If you have followed my previous adventures, my last deal was trading my lifted crown vic for a V8 swapped AMC eagle wagon. While the AMC is definitely rad and very unique, I have found myself yearning to go back to something large, body on frame, and practical for daily driving/errand running. Plus neither the crown vic or the AMC had air conditioning, and as I get older I'm starting to find that very irritating. So with those points in mind, I started shopping around.
I have owned about 7 panther platform cars over the past couple of years, and have done just about everything with them. Rallycross, lift and gambler 500/offroad use, daily driver, you name it. So, I wanted to try out a new platform. I wanted to get something that I could build into a light offroader/overland vehicle, and at this year's Detroit Gambler 500 I saw a lifted buick roadmaster wagon and knew that was the answer to my dillema. I didnt know much about them at the time, so I started doing some research.
What I discovered was pretty cool. Get a '94-96 and you get the LT1 that makes pretty solid power. You can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood in the back with the 2nd row seats folded down. Wagons are cool. GM 8.5" 10 bolt rear diff has lots of gear/posi choices. The donk scene makes 5" lift springs for them. There have been a few people around that have lifted them and used them offroad, so there is a bit of a knowledge base there.
So with those points in mind I was chatting with a co-worker one day, and he mentioned that he had a friend with a 1994 caprice wagon that he was looking to sell. The deal/timing was right, and I wound up coming home with Ol' Blue:
Ol' Blue is in pretty good shape for having been a daily driven Michigan car for the last 13 years. It was owned by an older gentleman, and maintained with an open checkbook. The stack of receipts is quite impressive. It has a leather interior from another caprice swapped in, along with newer carpets from that same car. There are a few spots of rust here and there, but overall the car is remarkably clean. It has around 200k miles on it, I need to verify but the digital part of the cluster is currently MIA (sounds like I need to do a little bit of saudering on the back of the board to get it back). Otherwise, I need to adjust the latch mechanism in the tailgate to get the rear glass to latch, and thats about it.
Unfortunately it is not a tow package car, so I may add a bigger trans/oil cooler over time. I'm also currenly on the hunt for a hitch for it. It also has the 2.56 rear end with an open differential.
The plan is to do the 5" lift springs on it along with the bilstein shocks up front and the factory air shocks in the rear with a manual air pressure adjustment to help out with the lift. Tires will be 31x10.5R15's on 15x8 D slot steel wheels. With that in mind, I'm planning on re-gearing to a 4.10 with a limited slip differential. If anyone has a GM 8.5 10 bolt rear center section with 30 spline side gears with a limited slip please let me know. Also on the hunt for the 4.10 gears.
This is my source of inspiration: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/Kdpb1MGy/1995-buick-roadmaster-estate-wagon