3rd row seating in 80's station wagons

Ok all...

This is nutty, but after a fun camping trip with my kids in the '82 Corolla wagon (with a canoe on the top), I'm thinking about a more robust wagon. The corolla doesn't have a roof rack, but it's beater enough that I can just throw the canoe up there.

The interior is a little on the small side. it was fine for this weekend, but if it had been raining and we tried to sleep in the car, it would not have been fun.

The corolla and the anemic 3TC weren't much fun on the uphill runs in the ozarks either (remember that giant vertical stabilizer I had strapped to the roof). It might have been quite annoying to other travelers to have me pass them at 80 on the downhill only to have them pass me on the uphill, struggling at 60 or less.

Also, I'm interested in something with more seating. The corolla only has 2 seatbelts in back. I've got two kids, so that's fine...until we decide to bring someone along for a ride.

That was a lot of detail to get to a simple quesion. Do the following vehicles have a rear-facing third row seat?

'78 and up Ford Farimont Wagons
'78 and up Chevrolet Malibu Wagon
*Volvo 240 Wagon

Besides the volvo, all of these are rare enough in the classifieds to be easily verified in person. And even the 240 volvos don't come along that often.

Basically, I'm looking for something with the fold down third row seat, the potential for V8 power (all of the above have factory options or well documented homebrew options), something we could sleep in in a pinch.

Volvo 200 or 700 series wagon is what you want.

What Tim said.

I've seen really nice 3rd seats in 745 Volvos on my two most recent visits to the P-N-P.

I think the 3rd seat was optional in the Volvos. My '91 940 didn't have it. You could (can?) buy a kit for the 240 and 740/940 that comes with the seat and belts. Best to find it in a salvage yard.

Yes, optional, but a lot of them have it.

My grandfather had a 1977 Cougar Wagon (Yes, I said "Cougar Wagon") that had the rumble seat option. I rode from Connecticut to Canada back there, but I can't remember if it was rear facing or side to side.

Good luck finding one.

1991+ GM B-body wagon /thread

305 or 350 or LT1 stock, 3rd row in most, gets 22+ mpg highway and can tow 5K lbs if you want. And if you get the Roadmaster or the Custom Cruiser you get the Vista window for the kiddies.

While I'm a fan of the B-body wagons, I'm not looking to go complete land yacht yet. Also...gotta watch out for the L99 "Baby LT1" engine. Not that it's bad, but if an LT1 is available...why?

I like the volvo idea...but a V8 in the G-body or Fox body is just too simple (cheap) to ignore them as a strong contender. I also like the looks of the Malibu...alot!

Malibu's had it at one point. I remember my friend's Mom having a dirt brown Malibu wagon with a rear facing seat. The one with the taillights in the back bumper.

Also, Buick Parisenne's had them.

Pontiac Parisennes were the full size B-body, IIRC.

mercedes 300td

I have a soft spot for the custom cruiser and the glass above the 2nd row seats. Watch for failing air ride suspensions if you start looking at the land yatchs.

EvanB wrote: mercedes 300td

Funny you should mention. My friend I went camping with was driving an '85 300 TD. We had a caravan of 80's wagons with canoes on top. We got some looks, apparently. (I was too busy trying to keep it between the ditches to notice...the wind was really blowing!)

Unfortunately, Merc is out...I want something with some oomph.

Clem

Clem-

Go look at the 740 turbo for sale on the east side of town off broadway. It's sitting in the parking lot between BreakTime and CiCi's Pizza over off of the intersection of Broadway and 63. All I know is that it's fairly clean, fairly high miles, and (blech) and automatic).

Ford Fairmont??? I got it, let me do my search. Its in Central Illinois.

http://bn.craigslist.org/cto/1130603997.html

psteav wrote: Clem- Go look at the 740 turbo for sale on the east side of town off broadway. It's sitting in the parking lot between BreakTime and CiCi's Pizza over off of the intersection of Broadway and 63. All I know is that it's fairly clean, fairly high miles, and (blech) and automatic).

I think I'll check it out on the way home, just for reference. Thanks!

Buick Century, Seriously. My Dad had an 84 and a 94 sedan and we never had any real problems with them. Most will come with the 3100 which is a well known beast and is not exactly slow. The wagons come with rear facing seats at least in some models. You should be able to find them for under 2k all day.

740 Turbo is a great choice. Third seat shows up in about 50% of the ones I see, you can find them with a manual, and you've got a nicely overbuilt bottom end capable of an easy 200HP with a few additional pounds of boost. 74 ft^3 of storage with the seats down, 3300lb towing capacity.

Love my 740 turbo. I don't have the rear seat, though. The parts come up frequently, though, and they aren't that tough to put in. Not a lot of room back there, though.

My Roadmaster, on the other hand, has a mondo massive back seat and back back tailgunner seat. I picked my 5.7 Roadmaster wagon up for $350 and it was awesome til the trans puked. It also has the "Vista glass" sunroof over the 2nd row seats.

My father had an LTD wagon with the third row, but it was two benches that faced each other. Not a lot of legroom and built-in motion sickness. I prefer the rear-facing seat in the B-bodies, but I'm hyper-motionsick.

If you go LTD you could pull the whole Family Truckster thing. That and hop-up parts are only a 5.0 Mustang away. If you go Fairmont even the suspension parts would fit. It would have the added benefit of any jackleg garage in town could work on it. No expensive Swede parts!

Woody wrote: My grandfather had a 1977 Cougar Wagon (Yes, I said "Cougar Wagon") that had the rumble seat option... Good luck finding one.

Screw the "Cougar Wagon" part - did you say rumble seat? Damn!

The Fairmont and Malibus didn't have the third row, and I'd avoid the Malibus altogether if you are putting people in the back. If I remember right the back windows don't roll down at all. I think that's why my dad bought a Fairmont instead.

I can't really add much,but I was recently looking at this wagon on ebay,and was wondering if any one could tell me if it is a smart buy. Also I asked the seller what the tow capacity is,and he said 5000#,but not with the current hitch. I would need a larger one to tow my 3500# pop-up. So if the car is rated at 5000#'s do you guys think I would be safe towing a 3500# camper,or am I just crazy?

For the record I think my two boys would love sitting in the rear facing seats.

Chris

Pontiac Parisennes, small block chevy, over 5000lb curb weight, solid steel everything, 1st row bench has 3 belts and you can fit a small child up front with 2 adults, 2nd row has 3 belts, 3rd row has 2 belts, 2nd and 3rd rows fold flat and 2 17 year olds can lay comfortably in the back. I was made fun of for about 6 months driving that wagon to highschool until my buddies found out the capabilities of the 'shaggin wagon', not to mention the ample 'hidden compartments'.

I almost got T-boned by a Chevy S-10 due to it driving the wrong way on a divided road as I was crossing and instead ended up bending the truck around the car, bent the hood in one little spot and bent the front frame but to look at it you'd never have known. I owe my life to those monster cars. It was our family DD growing up as a kid for 12-15 years, 225k miles, towed our boat, hauled our canoe (roof rack was nice, just throw it and go, hauled many a christmas tree, hauled us 3 kids, a dog, couple of cats, hardly ever needed work, and when it did a little adjustment here or there and she was good as new. I tried to kill that car for the first 6 months I had it, but it wouldn't die, I jumped the car 3 feet in the air, would e-brake slide with it, used to race my buddies on a dirt road (even the hubcaps wouldn't come off), only thing that really broke was the radio...