December wagon's of the month (early)

I was asked to show my 1996 Roadmaster wagon for December. I am posting early because I will be on vacation at the beginning of the month. Now with that out of the way let me begin.......

it started with out dark cherry Roadmaster wagon my wife and I bought new in august of 1996.



My Son Tim was born 2 weeks after we took delivery on the car and My daughter Nicole was only two years old at the time. This was the family car that both of my kid's knew for their entire childhood and beyond.... fast forwarding to 2011 my daughter wanted her own after learning how to drive on our old family car (now around 200K). She was going off to school in New Mexico so we where lucky and found (saved) this one from the "cash for klunkers" program.



She has been driving since then and loves it (so do here three dogs). Now my Son Tim has been driving the very car that we took delivery on two weeks before we took delivery on him! He too love the big old rolling sofa but now at 275K and being a Midwest car this poor old girl has really seen better days. To add to that his killer sound system didn't help much either. But Tim learned the hard way that a good 94-96 roadmaster wagon was going to be no easy find. In fact my wife was telling both of us to give up on the fantasy of finding a nice wagon and tell the kid to buy something smaller and cheaper and be done with it! So on one Saturday in Oct we wet out and hit the used car lots. What junk! And for lots of money too! We test drove about 4 cars two of them didn't even start and the third one had to be towed back to the lot. The fourth one was so beat it scary just taking the test drive! Came home that night and I checked my Email to find I had a private message from the Longroof fourm. I checked it out and it was a member here that was giving me a chance to buy his roadmaster wagon. he sent me photos and his number and we talked. At first he was apprehensive about selling the car to an 18 year old with a fetish for over loud sound systems. But I assured him this car was going to be cared for the right way. I agreed to buy the car sent him a deposit and him and his wife wanted to see the Chicago area. o they agreed to drive the car to us and it was love at first sight! One of the nicest wagons We have seen in a long time. And the custom mods where done in very good taste and make nice car a great car. My Son will care for and love this thing for many years. He knows now how hard it is to find a good one. So now I introduce to you December's wagon of the month!..

Very nice family of cars!

Bravo! Got all your kids in wagons. My son is driving a 92 Caprice wagon and while he likes it alot for long trips, he rarely takes any and complains about the in city mileage all the time.

I built him a spread sheet showing him despite the fuel costs, how it is SAVING him money, as he doesn't have a loan, higher insurance, depreciation (it's fully depreciated at 22 years old lol). Not to mention alot safer than a tin can toyota....

Great story and we don't see too many original owners on here...

Nice story enjoyed reading your wagon history past and present. Jeff

Thanks guys! I have enjoyed owning these (being a Ford guy) that says alot about what a great cars these are to own.

Looking good Dan and Tim, I miss it lots already, looks funny with IL plates on it. I suppose I should change my avatar pic soon

Danr63 wrote:

Thanks guys! I have enjoyed owning these (being a Ford guy) that says alot about what a great cars these are to own.

There a few closet ford owners on this forum,..

I wish i had known about these wagons backn in 94-95,. instead of drooling over the impala ss's,.
I would have definitely bought a brand new DCM WB4,..i didn't graduate to the b-body wagons till i had gone thru some 9c1's,..

Nice to see an original owner still carrying the torch.

phantom 309 wrote:

Danr63 wrote:

Thanks guys! I have enjoyed owning these (being a Ford guy) that says alot about what a great cars these are to own.

There a few closet ford owners on this forum,..

I wish i had known about these wagons backn in 94-95,. instead of drooling over the impala ss's,.
I would have definitely bought a brand new DCM WB4,..i didn't graduate to the b-body wagons till i had gone thru some 9c1's,..

Nice to see an original owner still carrying the torch.

Great Car! I remember knowing about these cars back then but no being able to afford one! Our local Buick dealership had a white woody with a big sign on the window "last one"! I remember they wanted sticker price and would not deal! It wasn't until 2000 that I was able to afford a used one and have been driving them ever since! My friend had a Impala SS in 96' and I remember thinking it wasn't as cool as the wagon. Everybody thought I was crazy!

When we where looking for a wagon in 96 we special ordered a caprice wagon and out the door would have been 24K. That car would have been "fully loaded". After two days the dealer called us back and said it was too late in the year and we lost our chance to buy a wagon. We next went down to the Buick dealer and on the lot they had about 9 wagons all fully loaded roadmasters. The lowest price one was 35K and the highest was 38K. My wife said no to the sales lady that we could not afford that and we started to walk away. She said why don't you special order a roadmaster? We told her the story about the Chevy wagon and she told us they where making Buicks up until September (this was late June). So we ordered up a Base model roadmaster (one you see at the top of the page) with a tow package and woodgrain delete in dark cherry color. the price for that one out the door was 27K. That was still a little higher than my wife wanted to spend because money was tight and she was pregnant with our second child. We took delivery on the wagon on August 8th 1996 and my son was born on August 15th. He still drives the car that we bought and took delivery on a week before he was born.

Awesome story about your children and their love for these great wagons.Wouldnt it be awesome if your grandchildren could someday have the same appreciation for these great big wagons?

Flasheroo wrote:

Awesome story about your children and their love for these great wagons.Wouldnt it be awesome if your grandchildren could someday have the same appreciation for these great big wagons?

Assuming by that time our government will still let them be on the road!

Danr63 wrote:

Flasheroo wrote:

Awesome story about your children and their love for these great wagons.Wouldnt it be awesome if your grandchildren could someday have the same appreciation for these great big wagons?

Assuming by that time our government will still let them be on the road!

We are not allowed to make any negative comments here about our illustrious government.

(SIGH) Sorry, it will not happen again .

Great story,great wagon. Im hoping to pass my wagon gene on to my kids as well. It going to be a tough sell,lol.

It was an easy sell for both of my kid's
A) great ride
B)Coming from the "mini van generation" friends found the wagon "COOL"
C) 5.7 LT1 is a great combo of power and economy
D) can load all their stuff
E) big heavy car makes them feel safe
The list goes on and on......

Danr63 wrote:

It was an easy sell for both of my kid's
A) great ride
B)Coming from the "mini van generation" friends found the wagon "COOL"
C) 5.7 LT1 is a great combo of power and economy
D) can load all their stuff
E) big heavy car makes them feel safe
The list goes on and on......

Great list Dan,dont stop now!

Had to replace the oil cooler line assembly on my son's new 96 Roadmaster wagon. The line was leaking pretty bad and with only 80K on the clock I could not understand what was the issue. ( our other roadmaster went to 200K on the same assembly) What I found was the line was pushed up against the steering gear box and the vibration from everyday driving wore a hole right through it. So guys something to watch for on the tow package cars.

Check out this link: http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=332562&postcount=2934

UPDATE: I have inherited My son's 96 roadmaster wagon. He passed (motorcycle accident) on Jan 17th of this year he was 23. So I now have his beautiful wagon.
I will be swapping the Impala ss wheels for some Buick sport wheels replace the carpet and just keep the car nice. Now it has 112K on the clock.

Danr63 - So sorry to hear of your son's passing. Hopefully the wagon will continue to bring good memories to you.

I am so sorry for your loss Danr63. I am working on my son's S10 Blazer. Sep 11 will be three years since he passed. He was 33. No words... I will pray for you. Dan Ayers

Thanks it means alot.

Sorry for your loss, he is great looking kid. I am sure that wagon will help you, hang on to lots of memories.

Heartfelt condolences, I can't even imagine as I have my own children, it was rough enough when I lost my younger sister.

Thank all of you for your heart felt messages.

gave the wagon a change. decided to put some new rubber and some old school wheels.

looks great

So sorry for your lose. Wagon looks great.

Thanks. I am working on new front brakes now. The old brakes took a beating from the very heavy 400 lb subwoofer box Tim had in the car. I now have a much smaller 30 lb subwoofer box with the rest Tim's sound equipment and it still sounds great. The brakes will be drilled and slotted rotors with semi metallic pads. should provide awesome stopping power.

So sorry for your loss, Nov 18th it'll be 2 years since i lost my youngest boy (leukemia).
Glad i was able to help you out.

Dan,

I got some bits and pieces of this story when I talked to you about buying the SS wheels. I hope that you ended up finding a good buyer for those! My deepest condolences for the loss of your son. Its hard to even fathom what you are going through. Hopefully diving his car brings good memories and peace for you.

I will say though I LOVE your wheel/tire combo on the car. WOW. Genuinely, I think that is my favorite wheel for the car. My friends and family talked me into sticking with the torque thrusts that I have now but I think the classic Buick Wildcat wheel looks more “muscle wagon.” I bet it rides well too.

I wish I had been as successful as you in convincing my wife to drive a wagon. Haha we just brought our 3rd kid home from the hospital 1 month after buying our... 2020 minivan. Lol. I’ll never be as cool as Danr63...

Yeah you will be as cool! For me it came with age. Thanks for the compliment on the wheels I love them. Wanted to do that on the one you see in the avatar but it was too beat up to put the effort into it. So when I inherited this one decided not to pass up an opportunity. My wife really loved our roadmaster wagon it was her car for the first 170k then the kid's and myself brought that up to 323k! Take care,Dan