1973 Buick Estate Wagon from The Netherlands

Hi
I’m Stefan, 28 years old, from the Netherlands. Since a couple of weeks I’m the lucky owner of a 1973 Buick Estate Wagon. I also own a 1977 Chevy K5 Blazer. I just love big ol’ american cars, there strong, stylish and got tonnes of space in them. Although I’m not a big guy, I don’t like to be cramped in those tiny useless one in a dozen cars they make today. Nowadays it seems they have no sense of style, have impractical use of space and got no cruisability

I was searching for a early 70’s GM wagon for a couple of years, so I was very lucky to find this fine Buick. I can’t imagine to find a better wagon than this, very luxurious and it got the most options I want. 3-seat, luggage carrier, power tailgate, windows and locks, AC (is disconnected), 8 track AM/FM radio (need to find a cassette to test if its working), luxury interior (Manchester Cloth), 60/40 notchback seat, 3 spoke wheel. Options I miss although no big deal: woodgrain, cruise controle, tilt wheel, courtesy and cornering lights.

The wagon is in really good shape for its age, of course its have some issues. The weatherstripping is in bad shape (I’ve ordered new weatherstripping for front and rear doors, but those clamshell rubbers seems impossible to find :banghead3 its leaking so there is rust in the floorpans which need to be fixed. There was also some rust on the front end of the hood which |’ve got fixed and repainted. The luggage carrier was loose, leaking with a bit of rust on the roof, so got that fixed also. Of course there are more minor rust issues, although nothing really bad. I hope there is nothing hiding beneath those moldings The interior feels like brand new, everything seems factory except the carpet. Technical the car is fine, it runs smooth although the quadrate carb needs to be rebuild in the future. With heavy acceleration the car stalls with lots of smoke coming out of the exhaust. I’ve inspected the carb and the secondaries don’t open and close smooth, it feels there is some friction. The spring which closes the secondaries is also missing/broken. I’ve ordered a rebuild Rochester quadrajet from rockauto so I have a temporary fix.

I don’t know a lot about its history. What I do know is that it’s was delivered from the Kansas City plant to the Nance Buick dealer in El Paso, TX. It’s exported to Belgium from Bethesda, Maryland by a guy named Gary Himelfarb aka Doctor Dread. It’s owned by at least two owners in Belgium and was than exported to the Netherlands, where it’s owned by two other owners. The third owner, a car dealer bought it and sold it to me. It seems it has been partly restored at least once in its lifetime and repainted with a beautiful but non-factory color, it was brown originally. I hope to do a full frame-off restoration in the future so I can drive it for the rest of my live, at least that’s the plan.

 

Hi Stefan, congrats on that beautiful wagon, I know just what you mean. Looks like we can start a clamshell club in Holland there are some guys on the forum here now .
If you need weatherstripping you can try Caseysdiscount.

 

Welcome. nice car!!!

 

Welcome to the madness Stefan! How do all these beautiful wagons keep slipping out of the country,lol!? :confused: and

for opening thread rating!

 

Welcome FreeBird Steve! Great looking wagon!

 

Welcome to the forum Sefan! Beautiful wagon and great intro!

 

Welcome Freebird Steve! BEAUTIFUL clamshell wagon!!

 

Welcome to the Nuthouse we call home, Stefan. Great introduction! Also, great pictures of the wagon. That colour may not be stock but it sure looks great on that car! If that is a vinyl top, not paint, I would give serious thought to removing it, and painting the roof, either to match the lower or in the contrasting colour. Vinyl tops are nothing but rust traps in my experience.

There are some things you can do down the line to improve the fuel economy significantly in that great car. That way you can afford to drive her like she was meant to be driven.

Have fun around here. If you have questions, be sure to ask. Someone will have an answer. Actually, many will, and some of the information you get will even be right!

Cheers,
Michael.

 

WOW man super clean wagon congratulations.

 

Welcome, Stefan! Thanks for showing us your beautiful Buick Estate Wagon.
Love the beautiful houndstooth fabric seats! I've never seen this interior choice, and it is incredible! Love the saddle tan color. This wagon is almost perfectly ordered with all power options and stereo. You are very fortunate to have found this wonderful Buick! It's condition is unbelievable!

More pictures, please!

David

 

nice intro and beautiful wagon Steve !!!

to the joint

 

Thanks you all for the warm welcome and compliments.

I've just received my goodies from rockauto, a rebuild Rochester quadrajet carb for my 455, new front and rear door weatherstripping, wiper blades, interior light bulbs etc. Super fast delivery. I hope I gain some power and beter fuel economy from the new carb. I'm not as technical as a lot of guys on the forum (but I'm willing to learn) so I get some help from a more experienced guy.

I'm also busy restoring the plastic hubcaps from the wire wheel covers. They were faded a lot, so I'm stripping the rest of the remaining paint, polish and repaint them. I hope it all goes well. I post some pics of it when I've finished them.

@Fullsizelover
Thanks for the tip, I've already bought new weatherstripping from rockauto, its a lot cheaper also, front and rear cost me €85 + €28 shipping instead of €224 from caseysdiscount. Shipping only takes 5-6 days from the States.

@MikeT1961
Thanks for your advice Michael. I don't have a vinyl top, so no worries for me. If you have any tips about improving fuel economy... the gas prices are outrageous here.

@wixom61
Hi David, I'm indeed very fortunate to have found this Buick. The dealer who sold it to me, poorly advertized it for a month or two, nobody showed any interest because nobody knew that he had this beautiful Buick Estate Wagon for sale. I was lucky to stumble upon it while reading some ads on the internet.

I love the interior too, it was apparantly the most luxurious interior available on the '73 Estate Wagon. I'll take more pics of it when I have some time.

 

There are a couple things that will really help fuel economy on this old car. You have the first step right with the new carburetor. When you put it on, be sure to adjust it correctly. Too many people run the carburetors rich, and that kills economy. They seem to think that using the air fuel adjustment is the way to set the idle speed. Get the idle as fast as you possibly can using the mixture screws, then turn the idle down using the adjustment screw that is part of the throttle linkage. My 78 Buick with a 5.7 litre Buick engine managed 9 litres per 100 km on the highway, and that is pretty good for a completely stock car.

The next upgrade is to get a good dual exhaust system on there. The single is going to choke the engine. For a Buick 455, you are probably wanting a 2 1/2 inch system, and be sure to use an X type cross over. With good, high flowing mufflers, you should be able to drop the consumption another litre per 100 km. If you use the car on the highway much, the best thing is to get a heavy duty 700R4 overdrive automatic transmission. That will likely be a fairly expensive upgrade. The alternative to that is to go with an external overdrive unit. With that, though, you will have to shorten the drive shaft. In the U.S., Gearvendors makes a good over drive, and it sells for about $2,000. There may be a similar unit available from one of the European transmission manufacturers, such as ZF. The make external overdrives, but I don't know if they would be able to handle the torque of your Buick. Volvo used them for years, first on the 4 speed manual transmissions that had overdrive, and then later on the 3 speed automatic in the old 240s. They seem to be very durable, but it is the question of torque. Maybe talk with a transmission shop there and see if they have ideas.

 

To improve MPG, here is my personal plan for the next 3 years:
-long tube headers with dual exhaust and x-flow
-in 2016 when car is road tax free for 40-year old vehicle, go for LPG and do complete engine overhaul with hydraulic roller cam for custom torque grind, ported C-heads and new intake
-200R4 swap for BOP pattern, planning to get this from the US for around $2000 with TV cable and lock-up converter

 

Welcome Stefan!

Absolutely stunning Buick Wagon!

Love the colour too!

Enjoy.