This afternoon I went to my local polling place to vote. Given how many, ahem, older folks vote, I thought there might be an opportunity to spot some interesting vehicles in the lot, so my trusty camera was at the ready. There wasn’t anything really amazing in the parking lot, but I did spot this nice, metallic-beige Century Estate Wagon. A-bodies of this vintage are everywhere around here (I average 5-10 viewings per day, and sometimes as many as 20), but wagons are quite scarce.
While standing in line, I saw this one pulling into the porte cochere. All I could see was a rear quarter and a flashing brake light, but I knew from the Broughamtastic wire wheel cover and whitewall tire that it had to be a Century, apparently a 1994-96 model judging from its fine-tooth vertical bar grille. Regardless of whom you voted for, or whether or not you voted at all (And please, don’t tell us; we’re not that kind of site!), I think most of us here on CC can appreciate a nice A-body wagon. Here’s the Timex of GM family cars: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking, even 16 years after the last one came off the line.
When I first returned to Canada, I needed wheels ASAP and looked all over the place for a clean A-Body wagon for cheap. Couldn’t find one but found a great beater Ciera sedan. Good car, bought for $700, drove a year, sold for $700!
What’s a polling place? I voted a few weeks ago in the comfort of my dining room, thanks to Oregon’s vote-by-mail. One of the great modern inventions; I highly recommend it 🙂
It really is hard for me to imagine having to go to a polling station, never mind folks who work, etc. I wonder if anyone’s ever done a study to show how much time, money (and gas) voting by mail would save?
Or if you go to a polling place, at least do early voting like my wife and I did three weeks ago.
In my case, it wasn’t that big a deal as it was just a few blocks from my condo. Long lines, but as with Ed’s experience it was rather upbeat.
In ’96, my wife and I lived in a golf course community in PA which had its own polling place within a few blocks from where we rented. That was a neat novelty to walk nearby.
This time, the early voting seemed OK enough, but the ladies running the place were loudly babbling on about everything and nothing, and made the process somewhat distracting. The numerous bonds and local offices required me to actually think a little before filling in the bubbles.
I’m still registered in Chicagoland. Vote early and often! 😀
Kidding, I only voted once and early. I don’t understand the need to go to a Polling Place either.
Virginia makes it interesting. My wife is often in a wheelchair. As I was unloading it yesterday, I was informed by the polling officer there that I had the option of having them take her ID to the registration desk, get her registered and pick up her ballot, bring it back to the car so she could vote, then take the completed ballot back inside and insert it in the voting machine for her.
This is Virginia state law.
I asked Patti what she wanted to do. She muttered something about, “I’m not THAT much of an invalid”, so I wheeled her into the polls.
I bought a ’96 Century wagon about three years ago. I put new brakes on it then promptly blew it up within 4 months of buying it. I don’t even know if it made it 3000 miles with me. It was the second 3100 I nuked in a 12 month period.
I salvaged anything off it compatible with the H-body and sold it to guy that took it away on a flatbed for $300.
3100 motors are NOTORIOUS for intake gasket failure, you have to monitor them if they have the stock one, or just go ahead and pull it and replace with the felpro metal rimmed one before oil and coolant mix and it overheats, destroying head gaskets, warping heads and possible lower engine damage, I have a century wagon 96 also, first thing I did was park it, change the intake gasket and all the hoses. I had its sister engine in an alero (3400) both with identical motor issues. one intake gasket repair got it to 300k miles for me from new, sold it, friend drove it 5 more years, needed a head gasket, kept rolling on the 5th year she had it, it needed another intake gasket, she let some kid work on it and it failed the next day, on the streets of new Orleans it was promptly stripped, it probably had over 400k miles on it, and could have still been going if she had it done properly. they have a couple design flaws that will kill them if your not careful but they can be rectified if you monitor oil / coolant / engine temperature
Unfortunately, my polling place was Village Hall, which has no parking lot and sits right on top of a busy state road, so most people just parked illegally in other places and walked over. Boy was it crowded, but the spirit was surprisingly jovial in the ancient building, seems like everyone just liked to go out and vote. As did I.
I’ll freely admit: it was mostly old people, so I’m quite jealous you were able to snatch a CC outtake, as I possibly could have if I was in the mindset. Anyways, kudos on the find.
Whatever you do, don’t let PrincipalDan see this wagon!
In 1992 after my aunt died and my uncle had to go into a home, they owned one of these, a Chevy, I think. It was offered to me, but being right in the middle of our move to Cincinnati, I turned it down, not even asking what my cousin was asking for it.
I suppose I should have considered, as it would have come in quite handy in those early years with all the trips back to the STL area we made.
I wish GM still sold a vehicle like this. A Regal or Verano wagon would be wonderful.
the encore…a smaller enclave fit the bill maybe…
There is a Cruze Wagon …intro it here as a Verano Estate Wagon
This is the ultimate of GM products, said the owner of the ’93 Century. Comfortable, reliable (with the right engine, a 3.3 in my case), and as durable as an anvil.
I talked to a guy recently who has a ’93 Century wagon with over 300,000 miles on the clock; he has only changed the oil and hoses and it keeps going.
The geriatric set has good taste in automobiles!!!
Having had two mid-80’s Centuries, I tend to agree with you. One was basic and plain (4 cylinder, 3-speed auto, four door sedan), the other was high end (6 cylinder, 4-speed auto, full chechke’), and both were absolutely wonderful cars. Liked the styling, visibility and comfort. Still consider the A-bodies the best cars GM ever made.
When I still lived at “home” with Mom and Dad I would care for the house of a Senior on our block that had one of these. He let it go with almost no miles on it (after his wife passed) for $3k. He wasn’t able to drive anymore and the car was just sitting.. When his family moved him to a “home” I passed on the house. I’m still kicking myself daily.
We had a ’91 Century Limited wagon purchased in 1996 and retired in 2006. It had a 3.3 litre engine and the third row seat in the back. If you have that, there will be little flip out windows next to the ‘D’ pillars. Reliability and cost of ownership was about average, but we did have a few problems. But we did put over 200,000 km on it over the ten years we owned it. The most unusual was an interesting story. My wife called me and said that it was running very rough. I took it in to a local garage, which phoned me later on and told me that I needed a new engine as I had no compression on Cyl. No. 6.. I said thank you very much, but I will take the car back. I drove it home and started to investigate. I pulled off the valve cover and went to wipe off the oil to set it aside. My wife, who has no mechanical knowledge, said “Is this supposed to be like this?” and pointed to a rocker arm that had broken loose. Some mechanic. I pulled the injector plug for #6 and drove it to a much better mechanic, who installed a new rocker arm stud, and we put another 100,000 km on that engine.
These really are good cars. I sadly see too many of these at the scrapyard…as a matter of fact these are probably the most “driven-across-the-scales” models I see. Some of these cars, still running were approaching 300K. Wow.
This vehicle is also the #1 choice of mail carriers around here which says a lot.
This article brings up the double old-fart hex: I owned a 1986 Century Estate Wagon, all the brougham crap, maroon velour interior, fake wood sides, fake wire wheel covers. Inherited it from my recently-late mother, always called it “mom’s final revenge”. Hated the car, it was the most reliable car I’d owned up to that time, and I couldn’t afford to trade it in on a replacement that I’d have been proud to be seen in.
The other part of the double old-fart hex: I am completely and totally opposed to any form of voting other than taking the time out to go down to the local polls on election day, stand in line, and inconvenience yourself to do your civic duty (acceptable alternative is the traditional absentee ballot, once the limitations and regulations have been done). Voting is way too important to make it too easy. I feel a bit of dedication and inconvenience should be mastered first.
Never seen one in the metal, but I always used to look at these wagons in the Car & Driver annual car guide things in the 90s, and thought they were decent looking. Always loved that little quarter window at the rear end of the back side window. Didn’t GM do that on another wagon as well? (the 90s Caprice/Roadmaster?) What are they for – do they open? Certainly made for an interesting and not half bad profile I thought.
Why is it only “old people” vote in the US?. UK wise its across the board. Next week we get to vote for a new chief of police nationaly for the first time. Up until now they were
just appointed!. .
Great car, “The whale”!. but give we a loaded 77-90 Caprice any day. Last me out!.
Saw one on Ebay motors UK , Uk supplied by Lendham & Hartman of London new , 350,loaded and low miles, went for £7K!
I currently own a 1990 Celebrity wagon with the 3.1, bought it just this past May with 109k on it as an extra car to use as my ‘truck’ for those home projects and for when one of the other cars is down. It’s been a good reliable car thus far and I’ve even taken it on a few road trips this past summer. Mine’s a 2-seat version so the rear windows don’t have the ‘wing vents’ – only the 3-seat versions got them, and yes they do open to give a little air to anyone riding in the tailgunner seat.
My family’s had 2 of these A-body wagons, an ’87 Olds Cutlass Cruiser and a 1990 Celebrity Eurosport wagon – the Eurosport’s still around as a spare/hauler with nearly 300k on the clock. I always thought as far as the GM wagons of the 80s/90s go the only thing better than the A-body wagon was a B-body wagon. – my folks had them (an ’83 and ’88 Caprice) in the stable that were a better option for heavier hauling/family trips, and my grandfather used B bodies for his John Deere dealership given their capabilities to tow/haul heavier loads. Wish we had more options for wagons these days, these wagons (both A and B bodies) are getting pretty scarce in good condition.
I am a poll ‘inspector’ (manager) for a four precinct vote center in Indiana. We use 18 microvote machines, which are a type of specialized tablet. 4,557 registered voters in the poll book, around 2,556 voted in person, another 500 by absentee (mail in).
The poll books are bloated because the names are easily added but seldom removed, (federal law). The total ‘real’ number of registered voters is less than 4,000. We had a great turnout and our longest wait time was less than 20 minutes.
I have used my ’96 century wagon for many years, but this year I used the ’96 roadmaster wagon to haul all the machines and supplies. There are 20 poll workers from 5AM until around 7:30 when we take everything back to the county building.
Between personal use and work, I purchased around 16 A-wagons, mostly celebrities. At the end (1990), they were overlapped with plastic bodied “U” lumina vans, most with 3800’s.
We always had a wagon when our kids (now 31 and 33) were growing up, and now my grandkids love to ride in what my grandaughter calls ‘the big wood car’.
Good times…
I have the cutlass flavor of this. I love that there is an ashtray for the 3rd row kiddy seat. The car has a lot of neat little touches actually, like a locking glovebox in the cargo area in addition to the locking underfloor storage that the seat folds into. Great for stashing… tools. Plenty of interior lighting too, and underhood lamp that comes on when you pop the hood.
I have this exact car down to the paint job, its a beauty and looks brand new, must have been garage kept, it even shines better than the one in the photo. I wouldn’t get rid of it for anything. aside from the few design flaws in the engine that can be solved, these will run forever, its not unheard of to get 500k miles out of the lower end of the motor with not one leak.