Hello from a new guy! I have a question for you experienced wagon folks. I have owned a bunch of wagons in the past, incl 63 Catalina, 70 Bonneville, 82 Caprice diesel, 85 Electra, 88 LeSabre......all purchased new. I have never bought a used wagon, which is what I want to do now. So I don't know what to do. I'd like a GM wagon 91 to 96. They are priced at , say $7500 and up for super-low mileage, $4000 for 100,000 miles, or $2000 for a "bring a trailer" car with maybe a TBI engine. I have seen some at less than $1000 that have a slipping trans or some such. What to do? Even the low miles ones it seems to me are still old, and will have trouble for that reason alone. So do I buy a cheapo and go thru it from stem to stern so I know what I've got? Or do it pony up big bucks for the premium car hoping it will not break? I understand about rust-free cars which are also available cheap with high miles. I can do a lot of work myself and don't mind, but if I don't have to I can go fishing instead ! Thanks for any thoughts you may have.
Welcome to the board. You didn't really specify what your primary use for the wagon will be and that should be a huge factor in deciding. If it's going to be a local use only workhorse, starting with a higher mileage, lower priced example makes sense. You can fix it on the fly or go through it at your leisure. If you are wanting a reliable, road trip machine and may possibly be towing as well, spend the extra cash and get a later model, lower mileage, LT1-powered machine. When taken care of, these wagons last for ages. Seems the biggest killer is rust on Northern machines.
What to do is introduce yourself first in the intro thread. Then look over some of the threads here for ideas. To me buying the best wagon of the type you are interested in at a fair price sounds like a good idea. On the other hand a nice body and interior at a low price is the way to go if you plan on an upgrade in the pwertrain. Either way
When it comes to a used vehicle, there are but THREE things that are really important HOW was the vehicle used, HOW was the vehicle maintained, and what is the service/repair history of this particular example. Highway mileage can accumulate mileage at an astounding rate, but it will also cause minimal wear on the mechanical items such as engine and transmission. Very short run in town use can make for incredibly low mileage, but a LOT of wear and tear on things like the engine and transmission, which are the expensive bits to fix. Also, if an old car has a long history of being a reliable machine, and has been maintained well, there is no reason to think that it is not going to keep right on giving great service. Remember, there is no such thing as a high mileage, 20 year old lemon!
Welcome aboard! Keep looking and consider how far you are willing to travel to get one. I had decided I was comfortable traveling 350 miles one way, so I could do it in 1 day and could travel for around $200 if no mechanical failure. It probably took 3 months of looking but I found a 74,000 mile 1992 Roadmaster in really nice condition for $1,750.00 300 miles from my house. I spent about $150 in fuel between my dad's diesel and gas to drive my wagon back home. That was probably a little over 2 months ago and after the 300 mile drive home I had to change a coolant temp sensor for I think around $20 and $60 for a/c control head. Wagon market is still fairly small and they still have decent deals out there! Good luck in your search!
