Paint a Roady?

There has got to be something said for an engine design that lasted almost 50 years, something about an engine design that didn't last 5 years.

I just prefer the TBI engines, I am not afraid of the newer technology by any means. I have big plans for my TBI engine to include a much more in depth engine management computer. Now I just have to figure out how to get a knock sensor and a gear driven cam to get along .

I have many, many, many pictures of 91-96 B-body wagons painted in all different colors. For some reason photobucket is not letting me access their site right now, but I will get some posted for you soon.

 

About ten years ago,I went to a car show.They had a booth selling T-shirts.The shirts were white with their club logo on the front and a picture of a famous kind of American car from the Twenties,cruising down a street,on the back.The car in the picture was bright red.I held up one of the shirts,with the picture of the car facing the people in the booth.I asked,"Do these come in any other color?" and someone answered,"No,they only come in white." I paused a moment and said,"No...The most famous one of these in the world was in the movie American Graffiti,,,and it's yellow."(please don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about)The people in the booth looked embarrassed.And responded apologetically,"No,they only come in red."...I bought one of the shirts anyway.I still have it.It's all worn out,but I'm keeping it...At about that time,there seemed to be a contest going;to see who could paint their nice old car the brightest shade of red.A way brighter shade of red than would've been available when the car was made.My wife and I never understood or liked that trend...I have also heard this psychological theory;that people who paint their cars red,wanted to be firemen when they were kids.

 

Much appreciated, Uber. In reading your stuff I've come to appreciate and respect your car knowledge. I haven't made a move yet in the early to mid Roadies and enjoy kickin' stuff around with you. Since I may be rebuilding the LT1 I've even thought of buying a cherry '92-93 and driving it while I build an LT1 out of the yards. That way I could have the seats I want. And Blackfoot just mentioned gauges...although they probably aren't compatible. I think they had the rolled seats right up to '96 in some wagons.
EDIT:
When did the tranny change in these?

 

The 1991-1993 Roadmasters all had full gauges and warning lights, as did the 1991-1992 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser. I am not sure about the Caprice wagons though.

The transmission changed with the engines, 1991-1993 had the 4L60/700R4 and the 1994-1996 had the 4L60E transmission. I am by no means a transmission guru so that is all I am going to say on that subject.

 

Where I went to school, we had a big tire plant (Firestone) and big Automotive paint plant. In Engineering, our profs were heavy on taking us to factories and then putting our theories into practice.

In the paint plant, the chief engineer was explaining that the two most difficult and expensive colours were Black and Red. Carbon black, the base ingredient isn't consistently the same, so they made their own from raw ashes. Red was expensive because the brightest reds come from various plants, but the natural ones couldn't take sunlight. The UVA and UVB rays faded them out within months. Even with additives, the auto paints lasted only a few years.

Nowadays, they have better chemistry, but red is still the most expensive. The best green is from copper, and yellow from Mustard seed and one other flower (can't recall the name).

Also, the Insurance bureau claims that there are more accidents in Red Cars and White cars (up here in snow country). But why, in God's green earth are so many Asian cars in gray?

My dad used to ask the dealers which colours didn't sell very good, and then order one of those colours, because he figured it would be like a Factory Direct Order. It usually was too. We picked up 2 of his new wagons right at the factory with special equipment. One 1966 Chevy Impala, and one 1958 Ford Ranchwagon.

At the Oshawa GM plant, they used to pull them off the line to add the custom stuff - CB radios, Mags, optional pinstriping, etc.

With Ford, they automated the line so much, that when dad got the Ranchwagon, that he ordered with a 289, he got a 390 TBird engine instead, no extra charge! Somebody got a dud TBird.

 

Here in SoCal,not only do we have racial profiling,we have color profiling and car profiling.,,If your car is newer and red,you are more likely to get pulled over than someone in a "dull" colored older car.This fact doesn't stop younger car buyers from getting brand new bright red cars,though.

 

I made this a couple of years ago, there are many different colored wagons in it. There used to music but YouTube had a problem with copyrights or something along those lines. Too bad, it was much cooler with "The Cars-Just what I Needed" playing along.

 

Talk about pimping your ride! Amazing how some of them have the right color for the body style. Variety IS the spice of life.

Some of those low-riders really are sharp, although I'm not crazy about low-riders. Great resource you've got there. A person could really imagine the what-ifs, before making a big change to the body.

 

DISCLAIMER! None of these wagons are mine or were ever mine, I hold no responsibility for the size of the rims or the design on the graphics!

With that out of the way here are a handful of different colored 1991-1996 B-body wagons.






























cont

 

This is the wagon that got me into these cars, I saw it in a magazine in the 90's and never looked at these cars the same way again.




Of course there is nothing wrong with factory colors and changing the wood, or just adding different rims and tires.




This is the look I am going for. For now

 

They look like they can slip through the wind, don't they? No jagged lines, tapered roof to body height to the rear. I can see why you guys seek them out. Lots of potential for your own touches. Thanks for that, Uber. Good to see the individuality applied to a decent platform.

 

The igha Caprice looked like it had woodie inspired by the 64 Colony Parks.And I really like the realistic looking flames they've been coming up with,during the last few years.

 

My dull colored wagon has gotten pulled over 2 times, one time wasn't my fault, and the other one was simply I forgot to turn my lites on. The cops know me and like me, and all wave at me when I drive by. Gotta love small towns and old-man cars LOL.

 

Man...a lotta money in paint jobs in THOSE pix! I have to say that, as cool as many of those cars are not to mention expensive, it just isn't my thing. I'm not fond of low riders and flames and changing a car from its given format too much. I love LOOKING at them and admire the creativity and dedication...but I like cherry looking stock wagons. I like people to either admire my old wagon...or laugh at it. The one's that laugh are the one's I love to leave in the dust behind me.

 

My marroon 77 Aspen got pulled over once.I was driving home from work,just before midnight.I'll admit I was doing 55 in a 45 zone.Sunland Blvd,thru Shadow Hills goes by the nickname The Shadow Hills Freeway.And with good reason.As I went thru an intersection,an El Camino zoomed by me doing like 90.Two policemen were up the side street,and when the El Camino whizzed by me,both me and the El Camino whizzed past the cops at the same time.They chased me down because the El Camino was long gone.They asked me how fast I was going.I admitted to doing 55 in the 45 zone.One of them practically shouted,"That's bull****!We had to do 85 just to catch up to you!" The logic of his statement escaped me...If I'm doing Mach One and you do Mach Three to catch up to me,that doesn't mean I was doing Mach Two.That means I was doing Mach One and you did Mach Three to catch up...I had to leave my car on the side of the road and walk home.And promise to wait until the next day to come back and get it...(1)I went back about half an hour later and got the car.(2)I woke up,the next morning,to news reports that a horrible case of Blue Flue broke out at midnight.The cops went on strike at midnight.(3)That means I was the last guy those two cops pulled over that night.AND,the Blue Flue was probably why I didn't get arrested and/or a ticket and/or my car impounded. Something else I think that helped was also admitting that I'd be an idiot to drag race an El Camino in a Dodge station wagon with a 318 in it.