81X11 - March Longroof of the Month

Hello all, and thanks for choosing my Roady this month.

I think most of you know me and know what a car nut I am, and many of you know the story of my car. I'm also long-winded so I'll try to be brief (too late). I grew up in station wagons. Dad bought a new silver '78 Pontiac Grand Safari with the last real 6.6 Pontiac 400 and Rally II wheels when I was 4 years old. As a kid I rode in that car until it was traded for a new silver '86 Electra Estate Wagon when we moved from Denver to New Jersey. I learned to drive in that Buick wagon. It was gutless and the 307 started burning oil at 20K miles, but my folks had it until 1993, by which time I'd been in college in Texas for a year.....so I grew up with GM wagons.

I've had A TON of cars over the years, some very cool (69 Lemans convertible GTO clone, 79 Corvette L-82) and some pretty dorky (83 Isuzu I-Mark, and MANY Citation X-cars), but I always had a soft spot for wagons. I was sad when GM dropped the big cars in 96, more for the fact that I WANTED an Impala SS, but was sad to see the wagons go too.

In the early 2000's my younger brother came home after college and needed a cheap car. Through a friend I came up with a plain-jane V6 83 Bonneville Model G wagon, burnt orange over red. It was UGLY, but it ran and drove fine. I put G-body Bonneville LE door panels on it, a Firebird steering wheel, a good stereo and speakers, Rally II wheels off a Grand Prix, and blacked out the trim around the windows and doors, and of course cleaned it from top to bottom. It was SHARP when I gave it to my brother, and made me get the wagon bug again.

In the mid-2000's I found my 89 Olds Custom Cruiser, a one owner 46K mile car that's only real issue was the Texas sun had ruined the wood on, it had been parked outside it's entire life. I de-wooded it, added factory Turbine wheels and RWL tires, cleaned and detailed it, put good shocks on it, and tinkered with it while driving it daily for 5 years. I loved that car, and it was REALLY in nice shape when I got done with it, but with it's 307 it was always gutless, and anytime I saw and LT1 Caprice or Roadmaster I began to drool. I sold the wagon in '09 and bought a supercharged Park Ave Ultra.

The Park Ave was a dud, it had very low miles, but there was ALWAYS something wrong with it, an idiot light coming on, it would stall going down the highway for no reason. Finally one day I put it in reverse and the transmission croaked. Lost reverse and 1st, kaboom. I put a used transmission in it and sold it right away.

About this time my brother-in-law was buying an SUV and he basically gave me his 99 Caddy Catera Sport. Despite the terrible reviews and service records these had, this was a super car. He'd fixed all the common issues and done all the mods before I got it, and the car was CLEAN. I was happy with it, until one day last April on Craigslist I saw an add for a white '96 Roadmaster Wagon on a used lot in San Antonio, with just over 70K miles on it. I looked into the car, and it was white over red, just like my Olds wagon had been, and I loved that color mix.

I went to a swap meet in New Braunfels and afterwards drove down to San Antonio to see the Roady. I fell in love with it right away, despite it needing some work. It was rust-free, plus it had been undercoated to boot. It was a local car, had the records, and had just been traded in at the local Lincoln dealer, who sent it to the auction, which is where the dealer got it.

SO first I tried to trade the dealer my Catera. The Roady was solid but dirty, had hubcaps and old tires, and needed a lot of cosmetic details, where as my Catera was nearly perfect,and was a newer car to boot. Still the dealer had been burned on Cateras and wanted no part of it. I went home to Austin in the Catera with my tail between my legs.

I continued to see the the Roady on Craigslist. After mulling it over, I posted the Catera on Craigslist, and the first person that looked at it bought it, didn't even haggle, and I had my Dad run me down to San Antonio, and after some dealing, came home in my Roady.

I love this car, and drive it daily...sometimes feeling guilty, as it now has 92K miles on it less and a year later...nearly 20K miles since purchased last April, but it's SUCH a good road car. It's gone to Arkansas three times, been to Memphis and cruised Beale Street and been to Graceland, and I've also used it to go to Dallas at least four times, took it fishing in East Texas last summer, and have taken it to Houston, Galveston and San Antonio....it really gets used.

I first found the Yahoo wagon group, and through that this forum. I can't thank everyone here enough for the advice and help with this car. Since I bought it, and with tips from you all, I've added the Impala wheels, re-done the woodgrain trim, added the Corvette rail covers and "Home Depot" intake mod, done the water pump, replaced the shocks, tinted the windows, cleaned up the exhaust and added Flowmaster 40's, done the Gran Sport mods, and on and on and on.....

There are some good before and after pics on this thread: https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t1395-my-96-roadmaster-gran-sport-wagon-enjoy

This car is such fun to drive and show off, and it gets more attention than most other cars I've had. I hope to keep it for years and years.

Thanks again all!

Here are some pics I snapped today at lunch. Pardon the cracked grill....we do what we can! I'm looking for a new one!

-Mike

That really is a great looking car!

Cool story. And it's a lot shorter than I expected it to be!

Good job on the wagon. I love all the stories about how we wound up here. Your wagon looks great.

I knew this day was coming!! AS always Mike, nice wagon! Great story too.

Chris

I figured I would be sittin and readin for at least an hour.Mike as always a great story about a
great wagon.Great pics too.
Take Care
Jim Gordon
PS At least it wasnt about a Sabaru,Thanks for that Mike

Good quick wagon memory. That '86 Electra Estate Wagon, as I mentioned, had no rings that I could tell. It started smoking when it was a little over a year old, why my father didn't take it back to the dealer and scream I don't know, but we lived with it.

Dad bought that car in late '86, it was a dealer demo, a red flag, it had a small trailer hitch on it, a bigger red flag, but it has less than 2000 miles on it, the '87's were out, and they made him a heck of a deal on it. It was silver over silver cloth interior with the light color wood, and it was loaded, even had the "Electronic Touch Climate Control", which made a loud beep every time you touched it....but it was a PRETTY car.

ANYWAY by the time I started driving in the early 90's the car was using a quart of oil per fill-up. No joke, we kept a case in the well in the back floor. Despite being a Jersey car it still was pretty solid, but not sexy, my GTO clone Lemans convertible only came out on nice days, so I drove the wagon a lot.

To get back to the topic here, that car was good for loading all my friends in and going to the diners and the shore and such. BUT it was gutless, totally gutless. It was the only car I can remember driving that went faster on the highway if you let UP on the acclerator, anything over 3/4 throttle and all it did was make noise and bog.....but.....whenever someone would get on our tail, we pulled a "smokescreen" on them.

Here's the gag. Picture Butch in his new Audi with New York tags on my tail on the NJ Parkway. We're going 65, he's on my ass, wanting me to go faster. I'd floor the Electra and huge clouds of black oil smoke would pour out the rear of the car. Everyone in the wagon would die laughing, and Butch would back off fast.

I miss that car sometimes.

-Mike

Great car, and I know the grille is cracked but you can't tell in the pics.

Wow, she is one clean ride. NONE of my cars are that clean, not even my pride and joy Austin Healey (which needs alot more love than she's been getting lately).

Great write up and nice backstory Kudos

Thanks for all the comments gang. I do love that car a lot.

Stay safe and keep 'em on the road!

-Mike

Finally getting around to reading this. Great story Mike, thanks for sharing.

Sorry if my pics were not showing up. They should be now.

Laird mailed me that grill from Florida and it got here today. It's better than the one I found locally but not nice enough to put on my car. I'm going to suck it up and order a new one from GM Parts Direct on my next payday.

Such fun.

lol I must see pics of this grille.

Thanks Mike..... Great car..... Hope to see it in person one day......

Tim