hello clamshell lovers

Welcome aboard 76buickesate. I just acquired a '70s Buick as well. Not a clam shell (I REALLY want one) but a '73 Century wagon. She goes well with the '78 LTD Country Squire.

 

Fannie. I will post more pics soon. In the process of cleaning the exterior trying to get all the dust off. Lol. It was just an amazing find. I tried negotiating the price..he was firm...i started to walk away...got in my car...but thought to myself this is a rare opportunity..swallowed my pride...i have not stopped smiling since!

 

Nut. Glad your in the Buick family. I love the LTD'... Very classy style.

 

Welcome 76buickestate!

I love your gorgeous wagon! What a find! Looks to be in very nice shape.
I can't wait to see more pics of it...inside and out!

So happy you are here!

David

 

Gorgeous Clamshell, 76!

I agree with the above statements as to why not many have survived time. I too understand that they were popular choices for derbies b/c of their strength/weight. Kills me to think so many were "murdered".

I too am a "second owner". Found mine in IL...flew all the way out there to get it, drove it to NY to leave with family. I then hired FedEx to ship it to me in CA where I currently live. More recently, I sold my daily driver (a Volvo) and now drive my wagon almost everyday. These truly are the best wagon ever built.

Have any more pics of yours? Interior?

Congrats on your purchase!

 

Welcome aboard, 76

 

I didn't know FedEx shipped vehicles. How was your experience with them?

 

Nice!!

Hi 76!

Welcome aboard from a fellow '76 owner!
Yours is a lot nicer than than mine though. A real great find, enjoy it! (I think you are)
And I'm both anticipating and fearing pics of your interior... Mine is quite battered and far from stock, so I might get very jealous

 

According to their website this is FedEx's auto transport subsidiary.

http://www.passporttransport.com/?link=generalfaq

http://fedex.com/us/customersupport/customcritical/faq/services.html

 

Ez rider love you "handle". I truly was lucky finding this vehicle in my back yard. The interior is in good to great shape. Seats close to new, dash looks good, carpet ok, however some of the hard plastic pieces (particularly rear cargo area left and right are discolored) not cracked or missing but definitely faded. Hopefully there is some kind of dye or something to bring back to life. I have so much cosmetic repair research to do. It is so nice joining this forum and finding people with similar passion for wagon. ESPECIALYa fellow 76 owner. We should keep in touch.

 

Thanks 76EW!
Not sure what kind of plastic it is myself, but if it's ABS, it can be spraypainted. If it's PP or PS it's hopeless, unless there's a good primer on the market I haven't heard about. Well, you can get a good paint to stay put on those plastics by thoroughly matting it with scotchbrite or something and cleaning it, but it will be extremely sensitive to scratches and dings.
The plastic parts in my other car (a little '86 Peugeot 205) are really faded and crumbling, I'm planning to first spray them with some solvent to re-polymerize the plastic to stop the crumbling and then hit 'em with bumperspray. It's a blue interior and I think (still have to check to be sure) there's blue bumperspray on the market. I used bumperspray on the faded plastic bumpers of the car, and it works great. It's not like paint, leaving a colored coat on top, but it's absorbed by the plastic coloring the top layer of the material itself. Scratches and dings are still the right color! You know, they should bring that stuff on the market in several colors, it would be sooo valuable for restoring plastic interior parts.
For my Buick, which is also pretty faded, I think spraypainting is the only option for now, as it's a tan/beige interior and like I said they don't offer bumperspray in those colors. Fingers crossed it's ABS...

Always great to hear from another '76 EW owner, we'll definitely keep in touch