From a 'Wagon' Facebook page........ This guy Tom Kelly posts a pic of a '63 Buick Invicta station wagon he used to own. Very nice wagon, fully loaded, including factory buckets and console up front: So I ask him about the rear wiper. He insists it was a factory option. First owner of the wagon (not him) ordered it that way, built in a California GM plant, supposedly. I was having my doubts. In all my years of seeing these '61-'64 GM wagons, I had NEVER seen one with a rear wiper. Not ONE. To say the least, I was doubting what Mr. Kelly was saying about the wiper being a factory option. I searched some on-line brochures - not a mention. No other pics. What's going on here? Then, I found this: http://www.rarenosparts.com/63-64-GM-STATION-WAGON-REAR-GLASS-WIPER-MOTOR-NOS-_p_1190.html Does anybody else know about this? Why have I been in the dark so long? And why haven't I seen one of these before?
From my memory things like that never was publisized because that would mean the car being special built at factory. Those days you could go to dealer and pick your options and sometimes they would have to check about availability or go to a list hidden from most unless you insisted that was the deal breaker. Today your lucky to get a choice of few colors and interior group. I ordered my vehicles up into the 70's with only what I wanted but not in todays world. I like that wagon and it is very rare without those options. Haven't seen one for alot of years.
Found #2! http://trinketsandjunk.com/1963Buickwagon.html Another piece of information - an old post on the antique car forum. Read the second message, by 'rocketraider'. http://forums.aaca.org/f115/1964-lesabre-station-wagon-question-256780-print.html Another reference, V8Buick forum..... http://www.v8buick.com/archive/index.php/t-250635.html Another pic, snagged from a Google image search: One more, this time a '64: I'm unable to find any Oldsmobile wagons from this period with this feature......
What happens to the wiper when the window goes down? Or is it a fixed window? Or does the window only go down so far so the wiper stays seated on the glass. Does the wiper try to follow the glass when it goes up/down? I love finding weird/oddball factory options.
I've never seen an Olds with one, but the 1964 factory service manual talks about it on the full size wagons.
I have been thinking about putting one on my 1958 Ranch Wagon actually. Vacuum of course, in order to match the front. But it would be mounted above the rear glass passing through the frame. A lot of vintage trucks have them, so retro fitting should be fairly simple. The trick is finding the right length of wiper arm... and finding a place for the vacuum switch on the dash. Neat thread Marshall.
I have never had the need for a rear window wiper, unless I planned on driving backward down the highway. Even my pick up truck has a topper which makes using the rear window nearly useless. That's what side mirrors are for. Now I'm curious what happens to those station wagon rear wipers when the window is down. Or when the tailgate is lowered? Seems like they would get ripped off.
The '63-'64 GM wagons used a window that rolls down into the tailgate. Tension on the wiper arm would push the blade into the interior a little... but once the window is rolled back up... that would re-set the blade back into position. I suspect. However... loading a sheet of plywood or 2x4's into the back with the tailgate closed and the window open? Well... load shifting would completely mangle the wiper arm. But then... if you could afford a Buick or Olds wagon, you could afford to have anything you needed to carry in back DELIVERED! Right?
