my new to me 95 wagon thread.....

time has come to start a thread on this 95 wagon i just got home yesterday....

Back in June 2011 when my GMC Caballero was written off by an impatient Volvo driver I started searching Craig's list and kijiji for a suitable replacement. back then I spotted this beat up sun bleached 95 caprice wagon with some front end damage on the passenger side.priced a bit to high at the time and I lacked the free time to travel down there. I ended up up buying a 1967 Dodge Polara. it was a bit different with the sluggish slant 6, and no power options at all. I got me through the summer and was fun to take to shows and such... I soon forgot about that wagon in Georgia.

Then on the 18th of December 2011 as some of you already know I was t boned then rolled over two times, so I lost my beloved 1991 Buick Roadmaster Estate, the peanut butter sandwich. While I was laid up and doing my physio therapy I got to spend a lot of time searching the net for my replacement wagon. I found a buyer and quickly sold the old dodge polara that gave me the cash to seriously look at a replacement wagon. I asked Texas Mike and Sprocket to keep their eyes out for something suitable. At about the same time Robert Posted a CL find of that same wagon from southern Georgia that I had considered some six months earlier, this time the price had dropped some but still was more than it was worth in that condition. I gave Robert a call and asked him to go take a good look at it and bring his camera since the cl pics were small and did not show well, in fact from the original cl pictures I thought the wagon was blue. Robert did go out and looked at it and took many pictures for me. the owner wasn't around that day but from the pictures I could tell the right front frame horn was bent a bit. I asked Robert to return and make her a low ball offer, he did and she accepted the low offer.

Once Robert got the wagon back to his place I asked him to take some close up pictures and some measurements of the front frame horns, he did and he even removed the the front bumper to take better pictures and measurements of the damage. The frame was indeed bent so Robert brought in an aquaintance of his who pulls frames for a living to come looke the wagon over. Like me he felt the wagon should be put on the frame jig and pulled straight. We agreed on a price and since there was no time constraints the guy could use take his time and pull it when he was slow.

It turned out that the right front frame horn was actually bent up a full 6+ inches but Robert's guy was able to make it right, while staying within budget. The hood and passenger front fender were still hurt but both not really worth the effort to try to fix right. Sprocked offered up the hood from jade since jade was getting that glass hood. Stingroo offered me his slightly damaged front passenger fender and inner fender.

After Robert got the wagon back from the frame shop he bagan to clean up and detail the paint for me. he tried to work out the wrinkles on the front bumper cover . I got him to concentrate his efforts on a new cover instead, for the price of a new cover it wasn't worth his effort even if it was a good test bed and practice for him. (just don't use cheap primers)

the whole time this is happening, being stuck at home with nothing to do other than to heal and get stronger again left me with a lot of idle time on my hands....

I cleaned up a good pair of caprice tail lights then started the Pontiac mods, periodically Robert would get a package in the mail with new parts to put on the wagon. I made the custom grill with part of an Impala SS grille and one taken from a 95 Bonneville. With Bewber's help I got a full set of Pontiac period correct lettering.

By the time I arrived in Daytona the one of one 1995 Pontiac Parisienne Safari was born. I'm not sold on the overall look of this yet, but I will tell you that it got a lot of attention. A lot of people are scratching their heads over it, but then that's why I do the things i do to cars.....

Pictures will start to arrive in the next few days






Oh yeah before I forget Never trust Mr Stringroo's advice on a nice clean inexpensive hotel in Jacksonville....First clue was when the desk clerk said "you want this room for the night!?" Poor Ray will never live this one down, he could have had a fun night for the cost of a few value menu items...

Nice write up Pat and glad you are finally home.

Enjoyed reading that and will look forward to the continued updates.

Sure hope you're healing up well and glad you made it home ok. It's a neat car, glad it was saved!

-Mike

Glad you finally made it home. I the Pontiac emblems and grille! You need some nice honeycomb wheels now.

I know you'll keep us posted on the build. Looking forward to it!

Glad you started a thread on this beauty! Eager to see some interior pics!

Chris

The interior touches do need to be shown. I forgot to take any...

Lets see the interior. I want to see how the wagon I passed up buying for parts looks now. I posted the Craigslist add about a month and half before Robert did.

I've gotta say, this is definitely a cool concept! great execution too! (although the grille looks a little odd at first IMO)

looks like a chevy,.
i think it might be a phaque,.

needs a set of these

Diggit! Nice work!

Oh man, very slick touches on the interior Pat! Love it I vote Honeycomb wheels!

Chris

my dad might even have some of those pontiac rims in 5x5 i'll have to check.

brokecello wrote:

Oh man, very slick touches on the interior Pat! Love it I vote Honeycomb wheels!

Chris

how about something really cool and different,. these painted dggm,.white wall tires


or these would work well with dggm,.

Oh, I forgot about those...I like that idea...

18x9 bit pricey tho........

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Snowflake-Wheels-WS6-TA-SE-Gold-18x9-Burt-Reynolds-Y84-/310203236852?hash=item48398dc1f4&item=310203236852&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

phantom 309 wrote:

looks like a chevy,.
i think it might be a phaque,.

needs a set of these

I'm on the hunt for a set of these

1993 Roady-man wrote:

18x9 bit pricey tho........

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Snowflake-Wheels-WS6-TA-SE-Gold-18x9-Burt-Reynolds-Y84-/310203236852?hash=item48398dc1f4&item=310203236852&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

they don't come in 5 on 5 bolt pattern

phantom 309 wrote:

brokecello wrote:

Oh man, very slick touches on the interior Pat! Love it I vote Honeycomb wheels!

Chris

how about something really cool and different,. these painted dggm,.white wall tires


or these would work well with dggm,.

thankfully they never came in 5 on 5 bolt pattern

being that they are aftermarket I bet they could easily make them 5 on 5. A bit pricey tho....

Big bolt pattern Rally II's are out there! They also made large bolt pattern snowflake wheels for 70's Grand Prix's. Both would look good!

Love the dash and steering wheel. Very cool!

That is a very well executed wagon - Awesome job

Hey! My wagon's in the last shot.


Damn it. Warming up to red interior....

Nice solid car Pat! Glad you saved it!

here is a photo shopped picture of what my wagon might look like with some old sckool rims, tried to make em body colour but its a few shades off, and of course it would have wide whites

So dog dish with body color steelies?

I always enjoy your projects Pat. Nice touches.

I like the dog dish steelies, but it would need white walls, or the red striped one's might help it.

[quote="buickestate"]here is a photo shopped picture of what my wagon might look like with some old sckool rims, tried to make em body colour but its a few shades off, and of course it would have wide whites

Photoshop in some Rally II's

[quote="buickestate"]

I love touches like this.

While we're all throwing out suggestions for wheels. Why not the Astro/Safari wheels color keyed to the car or in an offsetting pewter or gold. Not the 5star but the snow flake type

Good choice if he can't if the rallye's

I don't like truck or van rims.

I told him he shoulda carved a nice, neat hole in the hood & raised the home plate to stick up & out of it.
Then, one nice, big, flaming-bird Trans-Am decal on the shaker hood.
Loud, gaudy, badassery at its finest.

jimbeau wrote:

I told him he shoulda carved a nice, neat hole in the hood & raised the home plate to stick up & out of it.
Then, one nice, big, flaming-bird Trans-Am decal on the shaker hood.
Loud, gaudy, badassery at its finest.

probably better off for guys stuck in the 80's,. oh wait,..er Pat IS stuck in the 80's,.

Nick

Good ideal Jim and pat I only found one big bolt pattern rim today. My dad said I was lucky to find that, cause he thought he sold all of them.

I'm stuck in the 70's or anything further back.

jimbeau wrote:

I'm in my 70's!

we know Jim, we know.

hold on to that rim Jarrod!

I love the shaker plate idea! LOL!

So do I. LOL

jimbeau wrote:

I'm stuck in the 70's or anything further back.

1870's tho,. right?

HA! Tim, if those don't SCREAM "90's Pontiac", then no rims do!

Nice find.

oh gawd nooooo!

Those would look good on my Olds, but I like the impys on there now. great price though, I can't find a set of rims like that in 5x5 anywhere in South FL.

Well it's now officially a new Canadian wagon, plated and registered in Ontario!

breezed through the etest with the two new cats, it needed an idler arm, inner tie rod, control arm, then an allignment , rear brakes, one flex line and it passed the safety check too.
they also cleaned up the EGR and that seems to have cleared up the stumbling.

the new high flow cats don't seem to have hindered the performance any, it still launches nice and moves out!

One happy but broke cheviac owner.....

Did these 'high flow' cats have to be welded into the stock cat pipes?

the stock cat pipes had been butchered when the original cats were removed, my guy just removed the butchered sections and put in my new cats, so it has high flow cats in the stock locations.

Congrats Pat! Glad its official now! I hope you can come to NY..Id love to see it!

Chris