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

Not me, I am just addicted to this site! I have been up all night, and will hate myself in the morning...oh wait, it is already here! Argh!

 

even when my Dad was a Cadillac dealer in the 70s and 80s, my family was still very Olds oriented. Grandparents, parents, kids, all had Oldsmobiles. My grandfather never strayed (except for a 69 Galaxie 500 convertible that could not have lasted long because he also had a 70 98 convertible)

I always liked Buicks too though, a friend in high school parents had a couple 225 Limiteds (mid 70s) and they were very Cadillac like.

Another friend's Dad had a 74 Regency, and from what I remember, as nice as it was, the Buick was more Cadillac-like.

At least that's how it was for the full size. Intermediates and small were all pretty much the same (Olds, Buick, even Pontiac)

The differences was much more notable in the full size.

 

i always thought of olds and buick being on the same level myself.

i think when they went the direction they did with caddillac (bmw fighter) that was wrong. that should have been done with buick or pontiac.

cadillac should have been left to be what people used to see it as. big chrome-slathered yachts with huge engines..... but with every new innovation possible.

ROB, are you from the US initially? if not how did you get into american cars?

 

I'm not initially from the States and so your second question is exactly the question that crossed my mind reading Jeffrey's reply:

You guys have some sort of relation with US cars all your life; here, back in the 6ties and 7ties (when I grew up) you'd hardly find US-cars.
They were:
= more expensive due to gasprices (those were always about 3x more than what you pay),
= road taxes (we pay tax on the weight of a car; I remember paying over $500 each 3 months for my 75 Riviera),
= insurance (again the weight of the car)
= import tax

I grew up with tiny Renaults, Opels, Fiats etc, but changed to GM in the early eighties, buying a 74 Camaro. And although I needed a second job for the Chevy I didn't care: at least I was driving a non-common car.
There was no cure for this illness and so I kept on driving US cars (had the Camaro, 77 Impala,77 Caprice Coupe and a 77 Pontiac Bonneville before the Buicks came).
In those days however parts was a major issue: nowadays we have the WWW to solve our parts (and technical) problems.... back than you only had a telephone (and maybe a fax). But who or where to call/fax in the US if you needed a part or information????

 

I always thought the GM hierarchy was, from bottom to top: Chevrolet - Pontiac - Buick - Oldsmobile - Cadillac.
Thus, I've always thought of the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser as the top clamshell model, with the dashboard, higher-quality trim with door pulls and rear-wheel spats as the distinguishing features.
What I'm not sure about though is whether all had the 455 Rocket V8, or were some smaller engine options available from lower divisions such as the 350?

 

I am fairly certain the Custom Cruisers were all 455s. We had a 73 Impala wagon (no Estate, no wood) with a 400. I hated that car. It was the height of the 74 fuel crisis, we were not allowed to use the A/C (Dad had a hair or something in the controls to see if we moved the lever off of VENT)

It had terrible carbon build up from being driven no faster than 30 mph by my Mom, for fuel economy sake.

It sputtered and coughed and ran like crap.

But it had a good stereo!

 

Well, it is no secret that I am a total Buick fanatic ( BUICK!), but when I see a 1971 or 72 98, CCruiser or Toronado, I drool!

Great, just what the world needs...another drooling fanatic! D'oh!

 

Wagon Drool is good. A dying art. It's the keyboard cover that takes a wetting.

 

I am running out the door to a funeral and want to post more on this later... but for now.

To me I always considered it, Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick then Cadillac. In the 80s, I did alot of research on the 50s-80s cars prices and weights. Buick and Oldsmobile always ran close with the similiar models, such as the Electra vs. the Ninety Eight, but some years one would out beat the other in price. It kinda bounced back and forth. In the 50s, the Buicks tended to be priced higher.... then a few years in the 60s, the Olds was higher... it bounced it seems like. Let me find a brochure I have and I will post more.

I want to post more on this below when I get back from the funeral and mow the lawn. Stay tuned.

 

My friend and I were just having this same conversation the other day. Cadillac used to be the "Standard of the World", but now it is trying to keep up w/ BMW. I realize that over time, many people's opinions changed as to what constitutes "luxury", but GM had a marque (Pontiac) that was sporty and could have easily been upgraded to fight the imports...or Buick (and I LOOOOVE Buicks) could have been made to rival BMW and Mercedes.

And the sad thing is that when GM changed Cadillac's direction to go up against BMW, they really didn't do anything to Buick to make up for the lack of traditional luxury. Seems GM was just scrambling and forgot about some pretty important details.

And I, too, always sort of put Buick and Olds on the same level (when it comes to the large cars...midsize seemed to put Buick above Olds in my book).

 

You would have loved the 1971 Oldsmobile Toronado that I had in 1992... my 2nd car. It was like NEW! Long story short, gave it to grandma in 1993, she loaned it to my aunt that same week, she crashed it (banged up the fender, grill and bumper), it set in my uncles yard for a year, then it was sold to a junkyard a year later and crushed. It had 49K actual miles and MINT condition. I didnt know my uncle sold it to a junk yard... when I found out, well, it was not pleasant.

 

my 76 Toro is pretty sweet, think I'll drive it to work tomorrow

 

lol... that was a cool thread. I love those type of discussions, but people stopped replying to it, because I could go on about other oddly optioned GM cars, so I stopped. lol.

You may be right.... the clamshells may have only been available with the heated glass, but that 72' Estate Wagon dont seem to have the heated wires in the window.... I will have to look. Did you notice? The invoice says rear defog.

Yeah, those were neat wagons for sure! I am not sure how hard that option would be to convert over.

I am with you... I wish I could go back and order certain options on both of my old cars... on the 72' Caprice wagon, I would add the 454 engine, cruise control, power windows, power locks, power seat, FM 8-track and most importantly, the rare brocade cloth interior option. Basically, I would load it to the max! All it actually has though are the 402, tilt wheel, A/C, AM radio, luggage rack, 3rd seat, towing package and deluxe wheelcovers.

On my Grand Ville, its pretty much got everything, but the ONE thing I would want the most are the cornering lights option!

I answered this in another thread... in my mind, on certain models, the Buick seemed to be more luxurious than the Buick, but it occasionally flip-flopped and occasionaly, one would cost more than the other. The Buick also often tended to be a little heavier than its Oldsmobile counterpart.. except the 74' Custom Cruiser was the heaviest clamshell wagon made!

Yeah, the FM option seemed to be ordered on more cars from larger cities. Neither my 72' Caprice or 73' Grand Ville have FM. My 72' Electra did.

Yeah, some Oldsmobiles had certain touches that seemed to step them up from Buick. I didnt know it for awhile, but the 73' Buick Electras came standard with loop pile carpeting... cut pile carpeting was optional, as it was on my Grand Ville, which is an option it has. In many ways, my 73' Grand Ville looks more luxurious than some "base" 73' Electras. I know that the 73' Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency had an ultra-luxury interior.... the seats looked like pillows and IMO, looked even more posh than a 73' Cadillac Calais or even Sedan DeVille with the standard interior. Gm did strange things back then.

As far as the Chevrolets go, on the wagons anyway, I think the "step up" from the Caprice wagon from the Impala wagon could have been better - it was not enough. I think more could have been done to the Caprice wagons interior to step it up from the Impala wagon. For example, the Caprice wagon standard interior looks like the seats in the Impala wagon, as do the door panels. The only difference I can see is that the Impala (1971-1972) has a Chevy bow-tie on the door panel in the woodgrain, whereas the Caprice has a little Caprice emblem. The other notable difference is that the Caprice added woodgrain accents to the driver side of the instrument panel in addition to the passenger side, whereas the Impala only has the woodgrain accent on the passenger side of the dash. Also, the Caprice has the woodgrain insert in the steering wheel with the "Kingswood" script in it (strange considering it was a Kingswood Estate)... I think the Impala wagon had Chevrolet script on the wheel. The Caprice wagon with the brocade cloth option was a big upgrade and IMO should have been standard on the Caprice wagon, but I guess they wanted a more durable interior on wagons. Also, even on the Caprice wagon, the lower doors did not have carpeting inserts like the Caprice sedans and coupes had. This was something that the Pontiac Grand Safari wagon had, but it looks like it could easily be added. Not sure about the base Custom Cruisers or Buick Estates... did the base wagons have lower door carpeting? I am thinking I have seen some Buick Estate wagons without it. I know that the base Catalina Safari didnt. The Caprice sedan and coupe were different animals... they were alot more luxurious and looked more-so than the Catalina, base Delta 88 and base LeSabre.

I also remember the interiors of the base 71 Buick Estate wagons... the door panels particularly look rather plain for a Buick and some say an Impala wagon for 71' had more upscale door panels than a base 71' Buick Estate wagon.

 

It is. I bet it rides like a cloud. My grandma had a 1974 Toronado that she bought new! It had the rare dual airbags option and came without front seatbelts since it had airbags!

Here is the only photo I have of it and it only shows the back... this was taken in 1984.... this is my grandma and my dad. See the rust? She had this car in New York alot in the winter! Thats what caused the rust. They also had a 1973 Ninety Eight that never went to New York and it never got a speck of rust! Imagine that! lol.

*Norman, look at that Fairmont in the background! I remember that car... an OLD lady had it. She would start it, hold the acceleration way up and slam it in reverse and would screech the tires!

Oh for the 71-72 Olds lover... here is a photo taken in January of 1986 of our old 1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale 2dr and 1971 Lincoln Continental....


Last, the front of the 71' Grand Ville sedan... also taken in winter of 1986... again, you can only see the very front, as this photo was meant for Teddy and Brutus. Rest their souls.

 

In addition to my above reply and info, I found these photos. Comparison photos.

Here is the interior of a very base (and ultra low optioned) 72' Buick Estate Wagon... (is there a middle trim grade between this and the "Custom" interior? I cant remember.



an factory interior photo of a 72' Caprice Kingswood Estate with the brocade interior option...


WIXOM... this is for you... right out of the 72' Chevy wagon brochure... about the rear window defog... it says BLOWN air, so I am assuming that the blower type was available... at least on the Chevy wagons....



Interesting clamshell photo...


A 1973 Pontiac Grand Safari interior...


a 1973 Caprice Estate instrument panel...


A 1972 Grand Safari interior (note it dont have the color-keyed seat belt option, but do note the custom cushioned steering wheel and lower door carpeting inserts!)





luxury interior of a 73' Buick Estate Wagon!



wrapping it up...
interior photo taken in January of 2003 of my 73' Grand Ville (seats have been recovered... this is not the original seat upholstery)



dash photo of my old 72' Electra

taken in 2001!