I blame David Freiburger.

I can trace the start of my love for station wagons directly to the episode of Roadkill Garage where David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich have a battle of the Gargantuwagons. I began to appreciate the rich history this body style has in American history. It is an American family icon much like the minivan today, but so much cooler and capable because with the V8 and rear wheel drive. The rear action tale gate, rear facing seat, full frame, and towing capacity make station wagons make the wagon a combination of all the best. Buried under the wood grain of these cars is muscle car waiting to be woken up!

My journey to getting in a wagon started long before I even knew I wanted one. I made the switch from motorcycles to cars after getting married. As undergraduate students, we didn’t have much money to argue over but I did have to own a car. We ended up buying grandma’s 2002 Buick LeSabre and I fell in love with the American comfort and spacious cars. I also enthusiastically pushed that thing to the limit! I hauled wood with it (roof, passenger seat, trailer), moved across the country 5 times with it, hauling a loaded trailer one of those time. I liked the car, but wanted more capability. SUV’s got terrible economy and were boring. As the next few years passed and I moved on from undergraduate to medical school, from no kids to the 3rd on the way, I realized I needed more car.

At this point, I realize I am like an addict trying to convince his dealer that drugs are not bad… but I’ll continue.

While a late 60’s impala wagon was my first passion, I decided that driving to hospital rotations during medical school in a 60 year old car and toting my young kids around was not ideal. I then fell in love with the 80’s GM wagons. I almost bought one, but after driving four and a half hours through a snow storm with 2 kids under two by myself, I was disappointed in the car and figured it was best not to be stuck on the side of the road on the way home in an Idaho winter…in a car my wife didn’t want me to buy in the first place.

My Volvo 240 Wagon enthusiast brother-in-law then reminded me of the ‘94-‘96 Roadmaster wagons. I preferred the square body look, but realized just how superior of a machine these were to anything I was looking at. The search began! My budget was limited to a Navy reservist’s salary and my time was non-existent. I was in the middle of the Cardiology block at school with a nearly bedridden wife due to severe morning sickness leaving me to take care of the kids and pass my classes. None the less, where there is a will there is a way and I ended up having my dad (in Georgia) drive up to meet a guy in SC buy a 1996 Roadmaster.

So here is the car: 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate wagon clocking in right at 150K miles. Blue inside and out. The car seems to have been taken care of and was owned by a wagon lovin’ drag racer. While waiting in limbo in GA for my dad to be able to bring it out to me, he went ahead and did some maintenance on it: radiator, fixed the window sliders, thermostat, head light switch, door panel repairs. He custom built car seat hooks for it so I can quick install and remove my kids’ seats!

Unlike David Freiburger, I don’t want the climax to be the hunt. I want to keep enjoying the ride and make it better and better. I plan on doing small upgrades for the time being and just enjoying a fun and unique daily driver. When I go Active Duty in a few years, Ill probably start putting more money into it and the theme will be along the lines of a pro touring rather than bagged and slammed. I still want to be able to take this thing camping and haul virtually anything.

If you made it this far, you deserve a high five. Thanks for your interest and support! I have enjoyed the B-body forums thus far and look forward to learning a great deal more from y’all.

Respectfully,

Colin Henderson
ENS, MC, USNR, OMSII
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine- Class of 2023

Hi Colin, and welcome to the pod!

Nice example of a classic wagon you have there.  Excellent write up too, and you might consider reposting the above story, with a LOT more pictures under the "Wagon of the Month"  (we like pictures... interior, engine bay, underneath, family and friends having fun with the car).  You might need a few more posts before you can use the "insert image" option in the third tab of the menu bar above this window (there are threads on how to post multiple images without secondary hosts). If you use the "Search" function, you'll generally find a solution for many of the common issues with these cars, and some not-so-common ones as well.

You'll find folks here incredibly knowledgeable and helpful in the quirks of these wagons.   There's less traffic here these days than the Facebook page, but you generally get authoritative and good advice when you ask a question, rather than some numbnut "liking" your question, or responding "LOL".  If your preferred means of communication is the long-form essay, you've found a home.

My story is similar to yours, but I'm at least one generation ahead of you.  My son, recently graduated as a mechanical engineer is now headed off to med school at Tufts in September, assuming they have live classes.

Welcome again.

David

David,

Thanks for your feedback. I took a look at the LROM section and I may develop the story a little bit more, get some more documentation, and then post in there. Unfortunately, Covid has roadblocked us and I have not been able to get the car out here. When it gets here, I’ll try and get some good pictures and post!

Is there an associated FB page with this forum? I’ve been on the ImpalaSS and Buick roadmaster forums.

Congrats to your son. He went a hard route with ME. I’m sure that will serve him well down the line though.

Hey Colin, congrats and welcome. That's a fine looking ride. Since you were inspired by Roadkill you need to make sure that when the time comes to bring it home you document the trip. And be sure to click the "avoid all highways" tab on your GPS you maximum nostalgia. And pictures, take lots of pictures. We like pics.

Cool project, and great story! I picked up a '94 RMW a decade ago, and have been messing with it ever since. It was a fun daily driver at first, but now that kids are getting older, moving out or have their own licenses the project is getting more serious. You will find lots of knowledgeable guys on here when you have questions, and don't forget that search is your friend. If you are having an issue with one of these cars, chances are you aren't the first guy to have it.

Welcome Colin, what a great introduction post. Very cool of your brother in law to point you to B-Body way.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! Update: the car is headed here this weekend (signal fanfare). My dad is just putting it on a trailer, hauling it out here, staying for the 4th and my son’s birthday and then trailering our '86 Firebird back to his house. Thankfully, he did quite a lot of work on it for me in his free time.

RadioFlyer: I am already planning my first trip! Hoping to pile in with two of my friends and each of their oldest kids and head for the mountains! The place i have in mind is about 4 hours away, but we will stop in an old gold rush town to explore. It should be mountainous for most of the drive so i will try and snag a few good pictures for yall (hopefully none with us broken down!!! Haha)
Side note: You’re in savannah?? I lived and worked right there on Hilton Head Island last year and would go to Savannah fairly often. My in-laws still live down there. I grew up near Athens, Georgia where my parents still live. Small world!

Andebe: Yes! Jason and I were bad influences on each other when it comes to station wagons. I instigated his purchase and then he really encouraged me. I’m a little surprised that our wives (who are sisters) didn't forbid us from talking anymore as NEITHER of them like the wagons. He tried for the life of him to get me into a Volvos as well, but I wanted the American V8 and comfort.

Sleeperwagon: Sounds like you have some cool stuff going on in your garage. I’m sure it’s documented here so I’ll look around. What part of Oregon are you in. I’m in Boise so you probably are not THAT far from me.

HendersonRacing514 wrote:

David,

Thanks for your feedback. I took a look at the LROM section and I may develop the story a little bit more, get some more documentation, and then post in there. Unfortunately, Covid has roadblocked us and I have not been able to get the car out here. When it gets here, I’ll try and get some good pictures and post!

Is there an associated FB page with this forum? I’ve been on the ImpalaSS and Buick roadmaster forums.

Congrats to your son. He went a hard route with ME. I’m sure that will serve him well down the line though.

First off, thank you for your service from a Navy Dad (Son is on the USS Normandy).
Second, Congrats and I"m sure you will love it, once you get in hand. As a 14x wagon owner since 2007 (currently have only one), there is nothing else out there that can touch what these cars can do.

Thirdly, as far as FB groups there are several wagon related ones, none directly tied to this forum, but many of us are on B-Body wagon mafia, and the 91-96 Roadmaster something or other (lol). I myself belong to probably 30+ B-Body FB groups.

In addition to this site, the Impalassforum.com is a wealth of knowledge if you use the search function (20 years give or take) of info there.

I do love it! It got here on the 4th of July. I got to bomb around town in it with my dad, brother, and two kids. What a blast! We made my 32 year old brother ride in the 3rd row. Haha! It needs a little (maybe a lot) of TLC and some suspension attention, but it is so cool and hilarious! People love it or hate it, but I will say it turns more heads then the Red 1986 Firebird I was driving! I even had a guy take a picture of it at a stoplight. My dad told me today I was born in the wrong generation as we cruised to some Alan Jackson... maybe he was right.

Funny enough, there is a wagon mafia sticker on the car so I’m guessing the old owner was a member of that FB group. I am a member of the Impala page as well. I’ve considered paying to join the ISSCA (or whatever it is) group but haven’t decided on it yet.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!

-Colin

HendersonRacing514 wrote:

I do love it! It got here on the 4th of July. I got to bomb around town in it with my dad, brother, and two kids. What a blast! We made my 32 year old brother ride in the 3rd row. Haha! It needs a little (maybe a lot) of TLC and some suspension attention, but it is so cool and hilarious! People love it or hate it, but I will say it turns more heads then the Red 1986 Firebird I was driving! I even had a guy take a picture of it at a stoplight. My dad told me today I was born in the wrong generation as we cruised to some Alan Jackson... maybe he was right.

Funny enough, there is a wagon mafia sticker on the car so I’m guessing the old owner was a member of that FB group. I am a member of the Impala page as well. I’ve considered paying to join the ISSCA (or whatever it is) group but haven’t decided on it yet.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!

-Colin

there were quite a few people selling wagon mafia stickers, be curious to see which one you have. As for ISSCA, they are a great group of guys, I know alot of them personally having gone to a day or two of their Nationals over a couple different years. that said, I'm not a dues paying member, but their annual event is the Best B-Body event IMO as it lasts 4 or 5 days and they race - drags, road course, auto cross. have a show and shine, and stereo competition an a killer banquet, not to mention all the parking lot shenanigans. I was going to go last year but my wagon got totaled. This year I can't do it because of work.