How do we feel about LT1 Roadmaster Wagons?

Miata is the answer, but not if the question is "how do I haul the wife, the kid in the car seat, the dogs, and the associated miscellaneous?".

Went looking for CTS-V wagons on marketplace and was reminded of the Roadmaster wagon. My aunt had a '96 that I did several long, fast cross country road trips in; fond memories.

There's a '96 with the LT1 and tow package nearby, runs and drives, clear title, needs some miscellaneous parts replaced for the interior to be decent. $3500 takes it.

How bad of an idea is this for a part-time kid hauler?

I like 'em. I think it's a viable option for family ride that's a little bit cooler than a minivan. Folks worry about the Optispark on the LT1 but otherwise it's an anvil SBC. 

Uh, hell yeah.

/thread

As a kid who was raised in a large family during the Station Wagon era, I will say "Those are now iconic."

I know a guy who has one of those (stock, though) and he has done several Florida to Washington state roundtrips with it. He loves it. It's old enough that it is now a cool car.

Fantastic idea. And after driving one with 3Pedals I can't recommend it enough.

Paging JG, paging JG. 

I love them.  And especially THIS one:

I loved my Caprice wagon and would absolutely consider another. Do it. 

LS swap!

Sorry, somebody had to say it.

earlybroncoguy1 said:

LS swap!

Sorry, somebody had to say it.

The final product? Yeah that was my first thought; LS all the things. However, having witnessed the reality of fine-tuning a few  LS swaps after the swap was "done" I would put the dreaded Opti(onal) Spark as the lesser evil.

There is (or was) a kit to replace the opti-spark with LS coil packs and an external crank trigger wheel. But first hand witnessing such makes me wonder why when for the same effort you can do the LS swap?

I would definitely find the nicest one I can body and interior wise, they are pretty thin on the ground these days.  Engine and driveline stuff is a dime a dozen.  They definitely have a look.

Yes.

Even with ye old tbi 350 under the hood it was brilliant and the kids loved it.

I think my oldest daughter cried when we had to get rid of it.

It's cheap enough.  What could go wrong?  Doooooo ittttttt.  

I've had two and loved them both. The optispark wasn't a problem on either of mine for years. The cheap GM interior is what it is; if it doesn't bother you it will serve you well. Creaks and rattles are going to happen. But so are burnouts and good times. 

Good. We feel good about them. Loved my shared Roadmaster!

I have known a number of people over the years with 90's B-Body wagons. Every single one of them loved the car.

Short Answer: DO IT. 

Also, the one in the OP pic seems to have a Roadmaster Sedan front end, unless my eyes are deceiving me. 

I miss my b-bodies

They're great until the Opti-Spark goes weird. Then just replace everything you have to take off to access the Opti-Spark out of caution and expedince and they're good to go. 

The interiors are kind of fragile, as were all GM cars of that era, so expect lots of squeaks and rattles and dry rot. Just buy an assorrtment of GM panel clips and you can tighten up a lot of stuff that had the clips fail, but frequently the hard points on the panels or trim fail before the clips and that's what leads to flapping panels. As I recall from mine, there were some trim pieces on the doors that kind of looked like door handles (but weren't) and people not familiar with the cars would reach for them to close the doors and they'd break off eventually and were tough to fix without replacing the entire door panel. 

So, yeah, typical 30 year old car stuff, but overall a reliable body-on-frame cruiser.

I had a caprice with an L05. I loved every bit of that car. 

I had a Road Monster for several years. It was pretty good.

^Are those E39 BMW 540i wheels on there? Looks sweet!

I love them. I brought one to the Challenge in 2015. It was awesome. Got like 22 mpg on the road trip down to Gainesville and ran 15.4s in the 1/4.

CyberEric said:

^Are those E39 BMW 540i wheels on there? Looks sweet!

Yes they were, you have a good eye!

I did put bow tie center emblems on them from a LTZ Lumina though. Very few people every could identify where they were from. 
 

Possibly the part of the car I liked the most is there were no wrong answers. I had a Vette before it and purists were kind of annoying. That wagon started out as a wood grain sided wire hub cap cranny mobile. I did a ton of minor mods to it and it was just fun. Nobody ever was like ugh your running a blah blah whatever car. 
That car was a 93 so I did the 94-96 mirrors, impala grill, in mirror turn signals, 9C1 dash conversion, lowered, roof rack delete. Also pulled all the wood trim (it was badly faded) welded all the body holes, shaved the rear door handles and did all the body work in the 1 car garage of my apartment!