Selling an old car - pre-sale fixup, or sell as is?

It's come time, finally, to sell the Ranger. It's been with us since it was new, my wife's dad bought it new for her to drive back when she was in college, just as we started dating, and then sold it on to us after we got married. It has been a great little truck, but time marches on and we are using it less and less. I need, this spring, to finally turn it into something more useful for our larger family- base-model 4cyl/5spd pickups aren't that great when there's five of us to tote around.

The good- still cleans up great, goes, turns, stops basically like it's supposed to. The bad- needs $200-400 in little repairs that will take time to get to, and if I'm honest I'll probably have to hire at least some of (windshield resealing...) out. Ugly- maybe the missing trim pieces on the roof? Those have proved tough to locate so far.

With all that said- do I clean it up, make it look nice, and sell it as is for $1500ish, or try to put the $ in and maybe (or not) get a little of it back? It's a little too nice to sell as a beater, but not quite nice enough to sell to some kid as their first car. My wife, especially, would rather it go to someone that will use it like we have (a driver) instead of as a work truck.

What'y'all think?

Sell it as is. No matter what you do, someone is going to beat you to death for every dime. No sense in wasting your sweat.

...Except make sure the brakes work well. Might have to throw a few bucks at that just to protect yourself.

Past general roadworthiness (runs/drives/stops safely, serviceable powertrain) you probably aren't getting a return fixing up a cheap car to sell.

What your buyer needs is transportation. You should focus your sales efforts on the ability of the vehicle to fill that one need.

If the person looking at the car strays too far of the topic of how the car runs and drives, they are not your customer and this is not their car. Next.

You know too much about the truck.
What you see as major inconveniences in small repairs the buyer may not see it this same way.

You are too concerned of the trucks future.
I know you have had the truck a long time but it may not really be your call if the truck is used as a "hauler" rather than driver. Let the guy with the money make that decision.

With that said, clean all that you can, the best you can and just get it listed on CL. Accentuate the positives, play down (but don't hide) the negatives.
Ask a high price and be willing to move down. So, if your thinking $1,500 then maybe ask $2,000 or $1,900.

I have traditionally fixed every niggling issue on my cars right before a sale; had dents removed, replaced broken interior trim, cleaned and detailed, etc.

Don't do what I've always done. I have realized that, a) buyers will still beat you up on the price and nitpick every issue, and b) why the heck did I not fix everything while I was still driving it? All of the work, none of the enjoyment.

Hey all - not sure if this board notifies on reply, but thanks for taking the time to answer. I think, if I can get it cleaned up, I'm going to shoot some quick pics and drop it on CL, and let the new owner decide how they want to deal with it. I do think I'll try to get the AC to blow cold, but all the rest is cosmetic fiddly stuff.

I'm positive I'll get a hundred "hey can I make payments" or "what's your bottom dollar" or "trade ja for my old jon boat" replies, but that's OK, too. All part of the fun.

I would say if you have the time/ money do the quick and easy fixes. Cosmetic stuff especially, clean it inside and out, spray the plastic down with armour all. Walk around with a can of flat black spray paint and hit anything you can get away with (wiper arms, tires, faded plastic trim...) Just dont get overspray all over the parts you dont want to paint. New carpet mats even super cheap ones always help. They kind of have that new car smell and always get noticed