In 1991, Buick revived the Roadmaster nameplate after a 33-year absence. It replaced the former Buick Estate, though the platform was the same. At first, only a wagon was marketed, but a 4-door sedan arrived shortly thereafter. The seller has a Roadmaster Limited wagon from 1996, the last year made, and it was discovered at an estate sale. With a new battery, it runs like it should, and can be found in Columbus, Ohio. The opening bid of $15,000 has yet to be cast here on eBay.
Buick sold more than 200,000 of these land yachts in six model years. Of that, a quarter or 50,000 were wagons like this one, so they were not rare sights when new. The days of rear-wheel-drive were on their way out at General Motors, so the Roadmaster and its Chevrolet and Oldsmobile cousins were the last of their kind. The 1996 versions used a 5.7-liter LT1 V8, which also found its way into the Chevy Corvettes of the day. 260 horsepower was the output, which was needed to propel these heavy machines with a 4-speed automatic transmission.
The Roadmaster shared the Olds Custom Cruiser’s “Vista Roof” sunroof over the second row of seating. Faux wood paneling was standard fare, but you could opt to go without it and get credit. With an extra rear-facing seat in the back, the Roadmaster wagon could haul eight passengers in comfort. With the popularity of SUVs on the rise, GM elected to focus on those vehicles after 1996, so the Roadmaster disappeared once again.
Little history is known about this wagon, and it only has 54,000 miles on the odometer. Since it was found during an estate cleansing, the wagon could have been sitting for a while (the seller has not washed it, so it’s a bit dirty). With fresh battery juice, the wagon runs great, and the seller says the tires are good, but I’d check the date codes before venturing any distances. The seller suspects this will be a hard wagon to duplicate with the mileage, though we’ve featured several of them in the past five years.
I can’t recall seeing a wear mark like the one on the driver’s headrest on a high mileage car, never mind one with just 54k? I’d want to give this one a good visual inspection before plunking down 15k…
Driven only by a monk, with a corresponding tonsure…
It looks like the driver used some hair product that stained the leather, maybe hair dressing. You could clean it and live with it or find another headrest in a bone yard.
It looks like it just needs a set of period-correct whitewalls and a good cleaning.
Nice old wagon, but not $15k nice. BTW, it doesn’t have a Corvette engine. It shares the basic design of the intake manifold with the Corvette, but that’s it besides the distributor. The Corvette has aluminum heads, higher compression, and a bigger cam than the wagon’s all iron motor. Even the intake is different because of the wagon’s “home plate” added to the plenum to quiet cool sounds. But . . . a nice old wagon.
It happens to be RPO LT1 whether you like it or not>
Sounds like you’re the one who doesn’t like it. It is completely different from the Corvette engine, just facts. Why is that? Could it be a bait and switch sales tactic? LOL!
That’s a hard NO. I don’t think it’s worth $15k
I always hated that the Buick wagon did not use the sedan’s front end. I sort of understand the Oldsmobile doing it (as there was no sedan counterpart), but this was just done to save a couple of dollars (I guess).
A lot more than a couple.
That never made sense to me either, PWJF. The Roadmaster Estate started life as a Caprice wagon with a waterfall grille for the same reason that the Olds wagon did. But once the Roadmaster sedans debuted, it was foolish for Buick to stick with the Chevy front clip. The sedan sheet metal and grille would have made the Roadmaster wagon look far classier and more dignified, the parts already existed on the Arlington assembly line, and the “development costs” would have amounted to nothing more than contacting their vendors ordering new left and right side woodgrain appliques that matched the new sedan fenders and the surround moldings to go with them.
supposedly the biggest sled ever produced in the US of A.
Nice low mileage car that needs to be detailed. There are 2 other Roadmasters for sale on eBay ~ a 95 with 118,000 miles for $15,950 and a 96 with 175,500 miles for $18,900. Neither one has the Limited package which this one has, an $1,870 option with several luxury items. I think this would be a good buy for anyone in the market for a land yacht. A weekend of cleaning and she’s good to go.
I agree Joe! These are very nice units. The entry fee is exactly in line for what one is obtaining! The occasional pristine low miles examples are bringing about $12-$15 more and are scarce these days. Someone is going to get a nice wagon for a reasonable price.
It truly seems that a $200 detail job would help make the price a bit more attractive. The sellers eBay handle, “Trash-Getter” also not likely to help… Especially when it does look a bit like retrieved from the trash heap.
As I said, a weekend of work could save someone a few thousand $$$ ~ depends whether you’re rich or lazy.
Have mercy! This is an ugly beast.
Ugly but a great family car.
If I’m not mistaken the large fan shroud signifies that it has the heavy duty cooling system which is part of the trailering package which included the full complement of heavy duty brakes and suspension which gave these surprisingly good handling in addition to very big towing capacity. A lot to like!