Way off tropic-"The Incredible Bulk"

[booster]

The mild mannered guy.....





Turns into the Incredible Bulk (18.1 feet long)








Long Minnesota winters can make you do some weird stuff when you don't have a van update planned, I am quite certain.

[markopolo]

That was a big project from what you mentioned.


Do I see Roadmaster on the scoop? Is the scoop for show or functional?


Well done

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

That was a big project from what you mentioned.


Do I see Roadmaster on the scoop? Is the scoop for show or functional?


Well done

Yes, you do see Roadmaster on the scoop. It is a show only "bulge hood" as they say most places, which also appear to be pretty common from the the muscle car times all the way to now, but the blank area in the front of it was pretty plain and looked wrong. Rather than paint it flat black like is usually done, I got an extra Roadmaster script badge like is used on the quarterpanels near the rear (not on yet in the picks).


The hood that was on the car was dented a couple places and was sprung up right across the middle, side to side. It probably got slammed shut with fender covers in place at a shop, which is all too common. It was also a very low end steel aftermarket piece and fit poorly. This is a dual layer fiberglass hood with scoop already into it. Still needed lots of fitting, shaping, and fill and block sanding to get it decent, but that is how fiberglass is. Most are way worse than this was. 1/2 the weight of steel at about 40#.

[peteco]

Is the Roadtrek next for an appearance upgrade?

[booster]

Originally Posted by peteco

Is the Roadtrek next for an appearance upgrade?

Nope, Nope, and Nope... it looks good full of bugs and tree branch scratches!

[SteveJ]

Cool project.

[booster]

I grabbed a couple more pix while it was in better light when I moved it out of the way in the garage to get the lawn tractor ready for summer.


This one is for Marko...





The color behind the Roadmaster emblem is actually the same silver as the rest of the scoop. It is extraordinarily bright silver and lighting direction totally changes the color


From the rear...





Here the lamp bar above the plate is white, not silver, but the light is making them look close to the same. The black treadplate on the top of the bumper is done with Herculiner pickup bed liner.


This was done as a thing to confuse those that know more about these cars than I can to try to learn...





These are aluminum repops of the 14 and and 15 inch steel GM rally wheels of the 60s and 70s in 17" with 235-60-17 tires. The originals were used mostly on Corvettes in the 60s and Camaros in the 60s and 70s. The centers are snap in repops of the mid 60s Corvette centers before the "crown" type and spinners, but with cheapo ebay wheel center stick ones with the Buick logo. AFAIK, Buick never used any Rally wheels on any vehicle, so in reality these can't exist if you choose to be "proper".

[rowiebowie]

But now it's not a "Sleeper" any more.

[booster]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

But now it's not a "Sleeper" any more.

I would guess it never was, as the guts are all stock. 5.7L with 4L60 trans. Decent specs at 260hp and 335ft-lbs torque. Engine design appears to be done with low end power and torque in mind as this thing has very low ratio final drive ratio. With the big gear and 5K# to move, it is decent, but not blazing by any stretch, but oh what a comfy cruiser with huge hauling capacity. It will continue to be grandpa's hauler as it is intended to be my daily in the summer and non slop winter days (it is totally rust free).



Now I think it would qualify as a "sheep in wolf's clothing".

[jmai]

Nice to see these old wagons being saved and used. I like the rally wheels. Very sporty for the Buick!

[Bud]

Appreciate the posts booster as they prompted me to just sit and reminisce, 10 GM vehicles here, plus growing up (prehistoric times).

Bud

[oldcabinetguy]

There is a certain something about those old Buicks that has been lost. Or maybe I am just old.
Thanks for the pictures.

[booster]

Originally Posted by oldcabinetguy

There is a certain something about those old Buicks that has been lost. Or maybe I am just old.
Thanks for the pictures.

I think it is probably a bit of both things, but then I am old, too.


There is also a reasonable interest in the 94-96 Buick and Chevy Caprice wagons, which are the same basic car with different features, with the younger street machine types. The ones they do tend to be lowered, detrimmed, monocolor, with narrow spoke 5 or 4 spoke aluminum wheels like Torque Thrust with 40 series tires. To me they looked too much standardized, so I went a different route that also suited my use as my good weather daily driver and load hauler. Standard ride height, 2 tone that gives a sleeker look to the same pattern as the woodgrain was, vintage muscle car wheel style, 70s style hood with bulge, etc.

[Paul the Gardens]

Your Roadmaster is now much nicer with the paint job you did. And it should hold its value.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...g-yes-they-are

[booster]

Originally Posted by Paul the Gardens

Your Roadmaster is now much nicer with the paint job you did. And it should hold its value.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...g-yes-they-are

Similar to lots of older vehicles, there seems to be a pretty big disconnect between what people actually seem to be getting if they sell them and what the "market" is said to be for them.


I watch Craigslist in particular for lots of used vehicle information just out of curiosity, and that includes Roadmasters, especially the wagon. Also would be the essentially same car, differently optioned, Chevy Caprice wagons. The 94-96 wagons are the most desirable versions as the the have the LT1 engine in them. Lots of false information spread about that engine, too. It isn't the same as the late 60s LT1 which was a super nasty hot factory engine. The ones in big cars is also not the Corvette engine which many people claim, as all they share is basic design like reverse flow cooling. The Corvette version had aluminum heads compared to iron a much larger cam and induction system, etc and make more power at much higher rpm than the big cars. The Buick engines are very similar to the cop car engine of that time, but with only 2 bolt main bearing caps, as the cop car Caprices were on the same body series sedans.


We had a Caprice wagon show up on Craiglist here repeatedly for about a year. A very nice example of the style I explained earlier, monotone, lowered, etc. Brand new very, very, nice paint job and no underbody rust per the pix. He couldn't get $7K for it which I was surprise about.


I think only super nice originals like the collectors would be interested in would get anywhere near $10K, so as far a classics go they are quite a bargain. You can get decent, low 100K mile ones for under about #4K I think.


I don't worry about resale, as I have already recovered my costs by driving it for 7 years to this point. It has also been a hobby to see just how well it could be made to drive and handle without killing the extreme comfort (answer is handles very well now). It was just time to fix up the body, which had no rust at all but had multiple crunches and some bad older repairs. Since the woodgrain stuff in not available, it was better to just weld up all the moulding holes and do a two tone, wheels, and a more "appropriate" fiberglass hood to replace the damaged aftermarket hood that was on it.