1988 Buick Electra Estate Wagon

Beautiful and loaded up Buick wagon with wood grain exterior, Buick factory aluminum wheels along with cornering lights and fiber optic lamp monitors! What more could you ask for!!!!!


http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4335488327.html

 

I could ask for some bumper fillers.

Very nice wagon right there!

 

Yeah, you can ask, but look what all you get!

 

Three things.......

1. WOW!

2. Does the wagon appear to be sitting higher than normal?

3. I was expecting a price about double what is listed......

 

Just an off-the -wall guess.....

- A former 'Donkified' vehicle with the monster donuts removed? You have to jack up the suspension to fit the really big 24"+ wheels underneath.

Only other answer would be new springs, but I don't see why that would be necessary, so answer #1 seems more likely.

 

Could it have automatic level control that is malfunctioning? Was that available on the Buick wagons?

 

I completely agree.

 

It was available, but I haven't seen many wagons with that option. I don't think it worked very well. And if that was the case, it shouldn't affect the front suspension.

 

I believe automatic load-leveling may have been an option, but it would be on the rear only. On this wagon, the front seems equally high.

 

The rear load leveling was a option (mine is disconnected) but it only levels the wagon, not jack it up. This one looks like air shock height. Front looks normal to me, same height as mine and it's on the original springs. I do agree thought that this one and mine are bit nose in the air.... for what ever reason it seems the Buicks had that nose in the air look compared to other GM's.

 

This is a photo of my '90 Buick. It had factory suspension and sat at factory height.

 

Man that reminds me of my Mom's '86 Electra Estate we had from 86-93. That was the prettiest piece-of-junk we ever owned. My Dad was SO upset with that car, especially when compared to our '78 Grand Safari, which was an outstanding car.

The Electra was totally gutless. Flooring it just made it smoke and make fan noise. The key to getting to highway speed was NOT to floor it, but to let up on the gas (ha!) and feather the pedal. My friends loved this car, especially when we'd go to the shore in it. When cars would pull up behind us on the highway....usually because the car could not climb any hills, we'd just floor it. The car would not go any faster, but oil smoke would ROIL out the front the back of the car, covering the tailgater, and we'd all yell SMOKESCREEN!!, feeling like James Bond..

The car burned oil starting at 15K miles, to the point that Dad started keeping a case of Castrol in the back and at every fill up would add a quart. It DRANK oil.

The automatic air suspension in the back never worked right, and the transmission failed at 60K miles, leaving Mom stranded at Rockaway Mall.

The electronic climate control head (beep....beep.....beep....) was always goofy, and totally failed twice in the 90K we owned the car.

The chrome started to rust and spot after just three NJ winters and the silver paint on the hood and roof faded and cracked/checked. The pretty wood trim on the door panels discolored and peeled on the upper areas where the sun hit it. Looked like it was melting...

I'm telling you it was SAD how many issues that car had. The power seat recliner on the passenger seat failed, the tape deck failed, the tailgate window had to be helped up after just two years, and eventually would not go all the way down, so the gate could only open to the side. Oh and the crappy wire wheels always rattled and creaked.

The car was always pretty, and I still think it's a nice design. The pillowed seats were VERY comfy, and the car was very quiet, until your floored it and heard fan noise...

Mom and her BRAND NEW '86 Estate Wagon, temp tags still on it.



Long Beach Island, Jersey Shore, late 1980's


First day of school, 1987, Dad and my brother Dave



Here's my brother in the driveway in New Jersey, with our brand-new Electra Estate Wagon buried behind him. I do not miss that white crap at all!!

 

Ha, memories! I was given this car to drive when I got my license. I fully admit I treated it pretty rough. I kept it clean, but hated how slow it was, the smoke, and having to dump oil in it all the time. And I was a bit of an angry guy at 17...was not happy where I was, I HATED the cold, despite having some great friends up there...

ANYWAY that '86 was the car that I killed a tree with, just down from one of my friend's homes. Coming down a steep hill after pulling out of his driveway in the snow (going faster than I should have been), there was a pretty sharp curve, and when I turned the steering wheel, the car slide and went straight, bounced up and over a curb and slid into a tree. I can still remember my buddy in the passenger seat yelling whoa! Whoa! WHOA!! All three rows were full with my friends, and all were shocked into silence when we hit the tree, which thankfully wasn't huge, and snaped and fell over...

I remember yelling, I think I yelled DAMMIT, and I was SO PISSED (I really hated winter, I hated NJ, the snow, and I blamed all that and the car itself for the wreck, despite the fact it was me that had been going too fast..). Young and dumb...

I didn't even get out to see how bad it was, just threw the shifter up into reverse and floored the car, spinning tires and backing up onto the road, then slammed it into D (makes you wonder why the trans failed, right??), and kept driving to the pizza joint we were going to...the people in the car shocked into total silence...

When we got there, we all got out of the car, and walked around the front. My friends all big-eyed. The bumper was pushed in almost under the headlights on the driver's side, yet the header panel and fender were fine! The grill on that car was spring-loaded at the top, and just leaned in from the bumper, was not cracked. My friend Ben said my father was going to kill me. I mumbled that I agreed, cursed the snow again, and then we all went inside for pizza.

Funny part was that night I parked the car nose-in so my parents would not see the front, and the next morning got up early and drove to GI's Auto Salvage on Rt 46, yanked a bumper off an early 80's Park Ave in the cold and snow (I still remember cursing under the car, my back in the snow, fingers red from cold, trying to break the rust-frozen bumper bolts loose), and I actualy changed the bent bumper out in the parking lot there, leaving the bent one there. The grill swung right back out, it was fine! Ha!

My parents never found out! Hahahaha!

-Mike

 

I've yet to see a "donkified" wagon, anywhere! I doubt that's the issue. I'm thinking it's either a malfunctioning load-levelling suspension, an airbag assist inflated to the max extent, or simply coilover load shocks or air shocks on the rear.

Very damn nice for the money! It'd be worth the plane ticket to ATL to get it, but I'd need to sell mine first.