Darren Walker’s Buick Roadmaster – the last of the great American ‘woodie’ station wagons

“I put together my collection of cars that I always found appealing; childhood memories of Corgi Toys were one inspiration”. Darren Walker hails from Leicestershire and has resided in the USA for the past 25 years. During that time, he has acquired a most remarkable fleet of vehicles, which we look forward to featuring in blogs throughout this year – starting with his 1996 Buick Roadmaster. 

The Buick ‘Woodie’ dates back to the 1940 Model 49 Super Estate with mahogany panels and oak trim. By 1953, the marque’s station wagons had an all-metal construction, aside from a vestigial panel on the tailgate, but in 1970, the ‘Estate Wagon’ had a “wood grained” exterior decorations, as befitting transport for the corporate lawyer for their weekends at Lake Tahoe or the country club. 

By 1991, Buick reintroduced the Roadmaster name for their last ‘full-sized’ Woodie station wagon. Such details, as well as the ‘Vista Light’ window over the rear seats, helped to distinguish it from the lesser Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser and Chevrolet Caprice members of the General Motors’ family. As the brochure rhapsodised: “Every station wagon should be as comfortable, practical and versatile as the new Roadmaster Estate Wagon. Pure Buick...the ultimate wagon”. Darren observes:

The Roadmaster was the final year of the ‘body-on-frame' B-body, and there are so many different variants. The first models were underpowered, but the later models had the 5.7-litre fuel-injected ‘LT1’ unit, a detuned version of the Corvette engine, producing 260bhp. The pulling power is tremendous, and then there is the way it sounds with that traditional V8 burble.

The sales copy boasted of “the most powerful engine available in any station wagon sold in America today”, while the sheer vastness of the Roadmaster’s load bay is quite breathtaking. Darren points out that “even with the rear seat in place, there is more cargo space than a Cadillac SRX with the back seat folded down. The Buick has room for everything but the kitchen sink!”. One very thoughtful touch is the lower tailgate, which can be either lowered or opened sideways.

The steering column selector controls the automatic transmission, and Darren remarks, “While the front seats are not a true bench, there is a vast amount of room. The Buick is so comfortable, and my wife, who suffers from nerve pain, finds the Roadmaster more comfortable than her reclining chair”. As with so many US cars, the Roadmaster could be specified with various trim levels and options, and Darren’s Buick has the optional ‘Towing Package’, with a 5,000lb capability – 300lbs more than its curb weight.

Darren is the Roadmaster’s third owner: “It was ordered by the then Governor of Virginia for his daughter and has covered 120,000 miles from new; the engine is barely run in”. He remarks that a station wagon over 18 feet long is ideal for Interstate highways - “You put it in ‘Drive’, set the cruise control, and the air suspension will cushion you”. The Buick was designed for a nation where you might drive for eight hours and only encounter a few kinks on the highway. Twisting roads are inevitably another matter: “It wallows, and the steering is unresponsive”.

Roadmaster production ceased on the 13th of December 1996. Darren says, “It is so collectable – last of the great American Station Wagon. The Buick is unique as it is more than just an estate car. With a Roadmaster, there is room for umpteen kids, or rescue dogs”. Indeed, the Walker Buick is regularly used for the latter purpose, which is very much in keeping with the tradition of the US ‘Woodie’.

To quote General Motors, the Roadmaster has “The luxury of a Buick, the versatility of a station wagon”.

With thanks to Darren Walker for his time.

With thanks to Darren Walker for the permission to use the images in this blog.