Well, I was selected as Wagon of the Month for October! Thanks for the honor Tom! I apologize for posting this late, but I closed on my first house September 30th, and it's been a whirlwind of madness the weeks leading up to the closing and for the weeks after, Jessie and I are settling in quite nicely now.
So, I guess my obsession with b-bodies started from the beginning. In my younger years, I would spend alot of time at my grandmother's house while my parents were taking vacations or weekends off in the summer months. I would then get plenty of passenger seat time in her 1979 Caprice Classic sedan. I still remember many things about the car, how she told me she bought it new at the local dealer, that it was a leftover they bought in 1980. The sights and sounds are things that are familiar, the click of the turn signal relay, the whine of the TH350's first gear, the expansive dash with the long sweep speedo and the curious circular arrangement of warning lights. I still recall the time we were sitting in the car and she told me the clock stopped working, well I started playing with the adjustment knobs and it started spinning again! I was less than 10 years old at this time and already fixing cars! ha.
Well, time wore on and in 2000 my grandmother wanted a newer car. She had found a 1993 Caprice with 49k on it and was offering up her car for $2000. I wanted it bad but being 16 at the time, my parents did not want me to have an unreliable old car. Before I could offer up an argument, however, my uncle snapped up the 79. He did offer up his 85 Caprice, but being a retired Dallas taxicab with 300k miles, didn't seem like a wise choice even at $200. You can waste alot of free time thinking about what could have been, but back then I knew zero about fixing cars. My Dad said it needed a radiator and other things, and would not be a great car. I went with it, but I know now my Dad does not like the land yachts. Oh, and the 79 Classic? Only took my uncle 6 years to run it into the ground.
That still makes me mad sometimes. I may get a 79 Classic someday as a tribute to my first big car love.
So, after High school I got a 1992 Honda Accord Wagon, I know some of you say boooo but that was a great car, extremely reliable with no major failures. I drove the car for exactly 10 years, on the tenth anniversary I sadly had to retire the car due to lots of rust. Which sucks because it still was in perfect mechanical shape with 250k miles on it, even still has the original clutch in good shape. At it's peak it was a good looking and driving car.
You can't hate it too much it was still a longroof
But I still had dreams of a b-body wagon all along.
In September 2013 my grandmother passed away. I inherited her 1993 Caprice Classic sedan. At the time I made a hasty decision that I regretted for a little while. I was unemployed at the time and while not broke, was not comfortable spending money. The car needed tires, tuneup and shocks. It was also not a wagon, and I really didn't have the connection with the car like I did the 79. In fact the first time I rode in the 93 was when I drove it home after the funeral. So I sold it, which was regrettable for many reasons. One was that I had to retire the Honda and then was without a car for a while and had to borrow a vehicle. Not very smart. But, I did like driving the car. Which lead me to purchase my current baby.
The 1993....shouldn't have sold it..
So, in January 2014 I found my 1992 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser. Found it thru a craigslist ad posted on the local b-body forum. It was too good to be true. I am a closet Oldsmobile fan so the car appealed to me immediately. Went ans checked it out and I was sold. It was a one owner car with 92k miles. The older gentleman who bought the car new passed away, and the widow consigned the car to the garage where it had been serviced it's whole life, to sell it. Man it's nice! It had new tires installed, fully serviced and a new front to rear line put on by the garage. I took it for a test drive and got lost! I was 2 hours from home in western Mass and was just having a good time driving the car.
So, as you may well know I bought it. After checking it's condition on the lift and it was in excellent condition for an older New England car, I gladly paid the $1999 asking price. And contrary to my parents thoughts on old GM cars, it's been pretty damn reliable. Only had to replace the distributor right away, the original was corroded and junk inside, causing a stumbling issue. It was not a very expensive nor difficult repair. It's been a great car that I have taken a few road trips already this year, and have already racked up 10k miles since purchase, and look forward to many more.
Thanks for reading wagon family
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Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:49 pm
