As part of my new job as an official FIRST employee I found myself heading to Seafair to help set up our demo booth the other day. On the way there I happened to notice a Roadmaster wagon parked along the side of the busy arterial. I chalked it up to one of those rare B sightings, but didn’t stop to take a picture. On my way home, I was thirsty from working in the heat, at least what we call heat in the Pacific NorthWEsT. I passed an old-school neighborhood grocery store, that I called upon in a previous life as a salesman, so I went around the block to find someplace I could park, and what did I see but yet another Roadmaster.
Then two cars down there was another, and yet another. So after getting something to quench my thirst I knew I had to document this pod, so I went around the block the other way to get some pictures for our readers.
The final one in the line of this particular Buick hoarder’s collection actually has flames on the hood, in all their DiNoc glory.
The next day I had to help staff the booth, so I swung by and grabbed the feature photo. Once I made it to the parking lot for companies and exhibitors what do I find but yet another Roadmaster wagon. This one was the best in condition overall but the owner disgraced it with Chevy Rally wheels, something I’m sure Junqueboi will agree with. So five B’s in two days; but not just any, but five of the most desirable of all Whales, at least to this Panther lover.
I would love to have a nice low mileage Roadmaster for pulling a boat or camp trailer.
I notice the plasti-wood trim around the wood panels is peeling, just like my ’87 Safari wagon.
I’ve got a cool fix for that mylar that is peeling that hopefully I’ll be able to do a feature on in the not to distant future.
Yes please
FWIW, I know someone in my town that has a beautiful all original 1992 Roadmaster Limited sedan that he is thinking of letting go of. It was his parents and he got it after they passed. It has a hitch. Garage kept since new. One day I WILL shoot it and do a CC on it!!!
They must really be out. I was leaving a store the other night and saw a husband, wife and child leaving the same store in a really nice, straight Roadmonster wagon. This is one of my favorite GM vehicles of the 1990s. Every once in awhile I still get the urge to have one of these in my driveway.
In maybe 2001 or so a guy tried to sell me his. It was a white Roadmaster wagon with tan leather. About 100k miles, but it was really, really pampered. Trouble was, he wanted absolute top dollar for it and I was well set with my cars at the time and didn’t really need to go there. So I passed.
I sooo want one of these for trips to Menards, camping, and road tripping in. I found a red 93 Roadmaster wagon with 120K, no wood trim, and a dead trans. The guy wanted $2000 for it and wouldn’t budge. Maybe if it was $1000 I would have bought it and swapped in a trans, but not for $2000 and no LT1 ;).
One of my former tax clients had the Chevy version wagon. They had the car well into the mid 2000’s, put a lot of miles on it. It served their antique business very well.
A retired undertaker I used to play golf with, now deceased, had a 95 Fleetwood Brougham. The car in 2003 or so had 30K miles, in wonderful condition. He wanted to sell it to me for far more than he got from advertising it. I wonder why that is always the case.
The same thing happened with my neighbor. He bought a pristine 93 Presidential Edition Town Car with 15K miles for his wife. The car was too big for her, so he wanted to sell it to me for twice what he paid for it, and ended up selling it to a stranger for less than he paid for it.
That’s a strange phenomenon. My inclination when selling a car to a friend is to give them a deal on it, not try to gouge them!
The flames don’t really work with the wood paneling … at least for me.
I thought I spotted one of these the other day, but it was a woody Caprice Estate, rare compared to the Roadmaster woodys. I still see plenty of these here in NW Illinois – they were really popular around here when new.
For those of you who are new here is my collection of B’s. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/my-curbside-classic/my-curbside-classics-1996-impala-ss-1996-buick-roadmaster-woody-1995-cadillac-fleetwood-brougham-the-lt1-holy-trinity/ The Roadmaster wagon is the best driving of the bunch. Wonder how a Fleetwood with the Trialer Package would drive since so many of the Roadmasters had it and I think that took a little float out of the suspension. A local dealer here did have a 94 base Caprice Wagon for sale, plain down to the crank windows, but an LT 1 under the hood. Will always love these cars!
my son’s ’94 LT1 Brougham has the trailer pkg, and I was impressed with the handling. his Optispark seems good, too…
Just the other day my wife and I were out for a ride and what passed us on I-95 South? A pristine white Roadmaster with two very VERY old couples riding in it. I even commented to my wife how comfortable they looked riding in that car. It had loads of luggage in the back too. I’m not sure if they were heading down to Florida but by the looks if it I wouldn’t doubt it.
Does anyone know why the Roadmaster wagon had a different facia than the sedan (which had the full retro grill)? I liked the sedan front end much better and the difference always puzzled me. Why would they have to compromise on the front end if they are already building it for another car?
That’s a good question. I agree with you.
I don’t know exactly why, but it probably has something to do with the fact that the Chevy and Buick (and Olds in 91-92) wagons have all the same sheet metal. The only difference is the roof, interior and trim. Perhaps there is some reason they couldn’t put the woodgrain trim on the RM sedan front fenders.
I remember one of the car mags in the 90s doing a Roadmaster wagon project with performance upgrades. Part of the work was fitting a proper Buick Roadmaster sedan front clip onto the wagon. I do remember that the work was done at a bodyshop, so it was clearly more than a bolt-on job.
I love those big wagons. I have looked for a nice Buick or Olds but can’t find a nice one anywhere. And Eric, about those Rally wheels, I agree. In fact there was a Caprice wagon for sale in Lebanon some time ago for a very good price, but the owner had put Rally wheels on it with big tires, I could not even imagine what else he had done to it, so I passed on it.
Personally I don’t mind Chevy Rally wheels on a Chevy, but putting them on a Buick is pure blasphemy.
The Olds, wagon was pretty rare around here even when new and they are all but gone, I did find one on CL a few months ago.
Mmmmm, Roadmaster estates, the Kiwi funeral director’s best friend! I’m not a funeral director, but I absolutely love them (and I’m generally a Ford fan!). We never got them new, but quite a few have been privately imported – 99% as hearses. Conincidentally, yesterday I watched the Top Gear USA episode where they competed to see which extinct car GM should start building again. Although they treated them all a bit rough, the Roadmaster sailed through everything to become the chosen one. I’d love to own one someday – though preferably not the one Top Gear filled with water!
You forgot that a ton of whales still exist in decent shape in and around the Flint MI area.
Gag on the rallies 🙁 These cars probably have the 5″x5″ bolt pattern so why not stick some old Buick Road wheels on it? Almost all of them are only 6″ wide…these used to be real popular on the ’73-’87 Chevy pickups (unfortunately). Some ’77 & newer Buick wagons had 7-inch versions but I’ve yet to find any.
Heck the PICKUP rally wheels wouldn’t be as bad… they come in 6, 6.5, 7, & 8-inch versions & are junkyard finds…way cheaper than the Chinese knockoff Rallies. Ugh…
I picked up a ’96 Century Wagon in Mannheim, PA several years ago, still only 50k original miles. Tan and Woodgrain. My grand kids love to ride in the back.
Last year, after finishing a project in Lancaster, PA I got a (color and trim) matching Roadmaster wagon from one of the most interesting guys I’ve ever met. He and the missus drove the RMW in Florida, and he was ‘thinning the herd’. I drove it home, and enjoy it at least once a week.
My wife had a garage sale, and we got a lot of comments on our ‘big and little’ matching woody wagons. I’ve got an offer on the Century that I probably can’t pass up, but we’re keeping the RMW to deliver cakes (my wife is a semi-pro baker) and haul around the grand kids. We just picked up a full kitchen at Ikea a few weeks ago in the RMW, and still got 23 mpg on a trip home from Cincy.
We always had a wagon (mostly GM ‘A” bodies) when my kids were growing up, so it’s great that the grand kids get to enjoy riding in the way-back and waving at everyone. Good times.
Does it make anyone feel better about the rallies if I made a special new “Buick” sticker to take away the Chevyness? My winter wheels…
Yes. Try finding the non-scalloped center cap..I’m not sure what years these came on but they are a little cleaner looking than the ones pictured. Those wheels make lots more sense than the repop rallies I was gagging on above.
And just for good measure here are my summer wheels… former 17″ Impala SS wheels that I made did the same treatment on.
Working for Dean Kamen’s outfit should be interesting. Any practical auto-related projects?