Hey there..newbie to this site. I grew up in station wagons from the 60's/70's. My dad wanted my mom to have wagons after she gave up her Impala SS convertible from the early '60s....so she did. And he never let her keep them for very long because he wanted them to remain reliable and not expensive to repair. So from memory we had new: Ford Country Squire...............'67 Chrysler Town & Country.......'69 Two Buick wagons...................'71, '73 The Squire had the 390 I believe...was optioned OK....don't remember much about it other than it would lay a healthy patch of rubber. It was probably some shade of green if my mom chose the color...don't remember...might have been a light blue. The Chrysler was optioned by the man who owned the dealership...it was bought for his wife. She hated it because of the size. Had low miles on it, hadn't been licensed yet, sold as new(because they could do that in those days). It had every conceivable luxury gadget Mopar offered, including the 440...not the 383 with 440 heads. White with a dark interior. I used to race this wagon against other teens who had access to HP....flip the air-cleaner cover upside down and re-bolt it...sounded like a stock racer. I'd make everyone hit about 35mph and then we'd race. Fruitless to try and make that boat race from the line. Get it to about 35mph, then hammer it and it stood a very good chance of winning. I must say that all the 'gadgets' never worked at the same time. I think it had a headliner AC unit for the back passengers. Sentinel Delay system for the headlights, AM/FM stereo with 8-track, speakers in the back I believe with some sort of balance knob/wheel. Spent a lot of time in that beast. Had those amber marker lights on each side of the hood that faced back toward the driver...trippy. You felt like you were driving a HUGE wagon, make no mistake. The Buicks I didn't have a lot of time in and the first one was a beautiful Campaign type color scheme...I think it had the faux wood trim panels. My dad forgot to ever have the car serviced(was a real 'oh sh*t!' moment I remember) and so with 12,000 miles it was sent down the road. The next Buick was a mud colored(just paint, no faux wood panels), actually very unattractive wagon I thought, but loaded. Don't remember the engines in those and I wasn't driving them much at all by then. Mom only had that a yr or two and moved on to Mercedes cars. Thinking about finding an intact, no-rust T&C with a 440 that has a decent tranny....probably '69 or '70. Have to put some serious thought in how to get that 440 to achieve double digit mpg figures. I read that in '70(?) they put some huge subframe bushings in the front suspension to improve ride quality. Chrysler was borrowing concepts from previous Fords and GM's to get in the game. I can do anything but tranny work...but never did a restoration on a wagon. We always got those big color brochures to drool over whenever we bought a car. Sure wished some of those had survived. Half the fun of buying a car(other than the 'new' smell) were those color brochures!
Welcome to the forum, Real1. Glad to have you aboard. Don't be too optimistic about getting good gas mileage out of a T&C - they're just too big and heavy. About the only way you can do some good with one is to spend some $$ and install an A/M fuel injection system. Baring that, remove the 'lean-burn' system these had and the assorted plumbing that went with it could result in some minor gains. Curious about your family's two Buicks. Were they the full-size models with the 'clamshell' tailgate (pictured), or the mid-sized 'Sport Wagon (based on a Skylark frame and body) for '71 (pictured) . Also might have been the new GM intermediate Century for '73 (pictured) '71 Buick Estate Wagon ('72 - '76 big Buicks looked similar) '71 Buick Sport Wagon '73 Buick Century wagon (with A/M wheels) Marshall
Welcome aboard Real1 Sounds like some nice cars from your childhood. Good luck finding your dream car.
Thanks you guys! @Marshall; I just don't remember....looking at different Buick models just confuses me for the most part. The '73 pictured looks the most like the mud-colored second one, as I remember it. Dad never bought anything but full-sized wagons...so you'd have to figure that when looking at yrs of production. The only thing I remember about the second mud-colored Buick wagon was the lack of faux wood panels. The color was awful...looked dirty all the time...almost like a big wheeling turd. That champagne colored one was gorgeous..... probably the best looking wagon we ever had. But I don't remember a lot of 'go', nothing like the 440 T&C. Usually I really studied the engines in our cars, but I'm drawing a complete blank there. But in my defense, that's a very long time ago!! I saw a T&C very muck like the one we had, on youtube...some guy who calls himself theoneownercarguy....I think. The ad was back originally in 2012. Pretty sweet original car...383 with 440 heads he said. I'll never find one loaded like that dealer one we had, but that's OK. Yeah on the 440 T&C...not too concerned about a matching # engine. If that's too hard to find, I'll buy a reman crate one. I was thinking of a good flowing Holley or Edlebrock, vacuum secondary, probably not a performance intake but aluminum. MSD ignition with modern dist. Tweak the timing to get a best-run scenario. Probably not the expense of FI. I'm best with carbs although I work on Bosch FI. I'd review everything in the order of vacuum coming off that stock manifold and carb.....keep only the essential stuff like you said, balance everything front to back. If I got a steady 13mpg without hammering it all the time, I'd be happy. Be a fun challenge on that old big block design. If I had a lot of $$$ to play around, I'd drop a crate 426 in their. She'd move off the line then....lol. I never struggle with mechanical ills, but P&B are my Achilles Heel. I have absolutely no patience or talent for it....and unfortunately, that's where all the restoration money usually goes. Be looking for a car to come from the desert or semi-arid climate like my own. I'll pass on rusty rockers and floor boards. Kevin
Welcome Kevin! Thanks for joining us! I grew up with wagons of about the same generation as you. By the time I was old enough to drive, Dad had an '83 CE. I too drooled over those beautiful color sales brochures lol. Good luck in your search. Smart thinking in avoiding anything with rust.
Why thank you! I had to take my driving test in our County Squire....before we bought the T&C....busy car yr, 1969....dad got into XKE Jags that yr too with a Gunmetal Gray coupe.....lol. Yeah, the rust things scare me to death...way more than even accident damage, or in some case, you get both. Kevin
I guess what absolutely confounds me is the long term memory of Americans, with respect to the American station wagon. Few things we grew up with were more 'American' then our wagons. Millions of kids, pets and gear were transported with safety and aplomb by this invention......and yet little is said, written or remembered about them. It's almost as if they were some scourge that many would like to forget. I searched for at least a half hr for this forum and was appalled they weren't more sites devoted to wagons. Muscle cars from the same era get all the accolades, but there were a LOT more families who had wagons than rocket sleds. Demonized I guess, by their poor fuel economy and propensity to rust....it just seems unfair to me that muscle & luxury cars from the same era, didn't fall heir to the same fate. Station wagon from their inception were utilitarian, while luxury cars were a sign of wealth and pretenses. My family had both, but what I remember most were the wagons and certainly my fondest memories were growing up in wagons. Kevin
