Swanny454 here with my 1974 Buick Estate Wagon

Hello All, new to this site but not new to station wagons. I am also a member over on stationwagons.com, Anyway I have owned around 15 clamshell wagons. Some very nice ones, some very rough ones. Anyway I finally acquired this 74 after keeping track of it for the last 10 years. It is an all orginal 74 Estate wagon with 51,000 miles. Maroon/Maroon combo and very clean. It has a few bumps and bruises but retains all it original paint. I have new TTII's for it and plan on building a concole to mount a CD player in on the floor. The car retains the original AM radio and I am not going to cut, splice, modify anything as it is impossible to find something that is as unmolested as this car. I will get pictures loaded in the next couple days.

Welcome aboard! I do love those clamshells. Looking forward to pics.

Welcome Swanny

Glad you made it over to our site. How about some pictures of some of those wagons, that would be a treat!

Tom C.

Welcome! Clamshell's are awesome. Looking forward to pics! Sounds like a nice car,

-Mike

Welcome to the gang Swanny and always thought the clamshells were so cool to watch open and
close.I bet the dealers service departments dreaded seeing one pull in.Looking forward to the pics.
Jim

Actually the rear gate is very simple to work on as long as you understand how it works. However, the window is a different story.

Here is the story on how I tracked this wagon.

The elderly women who I bought the car from bought it 16 years ago at an estate sale. Shortly after she bought it I seen it at a local repair shop. I found out who she was as I was friends with the mechanic and tracked her down. She informed me that the car would never be sold. It was going to stay in the family and be passed from generation to generation. I offered her a card with my phone number and she said no thanks, car was never going to be sold. So, for the next 5 years the car had its all changed once a year like clock work. In those five years the car accumulated 203 miles. Car disappeared for two years, I assumed the lady had passed away, sold the car, or willed it to family and then they sold it. I was on craigslist and there was the add without pictures for a 1974 Buick wagon 23 miles from my house. I knew instantly this was my Buick. I called the guy, asked him if it was the Buick that was worked on at the repair shop and he said yes. He informed me that the car was running rough and needed the carb rebuilt, maybe a fuel pump. I quickly negotiated a deal for $2,500(asking price was $2,800) I grabbed the cash and rollback and headed after the car. Once at his house I asked how he ended up with the car. He was a carpenter and did some work for the elderly lady. They starting shooting the crap and he told her that he was trying to get money for his 16 year old daughter a car. She mentioned she had a car that just sat and would he take it as partial trade on the work he did. So, he gets the car and takes it home to his 16 year old. He goes in the house and tells his daughter he bought her a car, she runs out the door, takes one look, and runs back past him and says "I would rather walk to school" So, after a carb rebuild, new plugs ,wires, and distributor she runs like a champ. The last time it was serviced they replaced all the belts, hoses, radiator with a NOS 4 core. It sat in that garage with cats living on top of it. The car was 100% cherry the last time I saw it roughly 7 years ago. It now has a very small dent in the right front fender, and a few claw marks on the sides. I buffed most the scratches out, it is not perfect but from 10 foot away you would swear it just rolled off the dealers lot in 1974. I am at work so I can't upload pictures but I will once I get home. The recent wagons I have had are as follows 1974 Chevy, 1975 Chevy from California(old lady donated to her church). 1976 Caprice Estate, white with woodgrain, 1974 Pontiac, 1976 Pontiac Grand Safari. The two Pontiacs, the Caprice Estate and the 75 Chevy are all still within 20 miles of me. Good friends have all bought the cars. I buy them, cruise them and then move on. BUT, I have fallen in love with the body lines of this Buick, and the interior is 99% mint so it might stick around for quite some time.

Great story Swanny and you better keep it after all this time.Good thing you cant get in trouble for stalking a car!
Jim

Flasheroo wrote:

Great story Swanny and you better keep it after all this time.Good thing you cant get in trouble for stalking a car!
Jim

LOL, my wife HATES the wagons. I just sold my 80 Z28, T-top, 4 speed 500hp because it always sat. She just said 'Really, you have a car like the Camaro and you choose to drive those dumb old wagons" I have always loved the clamshells. I watch 100's of them get ruined each year and think about how many are really left? They have to be getting very rare, and finding nice ones is almost impossible. It was meant to be mine, now to just convince the wife to sell the Excursion and drive the wagon during the summers....................................................

You are going to fit in here just fine!And the married guys here can sympathize with you as well!
Jim

Welcome to gmlongroof! That wagon you just got sounds real nice! I was just saying on the forum the other day that after driving my new to me '75 LeSabre convertible around all last week, I really want a clamshell wagon now. I'd like to get a '75 or '76 Buick. I also really love the curving lines of the Buick version of the clamshells, plus the little fins are cool!

Flasheroo wrote:

You are going to fit in here just fine!And the married guys here can sympathize with you as well!
Jim

Add this to the many reasons for NOT getting married.

As it was when I brought it home



After being buffed out and TTII's installed




Console I made for my CD player






Some interior shots before cleaning it up

SHARP!! That's a great looking clamshell!!

I am on the road this week but when I get home I will get some better interior pictures and under the hood pictures since I have detailed both those areas now.

That is one sweet clam! Nice ride, my sisters first car was a 76 sedan...

Looking at your speedometer/dash I'm reminded of the beginning of the movie Used Cars.

81X11 wrote:

Looking at your speedometer/dash I'm reminded of the beginning of the movie Used Cars.

Lol! "This is your car -Stanley Kowalski IS Buick Centurion convertible" Hey though Swanny, that is a nice looking wagon. Like that red with red! Nice choice on the wheels. My LeSabre has those same hubcaps you wagon came with, they sure are bland even on a red car.

ah,. back in the days when fossil fuels were cheap,. and riding in glorious capitalist gluttony was the only way,.

Nick

Love the Speed Alert. Have the same thing on the '79 Electra. You set it, and if you go beyond it the dang 70's door buzzer starts screaming at you.

Wow. Cleaned up. AWESOME! Love the candy aplle red! Nice ride!

Swanny,those wheels and tires are perfect with that color wagon.It really cleaned up great!
Jim