Buick Roadmaster Wagon

This eight-seater, Corvette-engined wagon is an affordable cult classic

COULD FAUX WOOD panelling ever actually be considered cool? While the jury is still out on that one, the consensus seems to be that the Corvetteengined Buick Roadmaster Wagon is sub-zero. Once mocked by car enthusiasts, this land yacht has since become a genuine cult classic. Although we didn’t appreciate it at the time, the Roadmaster represented the swansong for the traditional American station wagon, killed off by the SUV.

The Roadmaster name was applied to the biggest of Buick’s cars in the 1930s and ran right through to the end of the 1950s, so it was only natural that it would return for the company’s new flagship estate car in 1991. Sharing its underpinnings and most of its body panels with the Chevrolet Caprice and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, the Roadmaster Wagon duly made its return although it was the only one of the three available with the vital woodie’ look.