New member Calif

Hello I'm a new member from El Dorado Hills California, which is east of Sacramento. A few months ago I acquired a 1993 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon. It's white, wood grain delete with beige cloth interior. Long ago I had a 1956 Chevy Bel Air Beauville 9-passenger wagon. It was my primary vehicle from 1969 until it was totaled in an accident in 1980.

 

Yikes! I'm assuming that's a pic of your Chevy wagon? Looks bad....

Welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome Yeahoo_Whoyah!

 

Welcome Yeahoo_Whoyah!

 

Yes, and it was quite an "experience". Someone told me later that when the Police arrived they said they thought there would be fatalities. I was driving and spent a day or two days in intensive care. There were 7 people in the car and everyone lived to tell about it. Gotta thank my old 56 for providing crash protection, love that body on frame construction! My '93 Roadmaster Wagon is built that way too, although I don't plan to put it through the same test!

 

Welcome aboard.
Sorry to hear about your 56. It looks like it was a nice car before the crash.
Sounds like you have a nice wagon now to cruise around in though. We'd love to see photos of that too.

 

aboard.

 

Welcome aboard and nice Roadmaster you have. Looks like your 56 Bel Air was a great color combination as well.

 

Welcome aboard!
That's a shame what happened to your '56 wagon. Was it a Canadian issued car? The reason I ask is because the Beauville name. I only know them as 150, 210, or Belair models ...and of course the Nomad models.

Your Roadmaster looks like a sweet ride. Those cars do drive pretty nice and smooth.

 

"Was it a Canadian issued car?"
No, assembled in Oakland and spent its entire time in California. The name "Beauville" was used during the tri-five period for the nine-passenger station wagon. In '55 the 210 wagon could be a Beauville; '56 it was available in either the 210 or Bel Air; in '57 just the 210. The name Beauville was primarily used in advertising, were no badges attached to the car for the name Beauville until it showed up in 1970 as an option on the full size van. One unique feature was the third seat was easily removed and the hinged floor could then lay flat, the second row seat was attached but split 80/20 which folded down for rear seat access or for more cargo room. Quite often the removable third seats got left behind when the car was sold. That was the case on my '56, it took me several years to find a junker that still had those seats. Of course that was pre-internet, making it that much more difficult.

 

Welcome To The Family......That 56 Was Quite Nice. Looking Forward To Seeing More Of Your Roadmaster

 

welcome, hope you have lots of spare time, this forum gets you sucked in!

 

Not sure you want to relive the details, but.......

I spent my working career in auto insurance damage claims, and I'm always intrigued by crash stories. Back in the mid 50's, passenger safety wasn't a real big concern for Detroit, so there was very little in the car designed to protect the occupants. About all they had back then was OPTIONAL somewhat soft dash pads, so that you would supposedly bounce off the dash instead of fracturing your skull. I just went to my usual source for on-line auto brochures and magazine ads to check things out. There was absolutely no mention of 'safety' in the brochures, and only one ad out of eighteen posted had anything to say about safety ("Seat belts - optional").

I think that you and your fellow passengers were extremely fortunate to survive that accident.....

Here's one of the ads that were posted, focusing on the Beauville:

 

Thank you for explaining that to me. I do, however, recall the Beauville name used on Chevy vans. I believe the name was used on the multi-passenger window vans....similar to the 9-passenger wagon.
Again, looking at the pics of your '56 wagon. You're quite fortunate that you survived that crash. The old cars were built like tanks.