A seeming lack of places just for wagons to meet up.

Just a thought, but, it seems to me like there are hardly ever any wagon meetups, I've never seen one around here, most of the meetups are either the old farts in the PT cruisers, or the punks in the Honda's that sound like someone replaced the muffler with a can of Maxwell house.

Never any specific wagon meetups though, albeit, if you did manage to herd a bunch of wagons into one place, it would have to be a VERY big parking lot, as we would all probably be double parked so people have room to walk around the car.

Anyone know of any events like this that happen in Southwestern Virginia? Or somewhere close? I'd love to see things first hand people have done to other wagons, pictures don't do justice.

Side note, considering 90+% of the wagons that are popular run V8's, I'd imagine the neighbors of whatever parking lot we overtook wouldn't like it that much. 800 cylinders, 50,000 pounds, Jesus, is that a tank coming? Nope! Convoy of wagons!

 

Do like we do here in La Floriduuh. Just go to regular cruise ins with a bit of everything. I like it when our wagon is one of---one or two. I can find it after I stuff my belly full of tacos or whatever parking lot we are using.

 

Sounds about right to me. In addition to my wagon, I have a convertible. You really don't see shows for convertibles either. So take your wagon to cruise ins and shows for all kinds of cars, or to shows for the make of your wagon (Oldsmobile in your case). Do you have any Oldsmobile clubs in your area? The last time the local Oldsmobile club showed up at the local cruise in that I attend in Manassas, Virginia, there were at least a couple Olds wagons mixed in with the other Olds that showed up.

 

The wagons really do stand out at most car shows. Something different. You see a lot of families looking. Another place they are in considerable number is the vintage trailer gatherings. Many are used as tow vehicles so although the trailers are the queens on display, when there is a wagon or suburban or vintage truck as part of the set up they both really stand apart.

 

Yeah I've seen more vintage wagons towing things than I have seen vintage wagons being towed. Just goes to show, some cars can be a toy and a workhorse.

Anyway, didn't figure that there was anything like that around here.


There use to be a car meetup at a strip mall on the northwestern side of town but that strip mall si now a Lowes, and lowes does not want its parking lot filled on summer Saturday evenings with everything from T buckets to some god awful "Fast and Furious" cereal box looking Honda. Supposedly it happens downtown now, but I haven't a clue where, and I've been looking for about four years.

I have annoyed a few JDM cruise ins with my old beat up wagon, they are never amused by that. Especially when a lot of people think my $250 exhaust system sounds better than most of the thousand dollar maxwell house cans those JDM's are running. Somehow dents, rust, and a strangely healthy sounding motor gets more attention than a shiny showroom 300 horse lawnmower that could run circles around my wagon.



Anyway, if you don't mind, a rambling is about to happen, so if you don't want to hear about the state of my car, and loose plans to fix it, stop reading here.

My wagon it's self isn't anything to be shown off, passengers side quarter met a light pole last year when I hit black ice in a parking lot, front passenger fender met a deer when my father was driving the car about three years ago. Spare tire pan has got rust, rear drivers side door has got a dent in it, rear bumper is caved in from a ford ranger. Front bumper is skewed into a position that seems to make the car appear to be snarling for reasons unknown. There is a butt shaped dent in my hood where some mall rat sat on it while my brother was using it as a daily driver to and from a theater he use to work at. The plastic grill is starting to bubble in the center where the fake chrome is coming off. Oh and don't even get me started on the interior.

The shortlist is this, swap bumpers, interior, glass, tailgate, and front wheels (already snatched the back ones, and tail lights) from the 1989 Olds Custom Cruiser (parts car), finish stripping down the parts car, try to sell the still good 307 and trans. Store leftover parts (Hood, header panel, headlight trim, grill, fender d-side, and a few other things. Also, cut out spare tire pan and remove differential if it's a posi, my wagon does not have a posi, but the '89 MAY have it, as GM was trying to use up all available parts to end that body style, it's pretty much loaded.

Before installing rear interior into '86, remove rear windows, roof rack, and cut out rusted spare tire pan, replace with one from '89, while filling in rear windows with sheet metal, panel wagon conversion. No interior means easy welding, and I do not want the near catastrophy that almost happened to my friends half USDM half JDM S13 240SX / Silvia he built years back. Evidently the insulation in cars (at least Japanese cars) is HIGHLY flammable. . Fortunately, he thought fast and dumped his bottle of water on it, stuff went up like you would not believe.

Swap bumpers, get '83 header panel, grill, and if needed headlight trim from junkyard, as it has the style of "The Stickman's" wagon, which I did not even know was on wagons until I saw his wagon... And shortly thereafter, stumbled upon the '83 up to it's mirrors in weeds at the junkyard near here. Fun fact, the '83 is the stark opposite of the '89, it has NO options, no power seats, no power windows, no power anything except the rear window, even has vinyl seats, what the Caprice happened too it? I have never seen a custom cruiser equipped like that! Not that I'm saying Chevy's where inferior, no way I'd say that, they're the same car with a different body, it's just that Oldsmobile's had the most fittings usually. I felt I had to clarify this as I have made it clear I am an Oldsmobile guy . Don't get me wrong though, I love B bodies, and if I ever had money for a shiny new Cadillac, I'd have about six mint B bodies, yacht club anyone?

Will also be swapping all power options from the '89 to the '86, mirrors, moving seat controls to door, as I will be using the '89 door panels, and they are on the doors in it unlike the '86, where they are on the seat. May add the auto dimming mirror if it works. Rear window defroster will be a welcomed addition. I am tired of scraping that blasted window. Not as bad as the one on the '92 Camaro's we've got, but, still.

Once all four Olds wheels are on the car (I have caddy 15x8's on the front, long story, but they don't fit olds hubcaps.), put good ole stainless 70 something hubcaps back on the car.

Somewhere along this line, I will be installing four new speakers, and a basic head unit, nothing fancy, but nothing garbage, probably a Pioneer running Kickers, 3.5's dash, 4x10's back, maybe a infinity basslink subwoofer. I've heard they are good for fill, and that is all I want. I am not the twenty three year old you will see wearing baggy pants blasting music which is entirely bass. I am a metalhead, and no I do not wear band shirts either, I actually dress like an old person. Cargo pants with a tucked T shirt, which confuses people further, seeing me drive that beat up wagon, playing something like Iced Earth.

I will also be removing most of the chrome trim, leaving only the wheel well trim, and window trim. There will be no rocker trim, I don't really like the rocker trim that much, it's impossible to keep clean, and there is enough dirt behind it to cover ten cars. That and several pieces are loose, and one has fallen off.

Lastly, when I have money to have it done right, repaint it tan, no clearcoat, no nonsense, just a acrylic based paint, that way if I, for some reason, let the paint go, I can just buff it out.

I have no intent to put flashy "Rims" on this wagon, or anything stupid, I do plan to swap the motor whenever the 307 dies, trans if I have too, rather rebuild it if it mates to a 350, motor will be a 350 Olds when the 307 dies. I may put disc brakes on the back end at some point, not for performance, as some seem to believe red calipers add ten horsepower. Just for the sake of something along the lines of "To hell with these brakes, for they come from antiquity with great vigilance and a truly demonic force called rust, they will not relent in their goal to become one with the automobile!". Actually, that's getting added to my signature now.

 

Dead Recon: Back in the 80s, EVERYTHING was an extra cost option on the base Oldsmobile Delta 88, and hence the Custom Cruiser. When I ordered my 84 Delta 88 2 door, they wanted $125 for an AM radio. I'm sure mine was the only Delta ordered in 84 with no air, no radio, no power widows, locks, etc., no cruise, no delay wipers, black wall tires (white walls were an extra $80, because the dealer wanted me to pay that much more when the thing was delivered with white walls). I did have the light package, comfort/convenience package, heavy duty cooling package, and handling package, all so I could get the gauge package. I did have a driver's side remote mirror, but the passenger side (extra cost of course) was not remote. Had to reach across the car to adjust it! Beautiful looking car, but it should have been bright yellow. Lemon yellow to be precise.

You don't need to change the header panel for your plans with the wagon. They all used the same header, I believe, from 80 up. Just the grill and trim was different. Sounds like you are going to have real fun with that wagon. Make sure you keep us up to date with the progress.

 

I'd say organize a cruise yourself, just make sure you have all the local legal requirements and insurance taken care of because as the organizer you can be sued if anything bad happens big-time, it isn't like the old days.
Wagons are the proverbial red-headed stepchildren of the automotive cruise-in world and the majority of people at cruises could care less about them... I know.
I've been showing cars for over thirty years and have never been as lonely at shows as I was when I showed my former Vista Cruiser, and it was a fully restored show quality car, and that includes the regional Oldsmobile club show.
I've been hearing "Wagons are really getting popular" for over thirty years too and have yet to see any real evidence of it.
The vast majority of people who really care about wagons are former or present wagon owners or their kids for nostalgia reasons, most people just want to look at shiny musclecars at shows.

 

I'd be the latter group, I remember bouncing around in the back of my fathers '78 Ford LTD II wagon, surprised my siblings and I did not drive him insane. The '86 Custom Cruiser was his next buy in 1995, and he almost bought an '83 Olds Custom Cruiser instead of the Ford, which was a flower car for a funeral home. It was black on black, tinted windows, and it had hauled a few dead people as a backup hearse, evidently. My parents had not yet separated and my father knew that my mother would not be at all amused by having what was, for all intensive purposes, a hearse in the driveway. We had a '79 Caprice for a short while before my father found the Olds we have now. My father wishes he'd have kept that car, 'cause shortly after we got the wagon the Cutlass we had bit the dust.

Oh, as for the header panel, this is the panel of an early 80's wagon:



Notice the split in the middle versus the grill on my wagon? It also seems to have more of a rolled lip for some reason. Mostly you only saw these header panels on sedans. The difference is subliminal, sure, but I like this style a lot more, and as BlueVista said, people don't pay much attention to wagons. 'Cept when they are as loud as mine, then they just sort of give me this "You damn punk!" look. Ironically, my father is the one that put the exhaust on the car, and he's gonna be 61 come the 24th.

Also, that header panel, passengers side fender, and hood are not original to the car. Back around 2000 my father was run into by an old man in a 80's Delta 88 in the wal-mart parking lot, old guy was going the wrong way.

Interesting story about that, my father was looking at a light blue custom cruiser with wood grain, the car the parts came off of, you can still see the light blue if you look back in the header panel. But the passengers side was badly damaged on the doors and quarter. Shame though, 'cause it was much nicer than the '86, and much more equipped than our wagon. We had a freshly rebuilt motor and trans, and a wrecked car, though the radiator support was not damaged. I wish he would've yanked the dark blue interior, it was like new, and though the one in our '86 was in nice shape, I think a tan (Almost white) custom cruiser with a dark blue interior would look good. Better than tan on tan anyway.

 

Once my Bonneville Safari actually gets here, I think it would be cool to have a little cruise with some of the other Oregon wagon nuts - Jarius, TopherS, Col over on the coast and others. Maybe we'll plan something for the spring.

 

Might take a while for Krash to get there, so the rest of you guys might not want to wait up for him. How many miles per day is your wagon averaging these days Krash?

(And just to spoil Krash's come back to that comment, I already know he would then remind me how I bought my wagon in Massachusettes two years ago and have still not seen it in person.)

 

You've got Steve -E.D. (?spelling of avatar is incorrect?) nearby as well don't you? Vancouver, WA area?

 

You're right! Didn't realize he was in Vancouver....

 

I think that's where he is at. He'll let us know I'm sure.

 

2009 WagonFest NY


WagonFest.... A guy named Fred that sold used '91-'96 GM B body wagons started the tradition back in '05 in Geneva/Waterloo, New York. Yes WagonFest is specifically aim towards the 1991-1996 B body GMs, but that could/has changed a little bit in the last year. And while the original WF is in NY, there are now a few around the country. Daytona Beach, Fla., New England WF (New Hampshire?), Front Royal, Va., Flint, MI., Seattle,WA., and some where in Georgia. I don't know if and when these are happening, other than the NY Fest, last Saturday in July. There is no reason any of us can't put a wagon "show" together. Just rent a shelter in a state park, and have a "family" picnic.

Here's a link to past events.

http://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t358-wf09-pix-vids

http://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t1493-pictures-of-each-wagon

http://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t3339-wagonfest-fl-2011-pics-and-video

http://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t4445-wagonfest-mid-atlantic

http://gmlongroof.4umer.com/f35-wagonfest-2012

Mike

 

I think you'll find the actual header panel is the same, and that chrome between the grill halves is an overlay. The grill on your newer wagon sits proud of the header where the earlier ones were slightly inset. Different look at very little cost to the design/engineering departments. Also, by changing the grill but not the header, they avoided having to re-crash test the vehicle. Had they changed the header, it would have meant re-certifying the car for crash survivability, as that split provides some structural support to the top of the header panel. One thin is for sure, the shape of the header is the same, so even if there is a slight difference, it can be changed in its entirety. The other reason I suspect the headers are the same is the 1985 model year Delta 88 Royale Brougham LS. It was the first of the Deltas to use this grill, which had previously been used on the 82/83 Nighty-Eight Regency sedans. G.M. would not have had 2 different header panels for the Delta 88 sedan. It would not have been cost effective, and in that era, cost effective was the entire name of the game. Cost control was so strictly enforced that the President of G.M. was heard to boast that it only cost $250 per car more to build a Cadillac compared to the equivalent Chev. Don't forget, trim can make a giant difference to the appearance of a part, including the profile, and G.M. sylists were great at using trim to make subtle differences between the years.