My search is over.

I started into this thread and saw your cool pontiac wagon adn thought it was a very cool looking car. Then a few posts later you show pics of the 421 emblem, then a tri-power, and THEN a 4 gear....my eyes nearly fell out of my head!!

What a great car you found there, and it will be a real gem. I look forward to watching this one get back on the road. Congrats!!

 

I somehow missed this thread so just getting caught up on it...good find I think that is a great looking wagon

 

Thanks for the info... And while I agree that they were a great looking option for the big cars, I'm not sure I want to go back to a 14" wheel. Mine was ordered with the 15" aluminum finned drums that your link mentions at the bottom as being Ambulance/Limo stuff. (The caps look exactly like the ones on those professional cars from a previous link.) And with some of the disc conversions, I could keep my current wheels/caps.

Right now I'm not sure what it will end up with as far as wheels, but that's far enough down the road that I'm not going to worry about it for a while... Always open for suggestions or ideas though.

 

My .....That car is so gorgeous and so unique I would keep it as stock as possible. If not completely stock. Right to the build sheet and option sheet. It will be a beautiful representative....not to mention it will be worth a fortune down the road. But, that's just me.

 

I'll keep it as close to stock as possible, with any mods hopefully being something that can be reversed easily. The good news is that it came with just about everything I could have wanted. But from a safety standpoint, I think a dual master cylinder is a must. And I'm going to need to put in some shoulder harness seatbelts as I plan on hauling the kids around in it.

 

I'm with you on the "keep it as stock as possible" line of thinking, but as far as shoulder harnesses for the kiddos, that's just LOCO!

Let them roll around in the back as you barrel down the freeway at 70!

That's the true station wagon experience!

David

 

uuuuhh am i the only one who noticed that the engine chart in the brochure says that the 421 tri-power wasn't available in wagons?

 

hey blue,
my buddy mike has one for sale in his garage. its a 1996 white w/wood car and i think 70k miles. its a cloth seat limited.

the bad news is it is a salvage title but is ready for an R title (it was a light front hit ..we fixed it i have pics somewhere on this site) we replaced the hood rad support and headlights. it was drivable after the hit but it is ready to go now. he is asking $1500. if you are interested he goes by scoob8000 on the gm longroof forum and the impala ss forum.

 

If I'm reading it correctly, the 376 horsepwer 421 Tri-Power was not available in wagons (good eye), but the 356 horsepower 421 Tri-Power was available in all models.

 

I would bet that the big tri-power engine would have been put in a wagon if a powerful dealer or individual ordered it. Such is most likely the case here. David

 

thus making it a rare car indeed!

 

Yup - that's the way I read it as well. If I had to guess, the main difference between the 2 tri-power engines would be the lifters - hydraulic vs. mechanical.

 

IMHO

Make it safe. Make it fun to drive, tour in, be seen in, and comfortable for everyone who is required to ride in it for any length of time.

Anything along those lines that you do are only making the ownership of the car a pleasure rather than a chore.

Where it makes sense and as your preferences lay, keep it stock, but if it isn't pretty it isn't going to win the hearts of most family and friends, so you have a balancing act or your own choice to deal with.

I have based the above on the journey we have been through with our fairly rare '57 Safari 2dr wagon. It was a write-off 31 years ago. We tried fixing the frame but it was beyond the ability of the people helping me at that time so after years of hassles with steering issues and early tire replacement, we clipped it, getting disc brakes out of the deal and a car that rides and handles as good as it looks. Took a lot of flack from the purists who thought I should spend any amount of money it took to get it back to original.

The original engine and tranny were runners, but needed a lot of work, and given the type of useage we felt they were not up to the rigors of our world. So we replaced them, and after several different swaps, now have a 455 Pontiac engine and 700R4. The stock rearend is still in the car but this winter it will be replaced with an 8-3/4 with disc brakes. Took a lot of flak from the purists over the engine swap. One even got nasty. He learned real quick, I can be just as friendly, or not, as he. He no longer likes '57 Pontiac Safari wagons would be my guess.

With some health issues and my wife taking on frequent driving duty, and she being a lot shorter than I, the stock bench seat did not work well. My knees were up around my ears. We have several sets of bucket seats that we are rotating through to find the right fit, both physically and looks. So far it is a toss up between early sixties GM buckets and the ones in now, '67 T-Bird buckets that appear to have come with the car. Yep, you guessed it, we take a lot of flak from the purists. Nowadays, though, I don't pay them any mind. It is our car, we put tons of miles on it every year, we haul a trailer all over the place as you've read in my prior threads, and we love it to bits.

So Teej, do what you can with it that makes this car a keeper for 30 and more years like we have ours. Everything we have done can be reversed by a dedicated restorer down the road, we've kept all the pieces except the ruined front clip, so when my estate sells the car, the new owner can do as they please. And that is how I think you may want to look at your car. If it is not fun to drive, it will sit in a garage and no one will see it and enjoy it. If you make it yours, you make it so darned much fun to go out in that your family demands you take it, then the rest of the world will see it, enjoy it , and hopefully want one of their own.

There, a bit long, but I felt compelled to write this,

Sorry if I bored any of you, it happens to us old guys.....

 

Yep, the 421 HO version was the one that said it was available in all but the wagons. Like people have said, nothing was impossible back then and the right dealer probably could have pushed it through. (With all the other options, I'd be surprised if the guy that ordered this one didn't try for the HO version and was told no.) But mine is just the 421, not the 421 HO. The HO version also got you the long-branch exhaust manifolds, clutch fan, separate air cleaners and a few other things. I think it had different heads and maybe a different cam but I'm not 100% on those.

 

What an awesome wagon.

Congrats on the find, I really look forward to seeing what you do with it.