Well, the project car now has paint, LED’s instead of incandescent bulbs on the dash and the engine doesn’t smoke, stall or shake even when subjected to the watery excuse we have serving as fuel. This, combined with a short and mostly traffic-less commute means that I’m now looking for the next bargain, something unloved enough to look beaten, that is so rare and not-japanese that the average buyer won’t bother fixing and yet not so far gone that it will actually be salvageable…now if I could only find something like this.
After my Panther experience, I’ve had even more incentive to drool over the magnificence of the traditional American experience, and when it comes to traditional American experience, all those movies I saw as a kid (And the magnificent Grand Marquis that has a supporting role in Stranger Things) is that the most American way of traveling is a wagon manufactured by the big-three, Di-Noc contrasting with either Crimson or Blue paint.
Of course, being in a neck of the woods far, far away from Massachippisippi, old wagons are very hard to find, as hard to find as a tatty W113/116/126/124 or a last-gen Toyota Cressida Diesel (Number of them that I know exist: 2) or that Porscre-VW 914 that I saw rotting in a garage once. When they do appear though, they appear in similar condition as this one, caught and uploaded to the cohort by tbm3fan, which actually looks pretty well for its age and the almost-complete eradication of its kind in the new-car market.
It’s a great base to start. By 1984 the B-Body had already gone through its first redesign and would go on to print money with relatively few changes until the 1991 redesign. For the man who wouldn’t stoop down to a Custom Cruiser or, god forbid, a Caprice, Buick had the Electra wagon. In Sloanian terms, the closest thing to a Cadillac wagon that you could get without paying for someone to hack a wagon roof into a Fleetwood.
So what did you get for your money apart from the badge? Well, the usual trim and logo changes to justify the higher price, the Buick dash with Round gauges instead of the horizontal speedo. Oh…and the engine was Buick’s own 350 instead of Chevrolets. If you were brave you could also ask for the LF9 diesel. Performance? Well, I suppose it has some, but do you really want to ask about the performance of the 18-feet long wagon from the tail end of the smog-choked era?
I’d really really love to get my hands on one of these, I won’t be going anywhere fast and I would much rather have the Chevy instruments (who in GM had the bright idea to put the fuel gauge in a speedo-sized pod and not invest the $2.56 per car it would’ve cost to make a bespoke gauge for the gear indicator instead of putting it on the one where the fuel level should’ve been) But an American full-size that still has all its chrome, a straight body and little in the way of rust? Sign me up! Alas, as it stands, I’ll just keep browsing the classifieds to find…something…interesting…
There’s a WHAT!?
Always my favorite of the box ‘B’ bodies. A classmate’s mother had an Electra Estate Wagon in the dark blue you mentioned, with dinoc, cast aluminum wheels, and a tan interior that was either leather or really convincing vinyl. Beautiful car, and I was actually a little envious that he got to ride in style in that wagon.
Lol, I resemble this remark. I just purchased a 1989 Olds Custom Cruiser Wagon with the 403 off of Missouri Craigslist thanks to Richard Bennett’s the Brougham Society. A lot of guys are posting their Craigslist finds on there so if it’s out there, that would be a good place to start.
It arrived 21 July and since then has had: Battery (by mistake) fuel pump, starter, the exhaust fell off, and it badly needs shocks. The cruise doesn’t work and the power mirrors don’t work and the timing needs adjustment and the electric locks don’t lock the back doors and the left rear door quit opening this week. A/C works great but the Tempmatic is bad so if you turn the air off, it blows hot air all the time. And I mean HOT.
So even for a reasonable price to start with, expect to spend a good bit of money/work getting a good looking, running, driving example to be in good shape. The good thing about these cars is that there’s not much to break and what there is to break is generally fairly cheap and easy to fix; the bad thing is that a 25+ year old car has a lot to wear out and a lot of it IS worn out, and these cars required a lot more frequent maintenance than something newer.
Discoveries; American Eagle Outfitters sells a sling bag made in the shape of this wagon!
There are FI conversion kits to switch the carburetor over to TBI without changing a LOT.
Very nice! You are spot on with your comments about old cars. You should do a post on the Custom Cruiser when it’s all sorted.
The cruise probably has a dead module, located by the accelerator pedal, unless there’s no vacuum to the servo or the servo itself is dead.
Be sure to get a V8 module, as smaller engine modules can be jumpy on the throttle. (I swapped in a Iron Duke model onto my 2.8 EFI V6 6000-STE and it would command a downshift every time it lost any speed)
the doors have plastic clips that were notorious for breaking and the rods falling off, I think our 84 Delta 88 had to have every single one replaced at one time or another even when it was barely out of warranty.
The biggest detractor to me on this era cars, is the electronic Q-jet the 307 is saddled with. If I could I’d get a Custom Cruiser or Estate wagon and swap in a Olds port injection intake from a ’70s Seville and mega-squirt it with Port EFI. with a 200-4R and a decent rear gear, these would be good performers and get good milege while carrying 8-9 of your closest friends.
I’ve always been a mix and matcher on these too. I have a favorite front end but heck if I know the year, I’d have to look at them all. I like the Buick dash best. Flat all the way across is a great look, like a Bentley. I definitely have a favorite year for interior wood and it’s not the one in the pic. The blobby steering wheel has to go too, I wouldn’t mind an old-style Chevy 4-spoker. For sure need the 200R4 for the overdrive and I guess an Olds 403 with dual exhaust exiting behind the rear wheels. Buick Rally wheels (no aftermarket) and blackwall tires. I wonder if the roof rack was standard or optional, I’d greatly prefer without. White with the wood siding is my favorite color combo.
Man I love me a B-body but if it was a wagon (and especially if it has vinyl siding) the World’s Greatest Wife would make me sleep in that sum-bun for a few weeks.
I really want a 1991 Caprice with 305 and TBI. Peak box B-body experience in my estimation.
1991 was the first model year for the roundy ‘whale’ Caprices, btw. They were released in spring 1990.
The last Boxy B body was officially the 1990’s, built for less than a year.
Forgive, I still lament that GM took so long to get fuel injection for its pedestrian V8s. It is sad that B-body fans only got 1989 and 1990 to enjoy fuel injection while the Panthers had it from 1985 onward.
I had a TBI 1986 Caprice.
If you are into trucks, a ’90-’92 4.0L Ford Ranger 4×4 might be a smoking deal. Plenty of restoration parts available, and a durable powertrain.
In 1987 my Dad’s 1982 Country Squire had about 100k on it and was starting to give us trouble. And I mean that sincerely – that car was bulletproof right up until about 95k and then the variable-venturi carburetor was acting up and was difficult to repair. I was glancing through one of the Auto Trader books (remember them?) and saw a white 1986 Buick Electra Estate Wagon with blue interior, loaded and only 12k miles on it for sale. It was an hour away in Massachusetts, and when I told Dad he suggested to my Mom we go take a look. Well, we finally arrive and the first thing Dad notices is damage where the cornering lamp is. OK, maybe we can get by that – I was hoping he liked this car as I always was fond of these wagons. It was a loaded example, too – touch climate a/c, cassette with EQ, nearly all the options I think you could put in these cars. Yet the problem was it was SLOOOOOWW. I think Dad was thinking GM wagon, and when he did his ’77 Caprice came into mind with the 350 V-8. That was a fast car, this Electra wagon was not. And even though the Country Squire wasn’t fast either, it had a different feel to it – it just seemed to get up and go so much better than the Buick. To say Dad wasn’t impressed would be an understatement. I was mad because I wanted us to get the Buick wagon – GM’s finest. But we didn’t. And Dad ended up with a new Maxima (another story for another day).
Maybe that ’86 Buick wagon had an Olds 307?
It probably did. It was a shame because I loved the look and interior in these wagons. After Dad’s luck with the Ford I guess he didn’t feel compelled to drive the Buick with that gutless engine.
In addition, these drive like absolutely nothing else on the road. Eerie silence, smooth, creamy ride, smooth, creamy power, and a very luxurious ride and drive. Unlike the Panthers I’ve experienced, they don’t have the feeling of a large number of plastic parts that don’t quite work together wanting to come apart. If I were in your place I’d look for a good body good interior dead drivetrain and swap in an LT1/LS motor and transmission. The 307 was adequate for about 3300 lbs of Cutlass but is way overwhelmed by 4300 lbs of Station wagon.
Strange Savage. Our ’82 Country Squire was built solidly, rode like a Lincoln, handled beautifully and never even had a rattle or squeak in almost 100k. Never ever gave me the impression of a large number of plastic parts that don’t quite work together wanting to come apart either. In fact after our horrific ’77 Caprice Wagon it was like driving a Lincoln station wagon around!
As for the 307, you hit the nail on the head. WAY too much car for that small powerplant.
It takes a few minutes of searching, but there are 2 or 3 of the Olds wagons in every halfway large Florida city. Buicks are about as rare as Chevys wagons, with Fords almost impossible to find, and you can almost forget about finding a Grand Marquis wagon.
An unlikely source for vintage American sedans in this area is title pawn shops. One near me has a late 70s Pontiac Catalina sedan and an 80s Oldsmobile sedan. While “mature drivers” are almost hoarding Buick sedans of all vintages here.
There are actually several Mercury wagons for sale in the Atlanta area. Prices range $1500 to $17,000! But that one is like new.
As far as I know, Buick ceased production of its own 350 in 1980. Once in a great while, I run into an ’80 Electra or Park Avenue with a Buick 350…after that, the biggest gasoline motor you could get in BOP B- and C-bodies was an Olds 307.
I had an 88 Caprice Estate with the 307. When I first got it, I thought I made a mistake. I found it to be extremely underpowered and anemic. However, after changing plugs, de carbonizing and overhauling emissions system and carb…it was actually quite decent and able to keep up with modern traffic. The test was running up a very steep hill on the highway in left lane at 80+ and it did it no problem.
I have a 1987 Buick Electra Wagon that is maroon with faded wood grain sides. I bought this car about a year ago from the original owner. It was very much used but the interior is in excellent condition, the ac is cold, and all the windows and other power options still work. The glove box still has the original window sticker in it and the recept from the replacement engine that was installed 3 years ago. The car has only been driven about 12k miles since the engine was replaced. So that’s all the good news. Now the bad. I have probably driven the car a total of 20 miles, maybe 5 trips total. I let my girlfriend at the time (she’s now my wife) take it on a 120 mile round trip to see her friend. On her way back home, way to late at night for her to be off by herself in this old car, she called me to tell me the car was making some knocking noise. A few minutes later she reported that it was over heating, and a moment later it was dead on the side of an isolated stretch of interstate 20 between Athens Ga and Atlanta. This was around 3:30 in the morning. Oh and her cell phone had 6% battery remaining. So I got my two young sons out of bed, threw them in the Suburban and proceeded to haul a good bit of ass to get to her. It was difficult to even see the car in the pitch black of night but we found her. I was so relieved that she was ok, that I didn’t care about the car. We went back the next day with a flat bed trailer and hauled it home. It had spun a baring and would still run enough to move it around the driveway. It’s got the super weak Olds 307 so I wasn’t to upset that I was going to have to replace the engine. I decided on a 455 if I can find a decent one, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. The car still sits and still needs an engine. So many things have come up in my life since then that the old wagon is going to just have to wait. No telling if I’ll ever get to do it or not, but I love that car and don’t plan to part with it anytime soon.
If you swap a 403 Olds…you could make 450HP while looking like a 130hp 307……………
I remember seeing a few-but not too many Buick wagons of this vintage with fabric front seat upholstery and vinyl rear seat upholstery. For the kids that had to ride in the back? An unusual option, to say the least.
On the ones I have encountered, the rear facing third row seat was vinyl as was the case in my Caprices and Roadmasters. I’ve seen third row cloth seats in Pontiac and Oldsmobile b body wagons.
I’ve not seen the combination you’ve described in a Buick wagon. Unusual option but makes sense. Should also come with carpet delete rubber flooring. I wonder if this was a taxi/funeral car option on Buicks.
Additionaly, the 1A2 which was the special service variant of the Caprice wagon from 1991-1996 may have had this as an option
This is the good old luxury wagons.
Yup, right up there with the Mercury Colony Park. Too bad the minivan had to replace the good old full size wagon. Wagons like this just scream “family road trip”. I`d love to go to “Wally World”-NOT Wal-Mart in one even though it`s not a Family Truckster.
Gerardo,
I can attest to this idea being a good one. My 1986 Olds Custom Cruiser was a very useful and generally reliable vehicle for me for several years, as related in my several posts about it. As jerseyfred and others commented, age and wear have taken their toll on the over 25 year old survivors, but they are generally quite simple and rugged, and their problems can be addressed relatively inexpensively. A problem that you will encounter is that their qualities are hardly a secret, and their dwindling numbers in this hemisphere are probably constantly falling as the best examples get shipped off to Europe, where I have seen many of them in use. Stockholm may be the B-Body wagon daily driver capital of the world.
I saw that you had replaced the dash incandescent lamps with LED’s.
Do you have an article, or can you tell us about how to do it?
A uncle had one, during the years i was growing up in Alberta. I remember the very smooth and quiet ride. His came with the Oldsmobile 403.
Hi Gerardo,
These B Body wagons are my favorites also. I have a 1985 Pontiac Safari with the Chevy 305 and 4 speed automatic.
Wood grain is sunburned. Body and drive train excellent. SE Massachusetts. Also a 1988 Electra wagon-dark blue metallic, blue interior. Free. Gary
Gerardo, when I was out West on my adventure, I’d come across a LeSabre with the Buick 350, supposedly rebuilt after a meltdown. The bit of research I had done on them is they weren’t the best engine the General ever built, with the oil pump built-in the front housing being a weak point on them.
If it had’ve had a Chev 350, I would have been much more inclined to buy it.
This particular example is actually a 1990 Buick Estate Wagon — in 1990, the “Electra” designation was dropped from the model name.