1986 Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon - What Killed off Station Wagons?

What killed off the dinosaurs? It's been surmised that 66-million years ago, a 50-mile wide, 110-trillion-ton meteor known as the "Chicxulub Impactor" crashed into Earth off what is now the Pacific coast of Mexico leaving a crater 90-miles wide and 12-miles deep. Its collision caused massive tsunamis, wildfires and a cloud of debris and aerosols that led to the eventual extinction of most life on earth, including almost all dinosaurs. 

What killed off giant station wagon's, however, was just as succinct although the metaphorical meteor that struck the wagon market, Chrysler's 1984 minivans, were a heck of a lot smaller than the "Impactor". One of the giant station wagons it eventually smothered out of existence was Buick's Estate Wagon. Our lovely subject here is a 1986 Buick LeSabre Estate wagon. 

Through 1989, Buick had two "Estate Wagons", there was s LeSabre and a plushier trimmed Electra Estate; after 1990 Buick wagons were simply, "Estate Wagons". The difference between them basically interior trim baubles and bits - the cars were the same underneath. Buick blurring the lines further selling LeSabres with the woodie-wallpaper like our '86 here has. It's a look you either "get" or think as goofy as sneakers worn with high-end dress suits like the sports wonks on TV do. 

Seeing how long it took GM and Ford to come out with front-wheel-drive minivans of their own, Ford in 1989 and GM in 1990, you'd think The Big Two were asleep at the minivan wheel. Truth is, they weren't - they quickly returned fire by 1985 but their recipes for a mini-van were decidedly different than Chrysler's - they both based their vans on existing, compact pickup trucks. And there was a universe of difference between a car-based minivan like the Chrysler's were and the truck-based ones Ford and GM pushed out. 

Therefore, seeing how half-arsed their attempts were at a "mini", it's fairly easy to see why GM (and Ford) continued to sell car-based station wagons like our '86 LeSabre Estate here; they didn't take Chrysler seriously. Problems rose quickly as their truck-based minis failed to take off in sales and their wagon sales began imploding. Meanwhile Chrysler rode the lack of competition all the way to the bank. 

As a young twenty-something with little interest in wagons at the time, I found it fascinating to witness the metamorphosis of the family truckster from a "mom-mobile" to something that screamed "mom-mobile" even more. 

Ford's 1989 car-based Windstar was a better salvo than the Ranger-based Aerostar but it had only minor impact on Chrysler minivan sales. GM answered back with their laughable "Dustbuster" minivans in 1990, they too had little effect on the mighty Chrysler's. While GM refined their minivans over the years, they never quite got the recipe right. Ford too for that matter. 

Personally, if I was of family-rearing age at the time, I'd have gone for a GM wagon and if I had the means, one like this. Even resplendent in "woodie-guise". Part of GM's class of 1977 downsized full sizers, these handled with an aplomb the glorious, oversized wagons of yore could only dream about, if cars, in fact, could dream. 

Our 34,000-mile '86 here is for sale on FB Marketplace with a more than reasonable asking price of $9995. Get it closer to $7,500 and put the savings towards a crate engine, it's phleghmy, 150-horsepower (if that) Olds-built V-8 has to go, or, heaven forbid, an LS swap to turn it into the sleeper of carpool lane nightmares. 

 

 

1973 Buick Centurion - A LeSabre in a Dinner Jacket

In ancient Rome, a "Centurion" was a commander of approximately 100-soldiers that were known as a "century". Fifty- or so years ago, a Buick "Centurion" was a "sporting", full-size car available in two- and four-door hardtop and convertible. Our subject here is a 1973 hardtop two-door; I wouldn't call this a "coupe", I found on Facebook Marketplace recently with a, hold onto your battle helmets, $7,500 asking price. 

Actually, that's not too bad considering what you'd be getting. Despite some rust and a front bench that needs reupholstering, this car has a fairly sorted-out suspension (for its time) and a freshly rebuilt to "factory specification", 455 cubic-inch Buick V-8 engine. That means 260-net-horsepower and 380-foot pounds at just off idle. It also means about 8-miles per gallon around town. Stab and it and steer as we used to say. 

Years ago, full-size cars that had a modicum or dollop of performance were referred to as "banker's hot rods". Never big sellers, they were profitable enough that the Big Three tried their hand at them multiple times although sporadically. Chrysler's "letter series cars" of the 1950's and 1960's and the Ford Motor Company's mid-1960's "Mercury Marauder" were examples of such. Throw in the 1966, 7-liter Ford Galaxie XL too but those cars, much like Chevrolet Impala SS', were more full-size muscle cars than cars the president of a bank, who liked to drive fast, would drive. 

Buick, though, had the niche all to itself with their 1936-1942 and 1954-1958 "Century". The  (original) "Century" was Buick's entry level "Special" stuffed with the engine from their Roadmaster while trimmed with some of the Roadmaster's interior baubles and bits. As part of Buick's 1959 model upheaval, the "Century" became the LeSabre based, Electra powered "Invicta", which, in turn, was replaced by the LeSabre-esque "Wildcat" from 1963-1970. Lastly and certainly not leastly, based on the sheer bulk of the things, the Centurion replaced the Wildcat from 1971-1973. 

Typical of the era, auto scribes damned these cars with faint praise. They noted less body roll and improved directional stability, Frankly, there's only so much a smartly tuned suspension can do for a car that weighs in on the dark side of two-and-half-tons. Especially riding on balloon tires the gigantic sidewalls. Styling was pleasant if not handsome. A LeSabre in a dinner jacket, if you will. 

Despite the improvement in ride and stability, these cars still wallowed and rolled; that was by design, though. The customer Buick was targeting at the time - Folks of my parent's generation who lived through The Great Depression and fought World War II, grew up with cars that many times were crude, spindly, wooden-wheeled affairs that kicked and bucked like horse-drawn carriages did. Softly sprung cars that were whisper quiet inside and floated down road were the lap of luxury. My parents wanted nothing to do with any car that reminded them of the stiff-legged rides of their youth. 

Biggest no-no on our '73 here is the rust, of course. It's not an easy fix and many body shops stay away from it because it's not worth their time. Get it up on a lift and get somebody who knows what to look at to stick their head deep up and into the wells of this car. Considering this is for sale less than an hour northwest of Cincinnati, I'm a little surprised there's as much rust as there is. You get up here close to Lake Erie, and this sort of thing is an everyday occurrence. Even on cars less than ten-years old. Looks like the vinyl top was pulled too and they left the rivet holes for its trim pieces. Looks like you may have to spring for an entire re-spray. Ka-ching, 

Technically, the Buick LeSabre "Luxus" replaced the Centurion for 1974 but the Centurion\Wildcat\Invicta\Century slot on the Buick lineup was actually replaced by the new-for-1973 Century model that could be ordered in "Regal" trim with a 455 CID Buick engine. We all know how that story ended with the OPEC embargo just as the 1974 model year began, making any car, big or small, with a V-8 a pariah. That admonishment of gas-guzzlers was fairly short lived, but big cars with the pretense of performance were, save for boutique editions, like the Roman Empire, gone for good. 

1976 Chevrolet Caprice (two-door) - Where Did the Hardtops Go?

I know my appreciation for full-size, two-door, 1971-1973 GM hard tops defies reason, logic even. They're too long, wide and heavy. They don't handle particularly well, they're not especially powerful, inhale gas, shudder and shimmy, even the most expensive of them have interiors with the soul of a Tupperware bowl and they're sloppily assembled. Through my foggy goggles, though, the big brutes have a larger-than-life quality to them; there's an elan or "Hollywood" about them that's transcendental, cool and mysterious; were these really created by a team of mere mortals? Same goes for their "family-sized" convertibles. Above is a 1971 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe, looking magnificent even trimmed with a damn vinyl top.  

Sadly, during my wretched wonder years, whether it was looming government roll-over regulations, that never came to fruition, '70's fashion trends or a combination of both, hard tops started disappearing, replaced by clumsy "colonnades" like this 1976 Chevrolet Caprice. Along with the five-MPH "safety bumpers", all that was alluring about hard tops of yore went out the proverbial opera window. 

The term "hardtop" is oxymoronic since not all cars that aren't convertibles are "hardtops", technically anyway. In automobile vernacular, by definition, a hardtop is a vehicle with a fixed roof that lacks a center-post or pillar that emulates the look of a convertible with its top up.  While somewhat stiffer than a convertible, "hard tops" are sheer fashion statements; the lack of a center post doing the vehicle's structural rigidity no favors. I liken my father's 1972 Cadillac Sedan deVille to having the backbone of a cardboard box. A soggy one too. 

Hardtop styling dates as far back and the mid-nineteen-teens but General Motors spurred its popularity after World War II with their 1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera (above), Oldsmobile 98 Holiday and Cadillac Coupe deVille. The motif that combined the open, airiness of a convertible with the "performance" of a fixed roof car trickled down to Pontiac and Chevrolet for 1950 and hard tops, pun not intended, took off. 

Hard tops became so popular that by the mid-Fifties, every manufacturer not only had two-door hard tops, but four-door and even station wagon hard tops. The wagons, though, fell out of favor by the mid-Sixties, above is a 1961 Dodge Polara. Knowing how much a two-door hardtop can shimmy-shimmy, I can't imagine what a rattling soda can these things must have been. If not fresh out of the showroom, then eventually. 

Although for years cars with center posts or pillars were sold alongside their hard top brethren, and were typically lower priced, for model-year 1974, the GM "C-body" Cadillac Coupe deVille, Buick Electra and Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight two-door hard tops were replaced by two-door sedans with a fixed, center post. Above, left is a frumpy and dumpy "colonnade" 1975 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight, to the right a 1973 Ninety Eight resplendent in hard top glory. The B-body, or shorter wheelbase version of the C-body, Pontiac Bonneville and Chevrolet Caprice (like our red '76 here) got a similar post "look"; perhaps a (misguided) notion to convey the exclusive new aesthetic of the tonier C-body's? 

Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac offered a hybrid post\hardtop design on their 1974-1976 B-body LeSabre, 88 and Catalina, respectively; above is a 1975 Pontiac Catalina. While I applaud the effort, through my bifocals, the look doesn't work. It's far too fussy, there's too much going on especially dressed with a vinyl roof. Leave it to GM to even try such a thing and partially succeed in doing so. Ford tried something similar during this time and fell flat on their five-mile-per-hour safety bumpers. 

Giving credit where credit is due, the funky dog legged roof on the B-O-P's (subjective) is most certainly more handsome than our dowdy Caprice here. Curiously, Chevrolet sold an "Impala Sport Coupe" in 1974 and 1975 that was a true "hard top". For 1976, the "Sport Coupe" was gone, buyers stuck with the only the box-on-box "Custom Coupe" or one of these if they opted for a full-size, Chevrolet two-door. These cars do have their fans, though. For more, read my soliloquy on "Glass House Donks". 

There was never any clear-cut data gleamed that definitively found two- or four "post" sedans were safer in roll over than a hard top was. Again, "post" sedans were less expensive than hard tops, buyers literally paying more for less, and the same is true today. I found this "triple-red" Caprice on Facebook Marketplace recently for sale down in Nashville with a reasonable (I guess) $7,500 asking price. Just 76,000-miles on it too. If it was a 1971 or 1972 hardtop like the car featured in the video at the top, seeing the shape this is in, it would command two- to three-times as much. That makes me believe I'm not alone in my sentiments. 

 

1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo - All Show and a Little More Go

If there was any issue with Pontiac's 1988 Grand Prix SE, that Motor Trend awarded Pontiac their vaunted "Car of the Year" golden calipers for, it was its 130-horsepower, 2.8-liter, 60-degree V-6. For an automobile with so much going for it and pretense of performance, while a better appliance than any Grand Prix prior, it was more-or-less all show and little go. 

More go and even more show came for model-year 1989 when Pontiac partnered with the American Sunroof Corporation and McClaren and debuted the Grand Prix Turbo. Our literal barn find here is a 1990 I found for sale on Facebook Marketplace recently outside Ford Wayne, Indiana. It's been sitting in this barn since 2002, doesn't run, has four flat tires and has as an asking price of $3,500. I have no idea if that's a good price for this or not. I'd say it's "ambitious". 

Making all of 205-horsepower and 220-foot pounds, compared to Grand Prix' with the non-turbo engine these were quick, or quicker, dropping 0-60 times from approximately 10-seconds to approximately 8.0, quarter mile from 17.5- to 15.7-seconds. Pontiac only built these engines in 1989 and 1990 offering them in the 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix STE (four-door sedan) as well. These were the only 60-degree, GM V-6's ever offered with forced induction. 

GM's myriad divisions still had some modicum of autonomy in the late 1980's and Pontiac went "turbo" with these cars rather than put GM's 3.8-liter V-6 in them like Buick did starting in 1990 on their Regal. Oldsmobile opted for a 180-horsepower "high output" Quad4 as a performance option for 1990 only. Chevrolet didn't put the LQ1, "Dual Twin Cam V-6" into their Lumina's starting in '91. Pontiac dropped the turbo engine for the Grand Prix after 1990 opting for the LQ1, Oldsmobile as well for 1991 dropping the high-output Quad4. 

Pontiac had me with the hood louvers, cladding and lovely wheels on these things but damn, these were expensive. Some $10,000 more all-in compared to what I paid for my brand new 1990 Chevrolet Lumina Euro coupe. You get what you pay for, though. Whereas my Euro's interior had all the charm of a Tupperware bowl, the GP Turbo was the lap of hedonistic luxury. 

I mean, look at these seats! To adjust the rake on my car's driver's seat, there was a lever you pulled up on to rock the seat back and forth. It felt as primitive as a Model-T back then, now, it seems quaint and old-timey. Trust me, it seemed out of place thirty years ago too. 

As GM streamlined their engines doing away with most of the divisional autonomy, they put the 3800 Series II in the Grand Prix starting in1997. They also offered the supercharged 3800 in the top-drawer GTP models. That made for quite the track star, everything being relative of course. 

To us car wonks, "barnfinds" are supposed to be mystical beasts hidden below canvas tarps that were stored years ago for whatever reason and need little more than a good cleaning, a fluid rinse and belt  and hose changes. It's never that simple, of course, and this one here looks to need more than a good power washing. The thirty-year-old electronics would have me reaching $3,500 worth of  Pepto too. 

 

1987 Pontiac Bonneville - The Sliding Scale

Who says you can't find a good, reasonably priced used cars these days? They're out there, you just have to know how to find them, be patient, you may have to travel a bit and be comfortable with compromise. For instance, take this 53,000-mile, $5,000 1987 Pontiac Bonneville I found recently on Facebook Marketplace for sale down near Columbus, a good two-hours south of me. It's not everyone's cup of antifreeze but for the money, you could do worse, and I'd be hard pressed for you to find something for the money that's better. If I was in the need of a beater, I'd be all over this. 

You also need to be comfortable with explaining to your family, friends and neighbors how and why you dropped five-grand on a thirty-six-year-old, four-door, Pontiac. For many people, that's the toughest putt but what kind of world are we living in that it's perfectly ok to blow fifty, sixty, seventy-grand and more on a new car these days and it's questionable to drop five thousand on something like this? 

Granted, as a "daily" for myself, I'd also have to contend with my family thinking I've lost my mind but as a first car for my sons years ago? This might have fit the bill quite perfectly. Especially for my younger son who tends to lean towards the avant-garde. Yes, this Blue Bonnie just might fit the bill for someone who likes to yang when the rest of the world yings. 

There's always been a sliding scale of sorts when it comes to used car shopping. Primarily, the less you spend the more mental gymnastics you'll probably end up doing so you're able to sleep at night. The big issue with this car is its age, despite relatively no miles on it and it's, save for a sagging headliner, apparent superb condition. Doesn't mean she's perfect, though. The all but no miles on it obviously means it's sat for a while. Belts, wires and hoses may be dry rotted, the tires too. Brake and fuel lines may have corroded, fuel injectors clogged, etcetera, etcetera, yada, yada. Be prepared to drop another $1,500 on top of the 5G you put down to sort it all out. Maybe less, probably more but still, at the end of the day you're ahead of the game. Especially if you can do the bulk of the work yourself. 

Spending more money on a used car doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a "better car" too. Same with dealerships - I've actually had more luck buying private party than buying an oldie from a dealership. Be leery with those "AS IS" deals on used car lots that are really fronts for high interest used car loans. Not only does the lot have zero skin in the car, aside from the money in it, they haven't got a clue about what they're selling you. At least buying an oldie private party, like this, you stand a fighting chance of at least getting a story or two behind it. 

And a car this old with this little mileage and in the shape it's in definitely has a story behind it. Probably nothing more than it was "grand pappy's" last car and when he passed away the family couldn't part with it so they stored it in his massive shed on his three-and-half acre lot. All these years later they may be moving and it's time to give the Old Man's last ride the old heave-hoe. 

These are actually pretty good cars and driving dynamics wise, are far more contemporary feeling than the hoary old boats they replaced. Hoary old boats that would have asking prices two-, three- if not four-times as much as this. Why? That's a good question, All I know is that some things are what they are. While this car didn't replace a GM "B-body" that many car pundits of my vintage go bonkers for, the H-body platform it shares with the Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile 88 did. 

Historically, as Pontiac's first full-size, front-wheel-drive sedan, it was a game changer as was its Buick, Oldsmobile and even Cadillac corporate brethren were. Buick and Oldsmobile came with their versions, the LeSabre and 88, respectively, for 1986. Why Pontiac was a year late to the H-body party is anyone's guess as was why Chevrolet never not got one was too. GM introduced their C-body chassis under the all-new Cadillac deVille\Fleetwood, Buick Electra and Oldsmobile 98 for 1985. The C- and H-bodies were essentially the same save for a somewhat different body. All of the original H and C's came in two-door guise except the Bonneville; they were four-door only. As domestic four-door sedans went, I thought these were particularly handsome. 

These cars featured front-wheel-drive, transverse mounted V-6 engines with port-fuel injection, rack-and-pinion steering, independent rear suspensions and unit body construction. They were also more than foot-shorter than what they replaced and were some 600-pounds lighter. Although smaller, they had as much genuinely usable interior space and trunk capacity. I've always been ambivalent towards GM's "Class-of-1977" downsized full-size cars because they didn't advance the state-of-the-art of the then current automobile, but these things certainly did. Yes, there were some teething issues, and the competitive landscape was not kind to these cars, GM actually came to market with them several years too late, but again, these cars were the paradigm shifters the 1977 cars most certainly were not. Your opinon may vary, see dealer for details. 

Actually, this Bonneville replaced an intermediate sized car, not a full-size model like the other H- and C-bodies did. The "Pontiac Bonneville" moniker dated back to 1958 and on and off for the next thirty years or so, was Pontiac's top-of-the-line model. While still Pontiac's range-topper, that sort of changed for 1982 when Pontiac axed full-sized cars and moved the nameplate to GM's intermediate, G-body chassis. As generic a 1980's, domestic four-door sedan as it got, it remained a mid-size car through 1986 even though Pontiac reintroduced a full-size model for 1983 after dealers complained they didn't have one. That car was a rebadged GM of Canada built Pontiac Parisienne, essentially a fancified Chevrolet Caprice.  

This popped up on Marketplace Friday night and by Saturday afternoon, no surprise, it was gone. I hope who ever got it appreciates it for what it is historically. That's the history wonk in me saying that as much as the car geek is. Probably not, though, as it more than likely went to someone just looking for a solid, good riding and handling cheap car. 

 

1971 Pontiac Grand Prix - A Significant Improvement of A Fabulous Design

General Motors' Pontiac Motor Division didn't invent the personal luxury car, but they're given much credit for spurring the market niche it became in the 1970's. Our handsome devil here is an $11,500, 1971 Pontiac Grand Prix I found on Facebook Marketplace recently.  

If singular credit is given to the invention or creation of the personal luxury car, it probably goes, in general, to the Ford Motor Company and their 1958, four-passenger Thunderbird. Sales of the "Big 'Bird" were quadruple that of the two-passenger, 1955-1957 T-Bird and a market segment was thrust into the mainstream, even if they didn't realize it at the time. Curiously, General Motors was slow to respond to the four-passenger Thunderbird that was at the end of its second iteration by the time they returned salvo with the Oldsmobile Star Fire and (original) Pontiac Grand Prix in 1962; Buick introduced their Riviera in 1963, Oldsmobile and their Toronado in 1966, Cadillac's Eldorado debuted for 1967.

The literal big difference between personal luxury cars of the 1960's, even the '50's and what was to come in the '70's, though, was that the PLC's of yore were all based on full-size platforms. The 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix and the original Chevrolet Monte Carlo were an intermediate-sized car. Well, technically, anyway. 

The Grand Prix and Monte Carlo were originally built on special versions of GM's new for 1968 mid-size chassis. The new GM intermediates, co-named "A-body", were built on three-different wheelbases. - a 112-inch long one for two-door models, 116-inches for four-door sedans and a 121-incher for wagons. To accentuate the long hood, short deck styling of the then very popular Ford Mustang, GM stylists used a 118-inch-long version with all of the extra wheelbase placed in front of the firewall; from the driver's hip to the rear axle, the distance was the same as in an intermediate two-door. That enabled engineers to use the driveshaft from the 112-inch wheelbase cars. Costs were amortized with Chevrolet also getting one; Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac never did probably because they already had their Toronado, Riviera and Eldorado. These special intermediate platforms were given the internal code, "G-body". 

Putting all the extra wheelbase in front of the firewall gave designers the canvas to create heroically, or depending on your point of view, comically long hoods. The gigantic hood was meant to emulate the multi-cylinder grand touring cars of the 1930's. 

Pontiac built these "first-generation" GP's through from 1969 through 1972 making minor alterations each year. The biggest difference between a 1969-1970 model and a 1971-1972 is the front end - the '69-'70 models have four-headlights, the '71 and '72's have singles. The clamshells over the headlights extending back on the hood are pure 1930's throwbacks, like the hood is. Most buyers didn't realize that or care since the design is transcendental; that is if you appreciate it. Chevrolet really got carried away with the '30's motif with their swoopy, "suitcase fender" 1973-1977 Monte Carlo. 

It's rare that a design improves with slicing and dicing of the original, often times done just for the sake of change, but through my foggy goggles, the 1971 update was a significant improvement over the original. That's saying a lot too considering how fabulous the 1969 and 1970 Grand Prix' are.