My 1972 Buick Estate Wagon...finally took some pics.

Here is the Buick I bought last month on eBay.

It was in Clovis, California, near Fresno. I flew out there and paid for it in person, $1600.00 and had it shipped home to Dallas.

It arrived the first week of July, and since then, I have just played with it a little, removing the cargo flooring panels that had some rust from a wet piece of carpeting the previous owner had laying in back.
That really is the only rust, other than a little bit in the spare tire well...the wagon is a wonderfully dry and mostly unrusted, uncrashed and unabused example.

I do say "mostly" because there was one ugly surprise when I arrived to check out what I had just bought...the damaged steering column! :banghead3:
The seller never said a thing about it, and the pics didn't show the right side of the column. But even though I had to start it with a pair of plyers, I happily bought it anyway. It has a clear title, and I will just get a new column.

This really is exactly the wagon I was looking for...I wanted a 6 passenger model, unrusted and uncrashed, needing a total redo.
I didn't want one already perfect, like cadillacbart's beauty...I have my own plans for how I want an Estate Wagon to look.
I have "Limited" resources.

Stay tuned for further developments!

 

Its a nice car... thanks for posting the photos! I once saw another one just like that, even the same color, but it had the woodgrain option and 3rd seat. Yours appears most interesting, because it appears to have the "upgraded" interior option, but still has the 2-spoke steering wheel, as opposed to the 3-spoke custom cushioned wheel. I thought that those with the Custom interior had the 3-spoke wheel, but perhaps not, unless this was a special order car as we have been discussing in the other thread. Also neat that it has power windows and power door locks option, as well as the power gate option. My 72' Kingswood Estate wagon dont have any of those three options - I wish it did have, but the only options I really wanted when I bought a clamshell wagon were A/C, tilt wheel and I wanted a 3-seat (9-passenger) model, which thankfully all of which mine have.

The steering column should not be hard to replace and it looks like the rest of your inside is in super nice shape, especially considering its a southwestern car. The column out of a 1971-73 Buick LeSabre, Centurion and Electra should also be the same as your wagon... just finding a green one may be a task.

I once almost bought a 73' Buick Estate Wagon out of LA (same color of green), but it didnt have woodgrain and I wanted a woodgrain wagon. I was going to buy it and try to have it turned into a woodgrain model, but wondered what the cost would be. The car didnt have a title, so that kinda scared me off, because Tennessee is kinda hard to deal with on stuff like that. Not sure what ever became of the car... I think it too sold for $1600.

You have a very nice wagon there and I am sure you will get it the way YOU want it easily!

Keep us updated.

 

Thanks, Kingswood, for your kind assessment of my new toy.

I did think it was strange to have the two spoke wheel, when it has the deluxe interior.

Who knows what happened there. Maybe the original owner hated three spokes...we all have our quirks...and the dealership traded it out with another car's wheel on the lot.

Just a guess.

 

Yeah, as a big fan of the early 70s Buicks and a PO of a 72' Electra, I tend to notice everything. lol.

Yeah, I was thinking that the deluxe interior automatically added the custom cushioned 3-spoke wheel, but I may be wrong... or like you said, it could be special ordered, or may have been swapped out by the dealer if the OO didnt like the three spoke wheel.

I have a 1972 Buick deluxe sales brochure... I will see if I can find it and see what it lists. I went online and found this from the 1971 brochure and it shows the deluxe interior with the 3-spoke wheel.... (notice this has crank windows! all so oddly optioned.) It makes no mention though that I noticed if the 3-spoke was standard with the deluxe interior. On a side note, what I find interesting is that Chevrolet didnt have the custom cushioned wheel until 1973 and it was even standard on the base Bel-Air wagon in 1973, but Buick continued to have the standard plastic 2-spoke wheel on the base 73' Buick Estate Wagons. GM did alot of strange things back then... and AFAIK, Ford never had those soft-type wheels in the early 70s... not even on the Lincolns.

Ya know, something else I just noticed is that the wagon interior below, the car has the finger-tip wiper control option (see button on end of gear shifter)... quite a rare option and AFAIK, was only available on Buicks back then. My 72' Electra 225 Custom sedan had that option as well... I had only seen one other so equipped. I cant tell, but after looking at your wagon pics again, your shifter appears it may have a button there with the outer casing gone... does you car have this option? If so, then I know its a really oddly optioned car! Gotta love these old GM cars!

 

Wow! Those are some really great pictures. I have never seen the sandlewood interior color...my regular 72 brochure says it is only available in the 3 seater. So weird to limit the choice that way. The saddle color is nice also. But the green...well it is not my first choice, but since I don't plan on keeping it green, I guess it doesn't matter.

 

Great looking wagon! I like the grille on that. Nice lines.

 

Beautiful.
Steering wheels had their own sales codes (on the EW 2 spoke was standard and 3 spoke an option).
If you choose to change the the 2 spoke for a 3 spoke; I know somebody (in the US) who has a green 72 steering wheel for sale.
I have the finger tip wiper control in my 71 Electra. It needs a special wiper motor though, so as long long as it works your OK, but finding another motor could be a real PITA.
Does it have a posi differential?

 

I had a 71 98 with the fingertip control, and I always check that when I get into an Olds. As far as the column goes, that seems like a big thing to not mention! And also, easy to spray ANY column when it is out of the car.

 

Yeah, seems like the 71' brochure mentions that as well.... sandalwood only available in 3-seat models.

I like that green... I love green on the 70s wagons, especially green with woodgrain. Do you know what colors you want to convert yours to?

Thanks 75RivGS for that info. I think I remember you mentioning on the Buick site about your Electra having the wiper control gearshifter..... its neat. I remember mine worked fine, but there were a couple of times my wipers didnt want to stop when I turned them off. lol. I regret selling my 72' Electra.

I had totally forgot about that wiper control also being optional on the Oldsmobiles of that era.

 

I am glad someone likes that green...GM sure put alot of it out there. (did I say that out loud? oops!)

I will probably go with sandlewood...yes, in a 6 passenger...correct an arbitrary injustice perpetrated by some pencil pusher in a GM office 39 years ago.

SMS has the correct vinyls to recover the entire interior. I will probably dye the headliner.

I am searching for a steering column, so I may find a correct brown dash. I am an optimist.

 

My wagon doesn't have this intriguing option...wish it did, a 2-speed wiper just isn't very handy.

I am not sure...how do I check for this?

 

Yeah, Ford and Mopar did too! Green, green, green! I would love to have a light green on dark green 1973 Country Squire wagon.

I admire your gumption. I have been lucky just to have tried to get my car running decently and will be lucky to get the rust spots repaired and painted. I dont think I could handle a color change, despite that my cars color is not my #1 pick. My 72 wagon is "golden brown" with black interior, but most people really love and nicely comment on my black interior. My color of choice on my wagon would be the medium blue color that they used on these cars (see photo below), but it was a rare color back then... I would want the matching blue interior, but I would LOVE to have the optional brocade cloth interior that was optional on the 72' Caprice wagons, but it was only available in black (again, got to love how GM only offered certain option configurations like the sandlewood only on the 9-passenger on the Buick).

I supposed that if I really had the time and money, I could do the color change and even try to go with the blue interior.... get some brocade blue cloth interior out of a 71-72 Caprice sedan, but it would be hard since my wagon has the 70/30 2nd seat being a 3-seater. I could easily do the outside color change though and keep the black interior, as it would match... this would make it like this wagon (from the 72' Chevy wagon sales brochure)



Well, I love your wagon as-is, but if you do change it, keep us posted with the progress. Maybe it will motivate me to work faster on mine... its been a slow go for me over the past 3 years.

 

Give this place a try! All it takes is cash! Alot of it!


http://www.smsautofabrics.com/results.php?make=Chevrolet&year=1972&qu%5B%5D=C&rpp=12

Click on the fabric swatches, and it will show a bigger sample and the applications.

Sure enough, when I clicked on the black brocade, it shows the Caprice Kingswood Estate.
This place has their act together. They will send you samples of any of these...

 

My 73 Ford wagon is light green with a dark green interior, I think I am going to keep it like it is. I just like green cars. I just tell people it's earth friendly because it's '"green".

 

Yeah, there was a local light green 73' Country Squire here about 5 years ago... light green over dark green. It was kinda rough, (dents), but was rust free. It set on the road in front of their house for awhile, then vanished. I wish I had of checked on it. I love the 73-74 Squire wagons.

I saw your photo of yours... yours is a Galaxie Country Sedan isnt it? I think the same color as this Squire.... ?


(sorry, Wixom - not trying to hi-jack your thread!)