My mom's cousin had one of these. She and her husband bought it new. It was a 74 and an orange copper color. She drove it to our house one time back in the late 80's, when mom and she took a trip out west. My brother and I sure enjoyed playing with that tailgate. Think they sold it several years ago to a man that wanted to use it in the derby.
I have owned five Buick wagons over the years. They were all great cars and I put over 150,000 miles on each one. They would haul anything you could get in them. They were great cars in the snow too. I currently have a 1994 Buick Estate Wagon with the Corvette LT1 engine. I just bought a NOS set of wire wheels for it for $25.00 from a fellow who was cleaning out his parents attic. It is really a great running car. It literally just floats over rough roads.
My aunt had this behemoth brand new. It was the top of TOPS of wagons from BUICK & GMC. We had loads of fun going camping. 9/ 10 passengers easy & comfortable.
I always wondered what year that Buick wagon was I saw on holiday, thank you. RARE in the UK. I didn't even know the clam-shell tail-gate did that either. A wonderful thing indeed.
OM NOM NOM NOM NOM. Seriously though, it's a tragedy what happened to these cars. Growing up in the 80's in the rust belt, I rode in 2 that had Flintstones holes in the floor, then there were demolition derbys. The coolest tail gate of any wagon was on GM wagons in the 70's. I have a soft spot for wagons and shooting brakes.
If you are ever looking to sell just reach out to me because I absolutely love these cars!! I have been in search of a 73 or 74 Buick Estate Wagon for a long time now... Probably since my parents let my sister in law drive ours in 1996 and she destroyed it. I want my dream car back!!
Model year 1970 was the first year for the Estate Wagon, it was based on the smaller LeSabre and came without the clamshell tailgate. 1971 -1976 was based on the Electra and came with the clamshell tailgate.
That's a common problem with these cars after they've aged a while, sometimes they messed up when new too. I saw a photo from 1972 that showed one with a much worse tailgate issue on the passenger side; I guess that was a manufacturing error, though.
You could order the optional forward facing 3rd seat for the 9 passenger wagons. Here's an image from the 1974 Buick brochure: i.ibb.co/r3WJgBC/74-EW.jpg
@@badboattail Thank you for the image from the brochure! If the 3rd row seat is forward facing do you enter it through the tailgate? We went to Florida in 1973 and rented a Chevy station wagon with 3rd row seat. I remember sitting back there, but I don’t remember what direction it faced. I guess it had to face forward like the Buick. I was only 6 years old at the time.
@@CH67guy1 You could reach the 3rd seat by folding down the righthand side seat of the second row. Maybe your family rented a mid-size Chevrolet wagon? Those had the rear facing 3rd seat with the step in the rear bumper and the regular tailgate. From the 1972 Chevrolet Wagons brochure: i.ibb.co/k3myRQz/1972-Wagon.jpg
Got to fix that tailgate track. At the end of the video I heard that cracking sound. They all made that horrible sound but if you worked on the track you can fix it and it will be as quiet as a church mouse.
