Sell of Fix?

Hi all – it’s time I move on from my wagon and I’m looking for input on which way to go.

She’s a 1994 Roadmaster wagon, white with tan interior. Originally purchased by my grandmother she now has 295k miles on her and recently needs enough constant attention that it has impacted my ability to work on a fun project car or participate in other activities around the house with my 3yr old daughter. I love her and I’ll miss her but I think it’s time to move on.

The bad:

1) Interior water leaks (2nd row floorboards) – last fall I removed the interior, installed new roof rack rivnuts, installed new roof slider well nuts and pulled/cleaned/resealed the vista glass. At the time I seam sealed along the channels but didn’t catch that there were some seams under the front of the roof rack side sections above the 2nd doors that are likely a problem even after I water tested it multiple times. At the time I also cleaned the old headliner out and installed new material, I see 2 areas at the rear where it’s sagging so there may be a reoccurring leak there too. I have new door seals which are not yet installed.
2) Floor board rust – the leaks above must have been going on longer than I knew because after pulling the carpet there was some good rust and holes under the rear seat and in the driver’s floorboard. I’ve ground and primered these and my plan was to fiberglass and sound deaden. This is not complete.
3) Rocker rust below b pillars – most likely from the leaks noted above?
4) Rear diff bearing whine – it’s been like this for 60k miles and 8years or so, I’m too lazy to do anything about it. There is also a slight weep at the pinion seal which comes or goes depending on the frequency you drive the car (more driving = less weeping). It’s the 2.56 open diff, I had back then pulled a 2.93 posi diff but never rebuilt that or installed it. It would go with the car but you’d want to rebuild it.
5) Needs mufflers – 2yrs ago the original mufflers finally rotted out so I grabbed new head pipes and Walker direct replacement mufflers and VHT painted everything. Still looks great but the mufflers are rotted on the inside. I used band clamps to install everything so it should be as easy as knocking the old mufflers out and installing whatever you want.
6) ABS unit is bad – I pulled the dash bulb and chose to not track down a replacement
7) A/C leak somewhere – needs a charge or troubleshooting


The good:

1) 8yrs or so ago I pulled her off the road for a year and gave her a good going over. I pulled all of the suspension and exhaust and ground rust, POR15’d and undercoated the body and frame. It looks reasonable but not as pristine as it was back then.
2) At this time I installed new GM rear control arms, new Moog loaded front control arms, new Moog steering link/tie rods/etc and had a new steering box installed. I also had the driveshaft rebuilt and balanced. It has Koni shocks that feel good but I can’t recall how old they are. It drives very well.
3) At this I also did some engine clean up – new engine mounts, pulled/cleaned/new oil pan gasket, pulled/cleaned/reinstalled intake, had injectors cleaned, new opti, new valve cover gaskets. My maintenance routine is 5000 mile oil changes with standard 5w-30 oil and all of the internal bits were clean with no carbon build up. I was pleasantly surprised for the 230k mileage it had at the time. One item of note is she has a sticky lifter somewhere that results in a start-up tap for 30sec or so once the temps drop in the 40s. It always goes away and since I let it pump up before I drive anywhere I was never concerned.
4) During the refresh 8yrs ago I installed a coolant filter inline with the heater core. I ran it like that for maybe 5yrs before I decided that the reduced flow of it being in-line was more of a heat impact and pain than just backflushing the core each winter. But, during that time it should have done some good with removing scale from the coolant.
5) It has a fresh radiator, hoses and thermostat, she runs right at 180F.
6) Interior is in great shape other than the worn driver’s seat, there are some cracks but totally reasonable for age/mileage
7) Paint/woodgrain – she could use a polish but the white shines well and the woodgrain is there and complete. The woodgrain trim is worn and faded, if you pulled and painted or polished she’d look sharp
It has all black/chrome trim – it’s there and looks shiny and nice, chrome trim has some dents but not terrible
9) It comes with 17in Impala SS wheels – some slight corrosion but look good. Tires are fresh as of 7yrs ago and are all seasons but only used in the warm months. The original wheels are ratty but have truck/snow tires on them.


That’s the general summary. If someone had a garage and some free time I bet the bad could be fixed for not much money. Thoughts on whether I should start off by trying to sell as a whole or whether it makes more sense to part her out?

With the miles on it and your decision to part ways, I think I would sell it whole.

It's easy to remove little things, but if someone wants a fender, door or even part of the drive train, then that's a hassle, especially if they want you to find out shipping info and they live across the US. Parting out doesn't happen over night. You could end up with a car carcass partially picked in your yard.

Sell it whole, get what you can for it and be happy it's gone. In all honesty there's not much of a market for this stuff. There are tradesmen who like cars like this to haul there stuff around.

Good Luck

Tom

Sell it whole for whatever you can get, which won't be much for a high mileage car with rot issues. These cars (regardless of what people try and say on Facebook) have a very small following and are a love it or hate it type of vehicle to the general public. Most people hate it, even wagon people.

Parting one of these cars is a huge pain in the ass. Very few people will follow through with any purchase. Those purchases will be the few items that everyone needs but are pretty much broken on every car out there. Most of the stuff on these cars has no value because no one needs/wants it.

Hardcore owners have a parts stash for their wagon. I buy trashed wagons for cheap and pull items to store for mine because I will die owning it even if it's a few decades away. Once I do that I send the rest to the crusher. This is the most likely fate of yours unless someone needs a cheap winter beater.

i can attest to parting out the car... I parted what i could with a car cover trying to hide the process in my condo complex - still can't believe i got away with it as it was sitting for months.

Wasn't able to part certain things like the michelins. It was sitting there for about 3 months i think?
Took a lot of smaller stuff off to sell. STILL have parts from it in storage.

Because the engine and trans both had issues, i wasn't going to get much for the car as a whole. Think I made about $1700 on it, but that was over a YEAR's time.