1965 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
Colonial white/cranberry pearl vinyl interior
330 V-8
Fi-Tech EFI
4L60 automatic transmission
power steering
power brakes
factory air conditioning
power windows
power antenna
front bench seat
AM-FM CD player installed in glove box
original AM radio in dash
$39,900
In 1965, the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser was in its second year of production. This was one of the most attractive station wagons available for 1965. Sheetmetal came from the Cutlass/F-85 dies but the wheelbase and overall length were longer than wagons from those series. Standard equipment included: tinted Vista roof, underfloor luggage compartment, electric windshield wipers and self-adjusting brakes. Custom equipment included: deluxe steering wheel, padded dash; chrome window frames and foam padded seat cushions. Production total for the 1965 Vista Cruiser was 9,355.
We have owned this car since 1984. It was painted in 1985 and still looks very good. We bought it from a used car lot in South Austin. The car had been sold new at Charles Maund in Austin, Texas to a doctor who lived in LaGrange, Texas and was on the original issue title. When we later registered the car the tax office allowed us to keep the original title. The exterior didn't look very good when we saw it. The owner would take out a can of spray paint every time he got a scratch on it and spritz some paint on. When we did the repaint in 1984 we pulled all the glass out and resealed it.
In 1997 this car represented 1965 in the 100 Years of Oldsmobiles at the 1997 Oldsmobile Centennial in Lansing, Michigan. Read the story about our trip.
We put front disk brakes on the car and had the steering box updated to fast ratio so you can easily handle this big car (including parallel park it). The car drives very well and draws a crowd wherever we take it cruising. Because we drive this car occasionally we had some of of the typical problems with carburetors. They prefer to work daily or they create problems with starting and running and fuel efficiency. We upgraded the system to a Fi-Tech and also installed a 4L60 transmission. Smooth starting and smooth shifting.
The first picture below is from the 1997 Oldsmobile Centennial - the 100 years of Oldsmobile cars were in the park downtown by the river.
The following two pictures were taken in Dallas, Texas at the 1999 Oldsmobile Nationals. Unfortunately they don't put wagons in their own class so we were competing with coupes and convertibles. The car pictured to right of ours took Best of Class. We did get a First Place trophy based on points.
The following picture was at a car show in Elgin, Texas October 2011. Abby was a little over a year old and this was her first car show. She loved meeting all the people. This car has always been a favorite of our dogs since they could lay down in the back and see out all the windows.
This next picture is the most recent we have taken of the car at the 2014 North Texas Oldsmobile Club's cruise to Fredericksburg. Club members were challenged to come in costume appropriate to the vintage of their car. We even dressed the car up with magnetic flowers. Richard loved having so much hair.
