Da' further adventures of da' trusty billy-goat wagon!

[elagache]

Dear Loren and mid-60s Buick owners with Airstream fantasies,

By the dual axels , it appears to be a '67 Overlander . If I recall correctly, it would be 26 feet long from the rear bumper to the hitch. We have a '69 Overlander International, it is 27 feet long.

Thanks to the Airstream document archive:

https://www.airstream.com/service/document-archive/

It appears to me that Airstream's 26 foot model didn't change much from 1964 to 67.  The arrangement of the door and windows appear to be the same, so it would be hard to date such a trailer from such a small image.  There is a good reason to suspect that this would some sort of a promotion from 1964.  That was the first year of the raised roof section for the Oldsmobile and Buick wagons.  I've collected this Buick press photo:



and this article from the period:



Airstream would have wanted their trailers featured with such innovative styling and given the upscale nature of Airstream, Buick was the better choice for the tow vehicle.  According to the specifications of the 1964 26 foot Overlander:

https://www.airstream.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/d3613db3f4f7c69f.pdf

It was within the tow capacity of the 1964 Sportwagon since the 1965 was rated to tow 5000 pounds.

Unfortunately, I haven't found the image anywhere else to confirm the hunch this is some sort of promotion from 1964.

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners who are also a fan of da' trusty billy-goat wagon,

As reported earlier, back on New Year's Eve 2013, some unfriendly character put two dings into the driver's side door of Biquette:



She spent last week at the body shop recommended by a classic car collector friend of mine.  I took some quick pictures yesterday of the results.  Here is from the front:



Here is a view from the back:



Here is the only view where I think you can notice the repair:



If you look carefully, I think you can notice an area that is slightly lighter in color.  It could be in part because this area is obviously not waxed while the rest of the car is waxed.  However, I suppose that's as good as a area repaint can get without an exact match for the paint formula.  Alas the body shop that repainted my wagon in 2012 went out of business and took their formula for seafoam green with them.

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners who are also a fan of da' trusty billy-goat wagon,

I forgot!  I also had the body shop replace the tailgate top molding.  Here is Biquette's old molding with all the dings we put into it over all the years of hard service:



Here is the replacement which was almost new:



I bought it from none other than Brian (197064buickspec) a few years back.  Thanks Brian! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[197064buickspec]

Looks good !!

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners with a taste for Americana,

With a suitable Sylvester the cat voice . . . . . . "Sufferin' succotash!  My wagon had to go out to fetch s-s-s-seed!"



In fact 80 pounds of bird seed!

My wagon may be 53 years ago and part of the family for over 50, but she still has to earn her keep around here! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Super65lark]

Nice!!

[TrunkMonkey]

Edouard  is blessed to have such a rich and original history with the "Biskit", and so fortunate to have recovered her after her "kid" napping.

We are blessed for his most eloquent storytelling and sharing this history and journey with us.

Life, it is grand, no?

 

[elagache]

Dear Iain, Michael, and mid-60s Buick owners who's cars are members of the family,

Thanks guys! 

I'm just glad to have her home and working once more.  It has been my car since basically I could drive and I just missed her.

Nonetheless, the upgrades are definitely appreciated.  I do enjoy her Bluetooth stereo and on the way back I even needed the Vintage Air A/C.  I don't know how I lived with this car without air conditioning! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[option B9]

   Hi Edouard , good to hear that the wagon is back on the road and you are enjoying driving it with its updated systems. And i'm sure that it's hauled more than grass seed during its lifetime. Did you have a boat and or a trailer that the wagon pulled during its life ?
    My Family 4 door Special did not pull anything, but my Grandfather hauled bushels of tomatoes from the farms on Long Island every September. And went to the Horse Stables at Belmont Racetrack every November and loaded the trunk with burlap bags full of "Fresh" horse manure for his vegetable garden at home. Just when we thought the stink was gone it was November again !!   A Buick's or any car that's  been in the family for a very long time hold great many memories. Some good, some bad, and some very stinky......     
                                                                                                                                         Tony
                                                                                                                                                                                                           

[elagache]

Dear Tony and mid-60s Buick owners who's cars are members of the family,

   Hi Edouard , good to hear that the wagon is back on the road and you are enjoying driving it with its updated systems. And i'm sure that it's hauled more than grass seed during its lifetime. Did you have a boat and or a trailer that the wagon pulled during its life ?

In the voice of that most rascally rabbit Bugs Bunny . . . . . "Nah, could be!"



She also pulled a modest sailboat:



The last boat she pulled was a Hobie 16 catamaran, but I've never found any pictures of her doing that.

My Family 4 door Special did not pull anything, but my Grandfather hauled bushels of tomatoes from the farms on Long Island every September. And went to the Horse Stables at Belmont Racetrack every November and loaded the trunk with burlap bags full of "Fresh" horse manure for his vegetable garden at home. Just when we thought the stink was gone it was November again !!   A Buick's or any car that's  been in the family for a very long time hold great many memories. Some good, some bad, and some very stinky...... 

Phew! . . .

I don't remember anything quite that bad, but there was some loads of chicken manure that . . . . . left an impression!

Any family car is going to have a full life! . . . .

Thanks for sharing your memories of your special Special! . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

[option B9]

   Great photo of the small speedboat, I know you had fun with that !! Did you go skiing or fishing ? My Mothers 66 Buick Skylark & Dads 65 Le Sabre were our Tow cars when I purchased my first boat in 1976. It was a 1959 16 foot Cruiser,s Inc. lap streak speedboat, that i painstakingly restored from what looked like a pile of broken barn boards. Great memories of the boat and towing with the Buick's on the east end of Long Island.. 
                                                                                                                                                 Tony

[elagache]

My Mothers 66 Buick Skylark & Dads 65 Le Sabre were our Tow cars when I purchased my first boat in 1976. It was a 1959 16 foot Cruiser,s Inc. lap streak speedboat, that i painstakingly restored from what looked like a pile of broken barn boards. Great memories of the boat and towing with the Buick's on the east end of Long Island.. 

Good for you!  That must have been a great experience for honing your restoration skills!

Great photo of the small speedboat, I know you had fun with that !! Did you go skiing or fishing ?

Well, . . . . . The "plan" was to use it for water-skiing.  Alas, the purchase went very badly from the start.  Mom managed to accidentally lock us out of Biquette!  We needed to call a locksmith to get back into the car!  The folks selling the boat were so nice in our distress that we felt obligated to buy it even if it wasn't exactly the best boat for us.  After we bought it, Dad discovered it had a crack running along the keel from almost the bow to the stern!   Dad tried to come up with a scheme to repair it, but this was looking like mission impossible.  So ultimately, we never used the boat much.  I did make my debut at water-skiing with it, but it was extremely brief!

As it turned out, my Dad was more of a sailor and we turned to sailboats after that.  It turns out that how Biquette ended up today has everything to do with a very unusual Friday afternoon expedition my Dad got the family to make to look at some cabin sailboats when I was probably 16 or so.  But I'll save that story for another day!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners who like to drive their cars,

I needed to make a quick grocery run and so da' trusty wagon got da' call.  The supermarket is only 3 miles away so just a quick run.  However, as I approached the mall I spotted a - dinosaur - coming straight for me!  Alright, alright, so it was a mid-60s Ford Mustang, but these days any 1960s cars meeting on a divided road is a rare event!  I toot tooted and tried to get the attention of the woman driving the convertible.  I don't know if I succeeded.  Nonetheless, it is October even in California.  Soon spotting another classic car actually on the road will be a very rare event!

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S.  Sorry Michael, I did have the hood open for a while, but I was so busy this afternoon that I never got back to looking at the Vintage Air plumbing.  I'll try to look tomorrow afternoon to see if I could use one of your Billet heater hose separators/clamps.

[TrunkMonkey]

The good thing is the TBGW had some fresh air and running loos time.

The heater hose separators can wait. 


BTW. I did not know the Sportwagons came with Stewardesses!



"Coffee, Tea or A&W...?"   

[elagache]

Dear Michael and owners of mid-60 Buicks who are cautious about "high maintenance" propositions, . . . . . .

BTW. I did not know the Sportwagons came with Stewardesses!

 . . . .

. . . .  Well, this was always an aftermarket item.  You couldn't have one installed by the dealer - never mind at the factory.  They tended to come in two varieties.  One kind stipulated hourly operating costs that after a while would become very expensive.  The alternative also involved potentially serious costs, but they tended to be far more difficult to keep track of.  More seriously it was a well known hazard that this second type was known to harbor inclinations to become SWMBO!! . . . .

It is well accepted fact that even the most fussy mid-60s Buick has relatively low maintenance compared to the typical SWMBO . . . . . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard