We purchased our 1994 wagon way back in 1999; we were the second owners, and purchased it from a dealership where it had been traded in with only 27,000 miles on it. The car looked like it was still brand new, even though it was 5 years old. It was driven daily and has been used for all of our family vacations for many years. The car easily accommodated two adults, two children in car seats, all our luggage and a Golden Retriever for the 900 mile trip to the north east to visit our families each summer. We figure that we have made at least 15 trips to the northeast in the car, 3 trips to Ft. Lauderdale and 5 trips to Daytona to visit family. Additional trips include two Tybee Island vacations, a trip to Disney, and countless other shorter family jaunts, not to mention numerous turns driving the soccer car pool.
In 2001 I found a 1978 Chrysler Conqueror ski boat for sale in NY in really great shape, so we combined our annual visit to the relatives and buying a boat into a single trip. We purchased the boat and towed it the 900 miles back to Georgia. The car hauled the boat with ease, and plenty of power; the engine never ran hot the whole trip, even at highway speeds in hilly Virginia. My wife, who had never towed anything that big or heavy felt comfortable driving the car when it was her turn behind the wheel. Many summers were spent towing that same boat to Lake Lanier, so we could have fun as a family out on the lake. The car always pulled the boat out of the water no problem even on the wettest, steepest, of ramps.
I also used the wagon to haul our 2 dirt bikes around, going to various riding places and races in northern Georgia, and Alabama. That certainly took a toll on an interior that was already starting to look a bit ragged from years of daily use and what two kids and a big dog put it through. The leather seats still have no tears, but the carpet needs a serious cleaning every other year, and I replaced the headliner a few years back. We have spent a small fortune on double sided tape, but we can say that our car retains all its original black rubber moldings! We did have one sail panel sail away on the return from our Disney Vacation. What fun it was finding a replacement before I discovered the wagon forums and more cars started becoming available in salvage yards.
Our Buick has a few other towing accomplishments to her credit. In 2008 after an extensive search I found a convertible for my wife, unfortunately it's location was Springfield, Vermont. Have I mentioned that we live in Georgia. No we didn't trailer it all the way back, but we did rent a car trailer and haul it to my in-laws just outside of Albany, NY where I had a car hauler transport it back to Georgia. Oh, and just two summers ago we pulled an enclosed U-Haul from NY back to GA with an assortment of goodies I unearthed at my parent's house.
We also use the wagon to get our Christmas tree every winter and tie it to the roof Christmas Vacation style. Regardless of the size of the tree the car could always easily accommodate it although I'm pretty sure that none of our trees were quite as large as Chevy Chase's. Typically the tree is pulled in the trailer for the ride to the drop off station for recycling. This helps to keep pine needles out of the car.
I've made a few modifications to the car. The polished Impala SS rims, Swiss cheese airbox with drop in K & N filter, 1st base and home plate delete, tinted windows, blacked out pillars, Pypes X pipe, Thrush Turbo mufflers, and a 2.5 inch over the axle pipes with resonator delete, a 9c1 anti sway bar with Energy Suspension poly bushings are my current contributions to individualizing the vehicle. Future mods will most likely include mechanical fan delete, as the boat is going up for sale, and eliminating what's left of the factory air intake system
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Thu Jun 30, 2016 11:40 pm
