1970 Buick Estate wagon..........Opinions needed

Ok, wagon folks. I'm thinking about purchasing a 1970 Buick Estate wagon. It has 80k on the odometer and is very clean. It is not a fully loaded car. It has manual windows and seat. It does have working AC, power rear window, and third row seat. No vinyl top. I'm looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly about these cars. They are a one year only body style. Tell me what you know and what you think. The car below is the not the car in question. It is simply for effect.

 

Do you at least have a link to an ad we can look at? These are pretty standard fare for an American-built wagon, and what you should start with is someone who is knowlegeable to do a full inspection, to determine if there is body/frame rust and where, if the front and rear suspensions are in good condition, the condition of the differential and driveshaft, any leaks from the transmission and engine, cooling system, power steering and brakes. Then a thorough look under the hood specifically the condition of the carburetor and fuel delivery, the ignition and the physical condition of the engine and exhaust, the accessories and the overall condition of the electricals.
Bear in mind, this 1970 has standard point-condenser ignition; it REQUIRES servicing every 6000 miles, with points and condenser replaced every other tune-up. It requires test equipment to set the dwell on the points as well as using a timing light on setting timing. If you don't want the headache, swap to a Pertronix Igniter solid-state unit inside the distributor. No more points to deal with. Pretty much, they're fairly easy to keep running, but trim and interior components are disappearing, some now in the Unobtainium range. If you want your wagon to be a daily driver, it should not be a problem keeping it on the road, but restoring it can get very expensive.

 

There are also advantages to having the standard points. For them, you only need a timing light and dwell meter. Nothing more. If I remember correctly, you can even fine tune the dwell, while the car is running. Owning one of these, I don't think he's planning on a quick six thousand mile turnover, if he knows what's best for the car.
Like you say, his biggest worry would be that of scarce trim parts, if they're already shot. If they are, but don't matter to him, that's okay, also.
At genuinely eighty thousand miles, I wouldn't expect rear end troubles. Those are easy to determine, through grabbing both the driveshaft and wheel. Excessive bearing wear can be heard, within the vehicle. If those show up, as problem areas, I would then suspect an odometer turnover.
The carburetors on those were still comparitively uncomplicated and if you just leave them alone, except for routine filter changes, they should stay reliable.
The less amount of options, as previously suggested, the more reliable and lighter is the car

 

Good:
- One-year only model
- 455 Buick engine (the 455 was STANDARD...)
- Plenty of parts interchangability, like glass, suspension, etc.

Bad:
- Very low level of equipment for one of these - 90% or more of them have full power. This would be a deal-breaker for me. Since you flip vehicles often, you might have a bit of difficult time selling this one, specifically because of the manual windows, etc.....

And of course, a lot depends on the price........

 

Best to not post the ad if you don't want someone else else beating you to the sale. In this case, I prefer fewer power options. The fewer power accessories there are, the fewer things there are to go wrong. Definitely wouldn't want power windows. If a 50 year old switch goes bad, you can't even open a window at the drive through or toll booth.

 

Sounds like a fairly solid car. The working A/C would be a bonus.
Low options don't bother me on an old car. No power windows or seats etc... It's an old car, that's the way they came. Plus, that means there are less things that can break or just plain stop working. Just my two cents.

 

To give you a little more history. I found this car and talked to the original owner back in 2009. At that time, I couldn't swing the deal and he sold it to the current owner who was a good friend of his. I had always wondered what happened to the car. Here are some pics of the car in question.

 

Really pretty car. I’m kinda like Orthman. The crank windows and push pull seat doesn’t bother me. I’m sure a really duded up one would have perhaps brought more doe, but, that’s a wonderful car. Great color combo too. BTW you can add a passenger mirror and rally wheels down the road if you want to guzzy it up at some point, but that’s a fine car.

 

This one out in California has more options, but not the third row seat. I thought that was odd. It's also priced considerably higher than the one I'm looking at. It has also been for sale for a while too.

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/1970-buick-estate-wagon/6731128908.html

 

Guess what? Yours has the back seat, so you can really show the grand kids what it like to sit in the “way back”. We used to call my mom the octopus. She could find a way to smack you in the third row seat from the front passenger position.

 

From the photos I say it looks like a great car. It seems very solid, so it should be a great driver. It's also not too nice, so it should make a great driver.

 

Beautiful! Right out of the movie "The Way-Way-Back". Love the styling and the only you are looking at seems very nice!

 

Certainly a nice, and well cared-for wagon. With that 455, would make an exceptional highway cruiser - maybe get some gas shocks for a better ride.

 

Underhood, it has the R134a conversion, and a brand-new voltage regulator; unfortunately, those regulators only come in a mechanical configuration. If you're not too concerned about originality, perhaps doing a 10SI swap (solid-state internal regulator alternator) might be a good choice, because the mechanical regulators are temperature-sensitive, and can change drastically, depending on outside temperature.