October Car Of The Month

Sorry it's a day early, but I'll be in NY with school all day tomorrow so I figure i'll post this now before I forget.

So my B-body story isnt very long but here goes.

It started a few years ago when I first began my car hunt at 16 or so, I mentioned how I always liked the 91-96 Caprices and tried to get one as my first car, but my mother (bless her) decided at 16, a new driver plus a RWD car in winter would probably mean a trip to the body shop-for both myself and the car. So we settled on a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am GT. Had 120k on the clock when I got it but ran like a champ. Never had to replace a thing on that car. Loved it so much. It lasted two years until two days before Christmas of 2005 when I hit a car when I lost control coming down an off ramp.

Right after the holidays I needed to find another car because between my senior year of HS and working two jobs my parents couldn’t drive me around every day, plus, that’s just not cool. So I started to browse Autotrader and the local classifieds when I found a Chevy Lumina. Looked like a decent car. Went out to look at it, but it was a junk heap so I passed, but I liked the car, it was pretty powerful-had the same 3100 as my Grand (sl)Am, and it was comfortable so we kept looking at Luminas. We finally found one down in CT. Picked it up and brought it home:

Besides my B-body, I think my lumina, by far is my favoirte car. It wasn’t overly exciting, I mean, it’s a Lumina. But I have a lot of great memories in and of that car. Took my friends and I on some great adventures. Not to mention it was a tank. It was T-boned once by an SUV whos driver had a hard time comprehending “left lane must turn left” and still kept on trucking. In 135k on the clock, the only thing I ever put into that car was a $25 waterpump. Everything else was regular maintinance. Such a great car. The only reason I got rid of it was when I was 19 I got a full time, well paying job and was foolish enough to say I wanted a “newer” car.

So That brings me to my VW. Traded the Lumina in on my 2003 VW Jetta with a 1.8 Turbo engine. From the time I laid a strip of rubber coming out of 2nd on the test drive, I knew I liked it. And while overall my VW has been a great car it hasn’t been as troublefree as my Lumina I’ve had to put some work into it, thankfully all of it except the last job was under warranty. But like my two cars before it, it has some great stories to tell (if you ever meet my friends, ask them about the sunroof ) and is still a blast to drive and will be sad to see it finally go.


Now to the real reason for this story. My B-body. As I said, I’ve always liked the 91-96’s. But I never got to own one until recently. Well, as fate would have it I got my chance last October. On my way to work one moring a garage had a ‘92 Roadmaster wagon for sale on its lot. Said $500 as is. Intreigued I told my younger brother who said that would be a bitchin first car. So he convinced my folks to let him buy it and I would register it until he turned 16. So we bought it. This was before I knew all the little things to go bad on a wagon. The quarters were shot, the tailgate was rusting on the inside, and what finally killed it was one moring backing into the driveway, a gastank strap rusted off and pulled a piece of the frame with it. We quickly sold it for what we paid for it to a guy who was going to part it- who actuallt sold it to another guy and it amazingly, its still on the road. I wonder wether the new owner knows its story.
Once we got rid of the wagon, I knew I wanted another. I loved my wagon, it was comfy, huge and practical. So i started hunting out a new wagon. After a couple months I finally found one down in Newington, CT. It was a one owner, 1993 Caprice Classic. 124k on the clock. Very well optioned. Only reason they sold it was they had no use for it anymore as it was just an older retied couple who had two other cars and the wagon just sat in the garage. Imagine that, the 17 year old wagon gets the garage and their Audi sat outside, ha! After meeting the couple and going over the car, I knew this was the one for me. The frame was solid, quarters were soft, but fixable. Not to mention the cars 17 year service history. Evey oil change, brake job and everything in between. This car has been great to me, hasn’t needed much. So far I’ve only replaced the coolant temp sensor/sender, the intake manifold gaskets, and the diff gasket. Originally I diddnt want to mod it at all and keep it bone stock, but that changed the day I got a set of N97’s of Doug. Ive created a small list of things I wanna do to the car, nothing drastic, just enough to make it mine. I plan to swap in a 91 9C1 cluster, a Riveria console and tint the windows, also plan to install vinyl 9C1 buckets as well as a vinyl rear bench. I think its just enough to make my wagon stand out a bit and like I said, really make it mine. And of corse, as the car evolves, you guys will be there to see it
Oh, and some gratuiotus B-Body shots:
The first day I saw it:

With its N97’s

Billy Mac helping save my quarter:

Its first WagonFest:

-Cadet (Justin)

Thats a nice story man. Do you have any pics of the roadie?

I love the woody sides with the sanded down trim. I think it looks A LOT better like that. The dull "wood" trim around the wood grain just doesn't look as good. and the wheels bring it together very nicely. It definitely has potential to be yours with what you're planning. Good luck with it!

Also I like seeing that I'm not the only younger guy on here, though you're still older it feels better knowing I'm not alone or anything like that. It's funny too because I have two jobs now as I'm 17 and my first car/B-body is rusting away sadly. But my new one was always garaged and never driven in snow. It's in great shape, like your wagon. I hope to see you at the roundup


-Matt B.

Nice! It seems everyone has to cut their teeth on buying a B-body that needs everything done to it, then they find a real nice one after finding out the common trouble spots!

I love how the n97s look on that car.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Nice! It seems everyone has to cut their teeth on buying a B-body that needs everything done to it, then they find a real nice one after finding out the common trouble spots!

Haha, I guess so. Its on ok system because mine was free lol. But I'm very happy to have another in great shape.

1984twodoor wrote:

Thats a nice story man. Do you have any pics of the roadie?

I love the woody sides with the sanded down trim. I think it looks A LOT better like that. The dull "wood" trim around the wood grain just doesn't look as good. and the wheels bring it together very nicely. It definitely has potential to be yours with what you're planning. Good luck with it!



-Matt B.

Thank you for the compliments, I can't wait to see it done. 9C1 cluster, seats and console are next, probably won't be done for the Roundup, so it'll be there like it looks now.

This is the only picture of the Roadie I could find:


And I hear ya on the sanded trim. I painted some of them first and I thought it looked like crap so I took it all off. Before the Roundup I plan to really buff them, see if I can get them even shinier.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Nice! It seems everyone has to cut their teeth on buying a B-body that needs everything done to it, then they find a real nice one after finding out the common trouble spots!

I think its a rule when it comes to buying a B-body you have to buy a POS first before you get a good one

Matt Trakker wrote:

I love how the n97s look on that car.

Thanks. I wasnt sure about them at first, but they definitely have grown on me. I think they'll look even better once the woodgrain comes off. Thou I think then I might have a 1A2 thing going on

Cool story, Justin.

Just think, your next one will be even cooler.

Hey! I'm in this thread!


Cool story.

Cadet57 wrote:

Matt Trakker wrote:

Nice! It seems everyone has to cut their teeth on buying a B-body that needs everything done to it, then they find a real nice one after finding out the common trouble spots!

I think its a rule when it comes to buying a B-body you have to buy a POS first before you get a good one

I couldn't agree more haha

toomanytoyz wrote:

Cool story, Justin.

Just think, your next one will be even cooler.

Thanks. And I hope so. Im thinking one of those wagons you could only buy 1991-1992

IMPALADAKID wrote:

Hey! I'm in this thread!

Cool story.

Haha. Thanks. I really think that everyone's story here probably has some connection to someone on this board, which I think is neat.

Cadet57 wrote:

Thanks. And I hope so. Im thinking one of those wagons you could only buy 1991-1992

Justin wants an Oldsmobubble.

IMPALADAKID wrote:

Cadet57 wrote:

Thanks. And I hope so. Im thinking one of those wagons you could only buy 1991-1992

Justin wants an Oldsmobubble.

Darn right!

The Roadmaster had a nice color to it!

Speaking of first cars and winter, my first car was an 83 cutlass that I started driving right when winter hit. V8, RWD no ABS or traction control. I didn't hit anything and learned to drive it right away. Now I can drive anything in the snow with no issue. KNOCK ON WOODGRAIN, I've never been in an accident in the snow the few years I've been driving and I believe I owe it to the skills I acquired while driving my '83 cutlass through the winter!

It's not that hard to get the seats and console in that thing just DO IT!

GasTT wrote:

The Roadmaster had a nice color to it!

It really did, minus the quarters the body was MINT. Interior was the same too, hard to beleive the car had 229k on it. If I knew that there was such a big community for these, id have parted it out, probably would have made more.

GasTT wrote:

It's not that hard to get the seats and console in that thing just DO IT!

Soon as my SEM comes in, I have to shoot the buckets, the console, and the dash piece for the 9C1 cluster.

Nice story Justin! I have seen Justin's wagon, he's got it looking good!

Tom C.

What is The Best car of June 2018. Please tell me

Your car

ssmithusa wrote:

What is The Best car of June 2018. Please tell me

Post pic to become WINNER!!!