knowing all about a car, then back out after they win the bid. Sad that people ruin auctions that way. I must also make a correction to my post from earlier today, I checked my email and the seller did send a response with some answers. The car does have the original transmission, but he is still searching for engine numbers. btw for anyone that is interested, this car was the San Francisco Zone Office car.
Nelson, I've got an extra WS code block and a #2242 carb. But if it was a CA emissions car, which it would have to be, the correct #2942 carb is non existent. I would guess no way to ever find an original core. I figured when I saw the incorrect TVS switch on the intake, that there was a very good possibility of an engine swap.
Yes this car came from the factory with the mandatory CA emissions option (two of the Zone Office cars had this option). Therefore it originally had an EGR intake manifold #1238323 (I think that's the correct #) and the #2942 carb that you mentioned. According to the Daily Car Reports from Buick, there were only 37 Stage 1s built in '72 with that option (32 hardtops and 5 convertibles), so there are not many of those carbs with the correct date floating around. About 1 or 2 years ago there was actually an original #2942 carb on ebay. I knew when I saw it that I should buy it, but since our '72 hardtop still has its original #2942 CA carb, I couldn't justify buying it. I considered buying it for a spare but it had a very early date and was way too early to be correct for our hardtop, so I passed. I can't remember the exact date on the eBay carb but it was early. Maybe it was the original carb from this car. Finding another #2942 carb with any date will be tough and finding a correctly dated one will be nearly impossible. One good thing is that very few people would know that a #2242 carb is not correct. I think if the seller of this car would have done pretty good with this auction if there had been some effort put into the ebay ad description and put good pictures that showed the trunk floor, floor pans, lower quarters, etc. But with the current ad and lack of info, I was surprised to see the bidding go as high as it did. I just hope that someone does eventually get it and get the car back together. If it spent its entire existance in CA, it might be a pretty solid old car. I personally would not care that the original engine is gone. It would even make it easier to race the car, like all Buicks should be.
Zone car or not mid 20k's is a pipe dream and the 18K high ebay bids look bogus to me.In the real world its a sub 15K car IF THAT.
If I had that car noway would $20,000 get it away from me, now I mean if I some how magically was the owner of the car. It's worth more to me and I would not part with it. I also would not spend $20,000 for ti ether, kind of screwy thinking maybe but having the car would be more important to me than the money. I'll probably change that tune when they foreclose on my house.
In the real world, it's worth well more than $15K. Consider it being a rust free body, mostly complete, desirable color combination, etc. To me being truly rust free is the most important thing there is on an old car. I don't care who is doing the work, there is no such thing as making a rust bucket car a quality car. Not without a rebody. This car as it appears won't need any patchwork on the quarters or floors. Like that "flower planter" car that was a twin to this one, they wanted $75K for it when it was done, and I know it recently sold, just not sure for how much.
Dont worry after sitting there for 30 years you will find plenty of rust you can scrub.Heres the last 3 1972 Stage 1 convertible sales I could find .I know of a few more and they were in the 30-50K range and thats for restored cars.The days of 75K sales are long gone and wont be back for an even longer time.Take a good look at the last ones selling price and you will see why your Blue 72 aint moving as fast as you would like. http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=CA0812-138447 http://www.russoandsteele.com/past-collector-car/1972-Buick-GS-Stage-1/6200 http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx?ln=72&aid=423
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT !!! Correct me if I am wrong but has Tim (StratoBlue72) EVER put a price on the Stage Vert he has. I asked for a price and could not get one from him o No: Tim, You keep posting about selling but its hard to sell when you wont put a price on it. This is not a cheep shot so don't take it that way. Put a price on it. ---------- Post added at 10:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 PM ---------- I stand corrected Tim replied to my request but not via PM http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...5-fan-shroud&p=2122456&highlight=#post2122456 ---------- Post added at 10:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:50 PM ---------- Probably around $15K, but depends so much on what all would be going with it. I've got a ton of NOS parts. Tim Carson tcarson@vcn.com
If it's been kept garaged and dry, I don't see where anything would have to have any more than surface rust. The thing is, many auction cars when looked at up close, have alot of flaws. So there are reasons why alot of cars don't bring big money. If mine doesn't sell for what I need out of it, I will just have to find a place to store it when the time comes to pull it out of where it's at. It really needs to get a little further along to be more attractive to potential buyers. There are still some people with alot of money that will pay a premium for a car that really catches their eye. I'm sure alot of times a person can get more money out of a buyer that isn't particularly interested in an exact model car or an actual collector.
