New Station Wagon Member

Hi, everyone. My name is Kevin and I am thrilled to be here. I absolutely love station wagons, especially classics. It's so nice to find people who share my taste and enthusiasm.

My love for wagons began a few years ago when I was driving my parent's 1993 Toyota Corolla Wagon. It had a little 4 cylinder engine and averaged somewhere around 35 miles to the gallon. That car drove like a dream and I'm sure I hauled more music equipment with it than it had ever seen before. Long story short, my parents reclaimed the car as my younger sister needed it, so I had to say goodbye.

Now that I had found my love for wagons, I wouldn't settle for anything else. I finally found a wagon I could afford: a 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Wagon with a V6 and 5 passenger seating. It was a sky blue color and I dubbed it "The Blueberry." It was the first car I ever bought and I was in love with it. Until the transmission gave out a month later. Since I spent less than $1,000 on the car and it had about 150K miles on it, I decided to suffer my losses and scrap it. I got about $200 from the scrap yard, plus I sold the tires (almost new condition) for about $200. This wagon almost paid for itself, and I will never forget it.

Now, without a car and financially broke, I borrowed cars from friends while I saved up money and hunted for my next wagon. Most of the cars I borrowed were POS minivans, but I was happy to have anything to drive. I did strike gold once, though. One of the loaner cars I drove during this period was a 1994 Buick Roadmaster Wagon with a 5.7L Fuel-Injected V8 Engine and full power options. That car drove like a Cadillac and had plenty of power to spare. It was by far the smoothest ride and most luxuriously equipped car I've ever driven. I wanted to buy it from my friend, but he was saving it for his kids when they got older. So my search continued.

After weeks on end of scouring Craigslist and Ebay and the local classifieds, I came across exactly what I was looking for. It was a rare 1990 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Station Wagon with only 84,*** original miles and full power options. I immediately called a friend of mine who is a retired mechanic and we went to see the car. It had been meticulously maintained and drove like a dream. He inspected that car from top to bottom and said he liked it so much that if I didn't buy it, he would. The owner wanted $1500, but the Kelley Blue Book value was $1200 in excellent condition, so I was able to talk him down to $1000 even.

And that's how I came by my beloved wagon. It just rolled over 100,000 miles, but it's got plenty of life left and I hope to run it for many years to come. It has a factory 307 5.0L V8 engine, classic dual-hinge tailgate, full power options, roof rack, and third row seating. The car originally came from CLARK dealership in Pinehurst, NC. My friend saw the dealership logo and made a comment about Clark Griswold from the National Lampoon Vacation movies. That day we dubbed it "The Griswold" and the name stuck. I'm absolutely in love with my car and I'm glad to be in the presence of other proud wagon owners. It's great to be here!

Pics of "The Griswold"





























This car needs a lot of body work to get it looking really good, but as-is I don't think I could have done any better for the price I paid. I love my station wagon!

 

Griswold. Your enthusiasm is contagious and is obvious to see...but your pictures however...not so much! Not to worry the dreaded X stumps a few of us. Give it another try. Nice intro by the way.

 

Thanks, fannie. I don't know what went wrong with the pictures. I'll try putting them in as attachments instead of linking the URL's. Here goes attempt number 2! (this will probably take a few posts to upload all the pics)

 

Some shots of the interior........

 

And finally, the Oldsmobile insignia........

 

well, no wonder your excited...look at your new baby!



And the interior looks amazing...





So do you have any plans for Griswold?

 

Awesome wagon. Welcome!

 

Welcome Griswold

 

to the wagon train, Gris90. I've had several of those GM 80's box wagons myself. They are great wagons! Yours looks like a real clean example.

 

Hello Kevin and welcome! I just joined recently as well with my own Wagon- an 85 caprice I dub'd "Carl"

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14768&page=4

 

Beautiful machine and for $1000 you can't beat it with a stick!

 

Welcome to this forum too lol. That sure is one clean interior.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I'm sure I'll be jumping into other threads and getting to know everyone a little better.

Fanny, my plans at this point are to save up enough to get some much needed body work done. There are 3 main issues: 1) peeling wood grain (especially around the wheel wells); 2) some rust areas that are only going to get worse; and 3) some dents and dings throughout.

I got very lucky on this one as far as the interior. It was owned by an old man who lived alone for most of it's life, so the passenger seats are in great shape. If I do anything in the interior, it will be to install a better sound system. The front speakers are okay, but the rear speakers are basically shot.

Only1Balto, congratulations on purchasing Carl. I couldn't believe the low mileage. That's very rare.

Nice to see you again, Stickman. I followed your entire rebuild thread and it's very impressive. I'm sure you've chalked out a lot of cash and put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that project, and it shows. What a great wagon!

 

Alot of hard work yes. But not as much cash as you might think. I am pretty cheap lol.

 

Nice find Gris and welcome to the forum. More than a few years ago, I had an '84 Custom Cruiser in a very similar color. The interior was burgundy, which I always thought was a bit of a unique combination; most of them had the beige. Best of luck; I don't blame you for loving it!