From time to time, super-original GM station wagons, and Fords, too—pass through the Barn Finds universe. I’m always tempted to make a bid on them, because I, too, grew up in a station wagon. But maybe It would be smarter to grab onto something like this 1995 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon than a 1960s family hauler. It’s obviously newer, probably more reliable overall, and likely has excellent AC, which the older cars don’t necessarily possess. The car in question is currently offered on ebay with a bid just over four thousand bucks. But you have nearly a week to jump in on this one, as the auction ends Sunday night. If you win, you’ll have to find you way to White Marsh, Maryland to get the car. I’m pretty sure you could drive it home from there, though, so you can get a one-way airplane ticket to go have a look and make your play.
Five owners? 100,000 miles? Yes, this car has traveled some distance. Interestingly, looking deep into the ownership records provided, it had 98,500 of those miles recorded by about this time in 2015. Obviously it has done some sitting since then. Questions occur on two lines: Why was it idled, and what has lack of use done to the fluid and mechanical systems? And by the way, describing the mileage as “super low original” is probably a bit of a reach, but buyers can decide for themselves how many miles are too many. Surely there’s service life left here, though even as a used car, this one has a lot of miles.
Fair question: Why in the heck did this propensity to put wood-appearing vinyl stickers on the sides of wagon persist until the 1990s? Surely nobody was fooled by this “wood”? No, but fans of cars such as this liked the nostalgic look. This generation of Roadmaster Estates, sold from 1991-96, ended an era when they ceased to be sold. Fortunately, the car here is new enough to have the benefit of being equipped with the 5.7-liter (350-CID) LT1 engine shared with, wait for it, the Corvette.
There’s not a lot of information in this ad, so you’d best ask some questions about what mechanical shape this car is in. There’s just one image provided, so it’s anyone’s guess as to how worn out the interior might be, or what might be going on underneath. (Note that other than the first image, this story is using stock photos.) But if you’ve had a hankering for a modern-nostalgic ride, then keep you eye on this auction, make a phone call for some details, and wait. You might soon own a Corvette heart wrapped in a Buick body.
There are many pictures of the car posted in the auction. They’re in the description under the Carfax report.
Maybe better AC but you won’t get the smiles a 60s or 70s station wagon would get. Too many questions on this one when it sat for too long. Maybe more modern but a lot more that can go wrong.
Hey, I’m VERY sorry for what I just did! I hit the wrong part of the screen, I never intended to hit “Report”!!
I wanted to say that I agree with you, especially about the ’70s wagons which I thought, even back then, were as good-looking as wagons ever got.
I like the pics 📸 of these Roadmasters doing burnouts 😃🏁
One shade darker and it would be a Beige Betty!
The owner of the equestrian barn that I operated had one of these. Same exact everything. It too was parked for a long time. He decided one day that the car needed to be started up. He revved up the engine and next thing you know antifreeze is spraying out all over the right side of the engine. A heater hose blew apart near a factory quick connect fitting. $110 later because all the hoses were moulded shape the car was operable. I drove it a handful of times myself and it seemed to be just a big boat anchor.
15mpg mixed use, 12mpg city, 18mpg with the wind on the highway. Math. But there’s a niche for it. Someone will see the utility of that massive cargo cavern behind the front seats.
The wagon variant is not as attractive as the sedan variant. It looks like a Caprice wagon with a fancier grille. It looked like an effort to bring back some styling of the mid-’70s which fell short (the early- to mid-’70s GM wagons were as stylish as a wagon-configured vehicle could ever get…and yes, that includes the truck-inspired ones that be all the rage now).
But, that said, I liked Buick’s offerings during GM’s last big-car hurrah above the other two. The Roadmaster just looked elegant, however in an obese way, compared to the Caprice and Fleetwood which just looked obese (especially the latter!). I also find it funny that, of those three offerings, the Roadmasters seem to be the ones that have endured the longest; nowadays I’ve seen an average of four Roadmasters on the roads to every one contemporary Caprice. And never mind comparing to Fleetwoods.
These wagons are really cool – but only bring “decent bucks “ if they are in mint shape and low miles. They don’t bring the money like the older models do. This one is nice but only for around $5,000.00 tops. Unfortunately these wagons from this generation ( 1991-1996), just aren’t worth restoring unless you want to do it for personal satisfaction. Which is OK to, but be prepared to keep it a long time. You might as well just drive it the way it is and enjoy it. Clean it up and have fun with it – especially if you get it for a good price. Nice article.
I owned 2 of these Roadmaster Estate Wagons, a 1994 and a 1996. Both were fantastic automobiles. Both also had the trailer towing package which got additional power steering, transmission and oil coolers along with an additional belt driven radiator cooling fan. The package also got you limited slip and a 6,000 lbs towing capacity. Do that with your Camry, I dare you. Both cars also pulled down 26 mpg on the highway.
Now I’m a Mopar freak, but if given the opportunity I would own another one in a heart beat. Just absolutely fantastic automobiles. GM ought to build cars like this now. Maybe they wouldn’t have gone bankrupt.
I bought one of these for my grandparents who loved to live on the highways. ’95 Roadie same color and everything. It was so comfortable especially on long trips.
If it was a packed house, we would let the third seat up, if not and we were traveling for longer than a day, we would put a air mattress in the back and I’d have a power converter with my little 13 inch TV plugged in (before the DIGITAL DAYS of course) and it would be heaven. Traveling or if we’d be camping out somewhere.
I actually miss it so much right now. When I lost my grandparents I had to sell it to help pay for their funeral expenses and it was the most heartbreaking thing I ever had to do.
That baby ran as smooth as Skippy and we NEVER had any issues. I wish with all my heart I could get it back … But alas it has been so long and there’s no telling where she could be right now!!! Hoooo Hummmmm!!!!!!!
At least you have the good memories. That’s the best thing to have.
I had a 95, picked it up with about 50k on it great family mobile. Used it for work after that. Field service, you could load a lot of tools in the back of one of those. After the mufflers rotted out I went straight pipe. It had a real nice rumble to it cruising on the freeway. But after a while the rumble got old or maybe I did.
I wonder why they got rid of the hidden wipers & 2 way tailgate – 2 steps backwards.
& too much glass here, while most modern “cars” have too little glass.
Hidden wipers were a pain in the gluteals. They looked neat, kinda. But in snow country – which is most of North America – the pockets for the wipers would pack with slush, often freezing. Snow would hit the windshield, turn to slush, the wipers would wipe it off, often down below the sweep, in the pockets. There, against metal or plastic, the slush would re-freeze. Turn the wipers off, and they’d go into those pockets, and not be able to complete the park pass – either popping a circuit breaker, or damaging the linkage.
It’s an advance, in a common-sense way, that today’s cars’ wipers don’t have a “park” position not part of the normal sweep. That feature of the Hidden-Wiper Era, made things complicated. And invited damage.
Three-way gate: It was a cost-cutting measure, of course. But their research probably showed that buyers didn’t need and mostly didn’t care about it. Flip-up rear gates, similar to hatchbacks, had been used on smaller wagons for 25 years; and buyers didn’t complain. The pop-up was as convenient as a swing-out; and a tailgate required first dropping the window to open.
And even in 1995, trucks proliferated. If you wanted to load things that stuck out, often, you got a truck.
Wood-grain vinyl trim: Of course nobody was fooled. It was just a nod to the actual woodies of 40 years earlier. Older buyers, of the sort this model was aimed at…had memories, then. Just as we current oldsters have memories of wagons in general, now…an extinct automotive type.
Remember, the wood went away in stages. From full wood bodies, elaborately varnished, to wood cladding on a steel skeleton; to wood sheeting overlaid on the carbody steel…to vinyl or painted fake-wood with real-ash borders…and finally to obvious glue-on stuff like this with chrome trim.
Like the fake VW Beetle. Unlike the original, the “retro” New Beetle was just a somewhat-styled carbody on an existing chassis. But the middle-aged buyers of that time, remembered.
Until they didn’t, and the New Beetle joined the old in history.
But why did it take more than 20!! years before they discontinued hidden wipers?!
BTW, before a snow storm, one could turn on the hidden wipers & kill the ignition making the wipers stop say halfway up the windshield & after the snow was over, it would be ez to clear the “hidden” area where they normally park.
I honestly think the reason for no more hidden wipers is how ridiculously big most windshields got in the 90s & since & lower parked hidden wipers might not even wipe/reach the upper part of the windshield!
The most ridiculous car IMO is the 20?? honda 2 door coupe where the windshield is almost twice as long/big as the hood! That is all messed up.
babydee9600…. I can totally understand your sadness regarding not being able to keep your grandparents car. I was a little luckier! When both my grandparents passed (one right after the other at 89 & 99…. grams at 99 lasted a bit longer, I aqquired their 2003 Lincoln Town Car with only 14K on the odometer in 2013 after their passing! I was using it anytime I flew back to Michigan (where I grew up) from Los Angeles (where I’ve lived for the past 40-years). I would then place it in a rental storage facility that was fairly new so I didn’t have to worry too much about rodents or moisture damage. I managed to place another 10K on it just driving it a few weeks of visiting each year. Well, then the Pandemic hit so she has been sitting in storage for the last 5-years! Fortunately, one of my two best friends from childhood still live back there and one of them has been faithfully checking on it all this time. He has gone and started it up every now and then and on a few occasions driven it “around the block”…. literally, as to not add too many more miles! My intention has always been to bring it out here to Los Angeles since it has always been garaged since new and never got exposure to the salty roads of Michignan Winters. My grandparent older age kept them from driving out on the roads if the weather was too bad or the roads weren’t dry. Well, the effects of the Pandemic have quieted down now but, this past November and turnig age 65 has brought my own health issues delaying any immediate trips on an airplane back to Michigan! Meanwhile, my childhood buddy is still checking in on gramps & gram’s Lincoln as everyone including my very active 84-year-old mom knows how much I’m looking forward to having gramp’s & gram’s Lincoln Town Car sitting in my own garage! Its time to let my own 1997 Town Car go as I’ve had it for over 20-years now! One of the best cars I’ve ever owned…. and certainly the longest I’ve ever owned a car…. and It still looks dam good. However, I’ve finally reached 107K on the odometer and I’m at that point where the maintenance cost required to keep it at the level I was trained to do (having an automechanic as a dad), would require me to decide weather or not to transport gramp’s & gram’s watching my health situation) to do the “transporting” to a different sunny climate! I’ve told her and my 84-year-old mom to “not get too excited yet”! I survived a terminal Cancer Diagnosis back in 2005!
Just have it shipped. Not as much fun as the trip, but when your health is a major factor, like in your case, this could be a good option. If I remember, the Allied Van Lines agent , Reliable Moving & Storage, is somewhere around Livonia. I had them ship a couple of cars for me, a while back, and we used to use them to ship show cars at GM. They did a good job and they were reasonably priced.
I used reliable a few years back on the Michigan to Utah move. Very nice service. Car was shipped in an enclosed carrier with my old employers M plate cars probably heading to Arizona. I dropped it somewhere off I 275 south of 96. So not far if you’re in that area.
I had a 93, a dark blue one. When I let it go it ran perfect and had 297,000 miles on it. If I could have taken it when I relocated I would still have it.
Like I said yesterday concerning the 96 SS that was reviewed on BF, I love these cars and my daily driver is a 93 Roady.
Daily Driver? Um, who else is usually in all those seats with you? I suppose it’s definitely safer than living in a tent. Mom with 3-4 kids car. That dad wouldn’t be embarrassed driving the Griswold’s around. But dad wouldn’t drive it around without the kids. It might get him on some neighborhood watch list.
None of your business.
Just gonna go ahead and say it: Nomad. There you go.
“Bloatmobile”! Too much prednisone.
Shipping a car can be a mess, or, it can be sweet. I needed to ship my ’93 Allante from NH to a remote part of CA. I could not find a shipper who would do it – I could get it to LA but I am 6 hours from there and if I trusted it to go 6 hours I might have driven it all the way. I found a “broker” who for $200 found me two shippers, one from NH to LA, one from LA to here. It took three weeks, but that was fine, I had to remove the spoiler from under the front bumper, that was fine. It came in with one dent (not bad but a dent). Each shipper blamed the other. Or maybe it happened in the yard between shippers. Fix was less than my deductible, so I paid.
Griswold’s Going On Vacation! Maybe tiny the windows with characters from the movie transparent images. Gut everything behind the front seats, make it all cargo. Update suspension and brakes, make everything reliable. Travel trailer hauler with errands and utility in each next town flexibility. Like say a picker or vendor. That’s too much machine not to be used for utility. Too thirsty to haul kids around daily. Too heavy to be basic transportation. It’s already got the comedy routine fake wood panels. Some creative soul will see a plan for it. Meanwhile it’s a queen bed behind the front seats. A couple could take a cheap camping vacation without the travel trailer behind it. Christie Brinkley in a Ferrari image belongs somewhere with all that landscape.
*tint. Gotta love the autofix fighting even the correction.