In my neighborhood, there’s a gentleman who owns every brand of the classic estate wagon: Buick, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet. What he doesn’t have, however, is his own pace car variant modeled after the 1976 Buick Century Free Spirit Indianapolis 500 Official Pace car. That’s a bit of a one-off, courtesy of an enthusiast here on craigslist that’s selling both of his creations as a package deal for $15,500.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader “bw” for this unusual find. When you factor in all the ways this custom pace car variant came to be, it’s an interesting set of circumstances: loves estate wagons, check; always wanted a Free Spirit pace car, check; had access to two incredibly clean white wagons, check; has a forgiving and/or no wife, check! Aside from your spouse, I’ll bet the kids up through grade eight would love riding in these things.
And ride they will, with the awesome rear-facing jump seat in the back! I remember a rental Ford Taurus wagon my father borrowed to bring my brother to college. I sat in this rear seat for the six hour drive to Baltimore scolding at drivers who tailgated (yeah, I was a killjoy even then.) In all seriousness, the wagons are super clean inside, which is a nice change of pace from owners who get excited about their sticker kit but forget to sanitize the cabin.
Wow – I don’t often see tan interiors from a family truckster of this era that look so clean. There are some cosmetic flaws, as the bumper filler trim is beginning to crack on both cars, but the seller has NOS replacements for one of them. He is selling as a pair because of some supposed emotional bonding that’s happened between these two pace wagon replicas, which should be parked at the next Indy 500 post-haste. Now, to find me a Caprice wagon to model after the yellow Chevy Beretta pace car convertibles…
This could start a new trend. I hope that he added a few extra ponies to go with the looks.
I seriously doubt it. These came with the 307 V8, and I don’t think he upped the horsies any; just a tape stripe job is all they are. I saw these for sale in Hemming’s awhile back, and as I see, still no buyers. I’m not surprised.
Anyone else think its odd that the seller is trying to sell home made Indy 500 pace car “replicars” to NASCAR fans?
There are still NASCAR fans?
Just enough to fill the two wagons ;)
My sisters and I used to sit in the back-facing row of the wagons my family had. Called it the “The Waaaay Back”. Anyway we had all the camping stuff back there with us and we’d arrange the boxes and suitcases to where we had a fort. Then we’d get Dad to let the window down a little “for fresh air”.
We would take wooden matches and jamb an apple full of them with the lighting end out. Looked like a hedgehog. Then when Dad would slow down enough and there was a car behind us we would carefully ease those little apple bombs out the open window.
If they hit the ground just right they’d roll along for a couple seconds and then the matches would burst into flames, merrily rolling down the highway.
The other drivers certainly seemed enthusiastic about our performance, what with all the waving and yelling as they’d pass our car cussing at Dad. Good times.
Good to see these old station wagons coming back again. They lost popularity and were forgotten thanks to the mini van and SUV’s.
Since the “minivan” came out in 1984 and the last full size wagons lasted until 1996, and the fact that they are still around albeit smaller, means that they were never forgotten. However the buying segment did shift to minivans, but the larger demise was due to the SUV. However most cars built in the 80s were not the best made nor with the best quality parts.
True, but that means the ones that weren’t scrapped and are still around are the cream of the crop. Like my ’83 Elky.
A variation on an old joke: “First Prize is a Buick Indy 500 Pace Car wagon! Second Prize is two Buick Indy 500 Pace Car wagons.”
The wife drove a ’96 Sable wagon in a color called “Cashmere” we had seen on a showroom feature Lincoln Mark VIII when I bought my Mystique in ’96 – a reliable little car I drove for over 140,000 miles with very, very few problems, thank you very much – we both loved the color which we found could show as anything from smoke grey to fleeting glimpses of amethyst depending on the time of day and lighting conditions. We bought the Sable in ’99 so I can only assume the car was special ordered. That car carried everything from our son and his friends to about 300 sq. ft. of cedar tongue & groove for our porch in the 15 years we had it so it owed us zero, nada, bupkus, *nothing* when the tin worm got it. So, wagons, yeah… well, these one’s aren’t exactly my cup of tea but it’s cool someone actually did this.
Why not just paint it black, badge it, and pretend it’s a rare Grand National variant?
Because this is a B-Body wagon. The Grand National was based on the last of the RWD A-bodies (also called a G-body after the new FWD A-bodies came out in ’82).
If you wanted to build a Grand National variant, you’d need to start with a ’78 to ’81 Century wagon.
That will be cool!!
Actually Buick Engineering made two B body Intercooled V6 powered wagons. They were used as chase cars for GN development. Reatta bucket seats and console. They never made it out to the open market. Both were crushed. Too bad. They were sweet.
Kudos to the creator, not everyone would follow this dream.
These look more like LeSabre wagons than Century. Century was mid-size and these look like the “full-size” of that era. Is it just me??
Well, I like them. I see two nice old full size wagons. Priced right also. Buy two, sell the other one. No one in the Village I live near would know if they are real or not. I would make up a story a mile long. It would sure look good parked at Farm and Fleet!
Wow.. those look pretty cool,and I thought they might have been real somehow.?
They could fool a lot of people, and they are really clean/nice examples.I would like to take a Pontiac wagon circa 78..,and make it a “Bandit” T/A wagon tribute.. , just to be weird…haha….I can see this style of “custom” getting more popular in the future, and I like it..!!
The red/white/blue paint scheme was on the 1975 Buick Century pace car, not the 1976. A complete list of pace cars can be found here:
http://indymotorspeedway.com/v1/500pace.htm
Perfect Ametican Collection
I got one 1987 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Wagon
Proud owner
I am restoring one right now. I plan to keep it awhile before I sell it. They are real comfy going down the road. Bruce.