1990 Buick Estate Wagon: Luxury in the post-minivan era

As a child of the 1980s, I was in a position to see firsthand the era of the station wagon giving ground, then giving way, to minivans. And later on, SUVs. But I always loved station wagons. I came home from the hospital in one, was driven to school in one, went on family vacations in one—well, several, actually. But the debut of the “Magic Wagon,” as Chrysler Corporation dubbed its new Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans, was the beginning of the end.

Even my own family went through it. My parents had two Volvo 240 and two Volvo 740GL wagons, but as us kids kept getting bigger, peace in the back seat amongst the three of us became pretty much impossible. So, in late 1991, my folks ordered a brand new ’92 Grand Caravan ES in white with dark gray leather, all-wheel drive, and the middle-row bucket seats. Peace was restored. But I digress …

In 1980, you had myriad choices in station wagons: Volvo 240s (my aforementioned trip home from the hospital was in a ’77 245DL), Peugeot 505s, Toyota Cressidas, Volkswagen Dashers. And over on the domestic side, a wide variety of Pinto Squires, Concord Limiteds, LeBaron Town and Countrys, and other fare awaited your pocketbook. But the top-tier domestic woodgrained rolling stock wagons were, not coincidentally, the largest models.

The top-of-the-line U.S. wagons were the Ford LTD Country Squire, Mercury Colony Park, Chevrolet Caprice Estate, Pontiac Bonneville Safari, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, and the Buick Electra Estate Wagon, our featured subject today. A case can also be made for the previously-mentioned LeBaron Town and Country; though plenty luxurious, it was on the midsize chassis, the truly large and unapologetically full-size T&C being discontinued after the 1977 model year.

But the Electra Estate wagon was as close as one could get to a Cadillac station wagon, excepting those with sufficient funds to have coachbuilders make a wagon out of a Fleetwood Brougham or Sedan de Ville.

All of the full-sized 1980 GM cars were given facelifts for a smoother appearance, partly to improve fuel economy but also for the looks. All the big GM wagons were naturally a part of it, though for them it really was only the front clip that was changed. The big Buick wagons came both as a LeSabre and as an Electra.

And that continued all the way through the 1989 model year, with the flossier Electra and slightly plainer LeSabre wagons pinning the top tier of Buick station wagons. I will always remember these wagons fondly, as a navy blue one had a major part in the classic 1987 film Adventures in Babysitting!

That movie could well be the primary reason I love these cars so much. And also why I was such a fan of the final seasons of CSI when Elisabeth Shue was part of the cast. Oops, wait. What were we talking about again?

Right, Buicks! The big GM wagons were all rather similar visually, from Caprice Estate to top-of-the-line Electra Estate Wagon. The biggest differences were the front clip, interior, and, depending on the year and make, the engine. But the Electras were always the plushest.

However, in 1990, Buick pulled a fast one. Technically, the Electra Estate Wagon and LeSabre Estate wagon were gone. But only in name. Instead of having the two very similar models, they were merged into a single “Estate Wagon,” with nary an Electra or LeSabre emblem to be found anywhere.

I initially thought only the badging was different compared to the 1989s, but the interior was now a hybrid: Electra Estate Wagon seats with LeSabre door panels.

The 1989 and earlier Electra Estate Wagons had these Regal (pun intended) half-woodgrain door panels. But at least you still got the primo seats in the 1990 model.

My friend Jeremy Shiffer related, “These 1990 B-body wagons (and base 307 equipped 1990 Cadillac Broughams) hold the distinction of being the last GM cars sold with a carburetor.” And then another friend Mike Massey confirmed that the ’90s only had “LeSabre door panels with Electra seats. I remember that well on those final ones.” At the time these were new, nobody we knew owned one, though there was one I’d see regularly, while riding my bike, about five blocks from home.

As the 1990 deluxe Buick brochure confided, the Estate Wagon had “Room for everything. Including luxury … the comfort, convenience, and luxury features are impressive, including rich woven velour upholstery, full carpeting throughout, automatic transmission with overdrive, tilt steering column, power steering, power brakes with discs in front, and, of course, the greatest luxury of all: room.”

All Estate Wagons came standard with the 140-horsepower 307-cubic-inch V-8. Base price was $17,940 (about $42,247 today), curb weight was 4281 pounds, and 7838 of them were built for the model year. As had been the case since 1980, these had a 115.9-inch wheelbase, 220.5-inch overall length, and 79.3-inch width.

Available options included leather upholstery, as seen in our featured car, power windows, power door locks, a roof rack, Twilight Sentinel, cruise control, and a six-way power driver’s seat. The unmistakable exterior vinyl woodgrain appliques remained an optional extra as well.

Our featured ’90 Estate Wagon was spied on eBay quite some time ago. It could have been 10 years ago or even longer. At the time I was stunned with how showroom-fresh it appeared, and I loved the light blue (Mist Blue Metallic, according to my 1990 Buick color chart) with saddle tan leather harmonizing with the Di-Noc woodgrain sides. It was simply superb.

Though plenty of these had the wire wheel covers shown here, the only thing that could have made this car better would be the optional turbine alloy wheels—just like the one featured on Adventures in Babysitting.

Fun fact: Those wheels were only available on the Buick wagons, except for swan-song 1990. In 1990, you could also order them on the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, though they had different center caps with the Olds Rocket emblem instead. Ask my friend Matt Smith how hard it is to find those Olds-specific center caps these days!

In 1990, only three of the four original full-size GM wagons remained: Chevy Caprice, Olds Custom Cruiser, and the Buick Estate Wagon. The Pontiac Safari was discontinued after 1989 for some reason. Never again would so much chrome and woodgrain gingerbread be seen on full-size American station wagons.

It was the end of the road for the 1980-style body, but not the end of the grand, luxurious full-size Buick station wagon. Starting in 1991, the totally restyled and renamed Roadmaster Estate Wagon would continue to carry the torch (albeit on pretty much the same chassis as this car) through the 1996 model year. And while it was pretty flossy, it didn’t have quite as much wood-toned trim as the 1980–90 Estate Wagons—though you could still get the woodgrain exterior siding. And after ’96, my friends, if you wanted a new luxury Buick station wagon, you were sadly out of luck.

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