Which 1973 full-size station wagon would you choose? (sedans, coupes, convertible)

[dintymoore]

I'm a big car person, and I've had many full size GM vehicles, so I'd go with them. They're really 90+% the same car. The Chevy has a more common engine so I've found that that's the best one because if you have to swap to another engine the Chevy 350 is usually considered the best and it will swap right in to the Chevy, the others presents issues.
All '73' weren't the best. The emissions on these vehicles was nuts. The seat belts are total chaos. And the transmissions all need to be (ideally) swapped to the later 700R4 to get better mileage. 1973 was the first year of 5 mph bumpers and they all had them on the front and it looked terrible.
All these cars were fat, heavy pigs compared to the 1965 thru 1971 models which were better overall vehicles.
Other than that, they are all better than what's out there now IMHO!

They made more Chevy's so if you need parts like trim then there's an easier chance with the Chevy.
The Buick is probably the nicest trim, as it's right below a Cadillac.
It doesn't matter, they're almost the same, it's more which one you can score the cheapest in the best shape.
I have a 92 Chevy Caprice wagon and with it's ABS brakes, modern seat belts, fuel injection and modern transmision it is the best of all of these. It weighs 4200 lb and gets 26 mph on the highway. It's silent, the only bummer is the lack of rear electric window. Before this I had a 92 Buick Roadmaster wagon, a 89 Olds wagon, a 86 Buick wagon and a 83 Caprice wagon. I've also had 2 69 Impala's and a 68 Impala. The 92 Chevy wagon is the best.
It's an incredible car, and parts are nuts cheap. Disc brake pads were $17 last week.

[Tennesseestorm]

Looking back, I should have also added the biggest AMC wagon in the choices.... Ambassador Brougham wagon....

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1446& g2_serialNumber=3 (broken link)

[Tennesseestorm]

Thats right. Many more fans of even these cars prefer the 1972 models over 73' because of the bumpers. I think I chose 73' because I was having an easier time finding data on the 1973s. Also true that all of the 71-76 GM wagons were basically the same... the only difference were engines and the Buicks and Oldsmobiles were slightly longer wheelbase than the Chevrolets and Pontiacs. Front door glass, windshields, back windows, etc were all the same.

Yes, I have had alot of late 60s/early 70s Chevrolets and I actually have a 1972 Caprice wagon with the 402 engine option. The Chevy engine was the least "complex" of them all, or should I say the cheapest to service then and now because of the higher production of them. One interesting thing about the Buick wagons of this era you mentioned is that since there were not different trim lines like they were on the Chevrolets and Pontiacs, they simply had interior trim options. The base Buick wagon from around 71-73 had a standard LeSabre interior, with an optional interior from the LeSabre Custom. Some of the base Buick Estate wagons were suprisingly plain looking and in some cases, a top of the line Caprice Estate or Pontiac Grand Safari had a more luxurious interior. Also, woodgrain siding on the exterior was optional, so you could have a plain interior and nicer looking exterior, or nice interior and no wood siding exterior. Pontiac was the same way... some Grand Safaris did not have woodgrain and some base Safaris did. I think thats one thing that makes these early 70s cars neat.

Here is a 1972 Caprice Estate wagon like mine (except mine is brown)


and here is what I was referring to what I like about the Buick wagons....
Here is the interior of the 71' Buick Estate wagons.... the brown interior in the larger photo was the optional luxury interior.... in the much smaller photo to the right, you see a black interior thats much plainer.... for 71' it did not even have any woodgrain on the door panels. I think by 73 the base Buick wagon had a small amount of woodgrain on the doors....
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9926& g2_serialNumber=2 (broken link)
exterior of a 71-72 Buick Estate Wagon
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9924& g2_serialNumber=2 (broken link)
notice how this one lacks woodgrain, but does have the luggage rack.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9922& g2_serialNumber=2 (broken link)


Here is the luxury interior option on the 73' Buick Estate wagon...


and the interior on a 72' Pontiac Grand Safari - interesting, this one lacks the color-keyed seat belts option, which was rare on the Grand Safari...


and the interior of a 73' Grand Safari, which I think was as luxurious as the 73' Buick Estate Wagon...




ah, here it is....
base interior of a 72' Buick Estate wagon... this wagon was for sale not too long ago... whats even more interesting is that this car did NOT have A/C, or any other options at all. Back then, you just ordered what you wanted.



and speaking of production totals....
I got bored a few years ago and being a fan of these cars did some research and compiled a list of the #s for all of the 71-76 GM wagons..... just thought I would post them to see how many of each were made. I wonder what year/model/make there are the most of out there now?

The "highest production model" is the 1973 Impala 2-seat wagon - 46,940 were made (where are all of them now?)
The "lowest production model" is the 1975 Custom Cruiser 2-seat model without woodgrain - only 1,458 were made.

CHEVROLET-
1971
Brookwood- (Biscayne)- 2 seat - 5,314
Townsman- (Bel-Air)- 2 seat - 12,951
Townsman- (Bel-Air)- 3 seat - 6,870
Kingswood- (Impala)- 2 seat - 26,638
Kingswood- (Impala)- 3 seat - 32,311
Kingswood Estate (Caprice)- 2 seat - 11,913
Kingswood Estate (Caprice)- 3 seat - 19,010

CHEVROLET-
1972
Brookwood- 2 seat - 8,150
Townsman- 2 seat - 16,482
Townsman- 3 seat - 8,667
Kingswood- 2 seat - 43,152
Kingswood- 3 seat - 40,248
Kingswood Estate- 2 seat - 20,281
Kingswood Estate- 3 seat - 34,723

CHEVROLET-
1973
Bel-Air- 2 seat - 14,549
Bel-Air- 3 seat - 6,321
Impala- 2 seat - 46,940
Impala- 3 seat - 43,664
Caprice Estate- 2 seat - 22,969
Caprice Estate- 3 seat - 39,535

CHEVROLET-
1974
Bel-Air- 2 seat - 6,437
Bel-Air- 3 seat - 2,913
Impala- 2 seat - 23,455
Impala- 3 seat - 23,259
Caprice Estate- 2 seat - 12,280
Caprice Estate- 3 seat - 23,063

CHEVROLET-
1975
Bel-Air- 2 seat - 4,032
Bel-Air- 3 seat - 2,386
Impala- 2 seat - 17,998
Impala- 3 seat - 19,445
Caprice Estate- 2 seat - 9,047
Caprice Estate- 3 seat - 18,858

CHEVROLET
1976
Impala- 2 seat - 19,657
Impala- 3 seat - 21,329
Caprice Estate- 2 seat - 10,029
Caprice Estate- 3 seat - 21,804
--------------------------------
PONTIAC
1971
Safari- 2 seat - 10,322
Safari- 3 seat - 9,283
Grand Safari- 2 seat - 3,613
Grand Safari- 3 seat - 5,972

PONTIAC
1972
Safari- 2 seat - 14,536
Safari- 3 seat - 12,766
Grand Safari- 2 seat - 5,675
Grand Safari- 3 seat - 8,540

PONTIAC
1973
Safari- 2 seat - 15,762
Safari- 3 seat - 14,654
Grand Safari- 2 seat - 6,894
Grand Safari- 3 seat - 10,776

PONTIAC
1974
Safari- 2 seat - 5,662
Safari- 3 seat - 6,486
Grand Safari- 2 seat - 2,894
Grand Safari- 3 seat - 5,255

PONTIAC
1975
Safari- 2 seat - 3,964
Safari- 3 seat - 4,992
Grand Safari- 2 seat - 2,568
Grand Safari- 3 seat - 4,752

PONTIAC
1976
Safari- 2 seat - 4,735
Safari- 3 seat - 5,513
Grand Safari- 2 seat - 3,462
Grand Safari- 3 seat - 6,176
-----------------------------
OLDSMOBILE
1971
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 4,049
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 9,932

OLDSMOBILE
1972
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 6,907
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 18,087

OLDSMOBILE
1973
WITH WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 7,142
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 19,163
WITHOUT WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 5,275
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 7,341

OLDSMOBILE
1974
WITH WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 2,960
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 8,947
WITHOUT WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 1,481
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 2,528

OLDSMOBILE
1975
WITH WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 2,837
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 9,458
WITHOUT WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 1,458
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 2,315

OLDSMOBILE
1976
WITH WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 3,849
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 12,269
WITHOUT WOODGRAIN:
Custom Cruiser- 2 seat - 2,572
Custom Cruiser- 3 seat - 3,626
-------------------------------

BUICK
1971
Estate Wagon- 2 seat - 8,699
Estate Wagon- 3 seat - 15,335

BUICK
1972
Estate Wagon- 2 seat - 10,175
Estate Wagon- 3 seat - 18,793

Buick
1973
Estate Wagon- 2 seat - 12,282
Estate Wagon- 3 seat - 23,513

Buick
1974
Estate Wagon- 2 seat - 4,581
Estate Wagon- 3 seat - 9,831

Buick
1975
Estate Wagon- 2 seat - 4,128
Estate Wagon- 3 seat - 9,612

Buick
1976
Estate Wagon- 2 seat - 5,990
Estate Wagon- 3 seat - 14,384

Originally Posted by dintymoore

I'm a big car person, and I've had many full size GM vehicles, so I'd go with them. They're really 90+% the same car. The Chevy has a more common engine so I've found that that's the best one because if you have to swap to another engine the Chevy 350 is usually considered the best and it will swap right in to the Chevy, the others presents issues.
All '73' weren't the best. The emissions on these vehicles was nuts. The seat belts are total chaos. And the transmissions all need to be (ideally) swapped to the later 700R4 to get better mileage. 1973 was the first year of 5 mph bumpers and they all had them on the front and it looked terrible.
All these cars were fat, heavy pigs compared to the 1965 thru 1971 models which were better overall vehicles.
Other than that, they are all better than what's out there now IMHO!

They made more Chevy's so if you need parts like trim then there's an easier chance with the Chevy.
The Buick is probably the nicest trim, as it's right below a Cadillac.
It doesn't matter, they're almost the same, it's more which one you can score the cheapest in the best shape.
I have a 92 Chevy Caprice wagon and with it's ABS brakes, modern seat belts, fuel injection and modern transmision it is the best of all of these. It weighs 4200 lb and gets 26 mph on the highway. It's silent, the only bummer is the lack of rear electric window. Before this I had a 92 Buick Roadmaster wagon, a 89 Olds wagon, a 86 Buick wagon and a 83 Caprice wagon. I've also had 2 69 Impala's and a 68 Impala. The 92 Chevy wagon is the best.
It's an incredible car, and parts are nuts cheap. Disc brake pads were $17 last week.

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

Originally Posted by KevK

Yep- it would smoke "a tire" but not more than one with no posi traction. Couldn't do a donut with it either!

Actually, this particular wagon had posi. I'm not sure what the axle ratio was though. The guy left rubber all over the neighborhood. Everybody thought a wicked Chevelle or Camaro moved into the area. That was one fun car. Just imagine what it would be like if the big block was hopped up to 500 horsepower. It did pretty good with just a stock LS-4 engine considering it probably weighed almost 5000 pounds! He actually had a dual exhaust installed with glass packs, rejetted the quadra-jet, curved the ignition and installed a low restriction air cleaner. With that many cubes, it had a nice intake roar under the hood at WOT. Just for fun one day, he filled the tank with racing gas. What a wonderfull smell from the exhaust.

[Tennesseestorm]

Yeah, those cars are beasts.

[Mopac1980]

My favorite of the 1973 station wagons is a tie between the 1973 Ford Country Squire and the 1973 Pontiac Grand Safari, I definitely agree with one poster's comment about the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser would've looked better without the rear skirts.

[Wilson513]

None. !973 was the year the music died. Because of the gas crisis, everything was detuned. Can you spell crappy? 1970 on the other hand . .

[Tennesseestorm]

Originally Posted by Mopac1980

My favorite of the 1973 station wagons is a tie between the 1973 Ford Country Squire and the 1973 Pontiac Grand Safari, I definitely agree with one poster's comment about the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser would've looked better without the rear skirts.

Yeah... it was the only GM wagon with rear skirts too and with the way the wheel well was designed, it didnt look right removed... it was too straight looking. GM did have fender skirts on their top level models from all makes in 1973 however... Caprice, Grand Ville, Ninety-Eight, Electra and ALL Cadillacs.

Originally Posted by wilson1010

None. !973 was the year the music died. Because of the gas crisis, everything was detuned. Can you spell crappy? 1970 on the other hand . .

True... 1971 was the last year for the powerhouse engines. However my 1973 Pontiac has a 455, all stock and it moved the 4600 pound car pretty swiftly.

RLRL, speaking of Cadillacs... I have the chance to trade my 1972 Caprice wagon for this 1973 Cadillac... not sure if I want to do it or not though...
trade this....


for that...


The Caddy needs a little less body work, but the leather seats have some wear... whereas the interior on my wagon is like brand new in every way.

[Wilson513]

396 and 402

The 396-cubic-inch (6.5 L) V8 was introduced in the 1965 Corvette as the L78 option and in the Z16 Chevelle. It had a bore of 4.094 in (104.0 mm) and a stroke of 3.76 in (96 mm), and produced 375 hp (280 kW) and 415 lb·ft (563 N·m). This version of the 396 was equipped with four bolt main bearing caps and was very comfortable with being operated in the upper 6000 rpm range.
Introduced in 1970, the 402-cubic-inch (6.6 L) was a 396-cubic-inch bored out by 0.030 in (0.76 mm). Despite the fact that it was 6 cubic inches (98 cc) larger, Chevy continued marketing it under the popular "396" label in the smaller cars while at the same time labeling it "Turbo-Jet 400" in the full-size cars.
Power rating(s) by year:

• 1965: 375 hp (280 kW)/425 hp (317 kW)
• 1966: 325 hp (242 kW)/350 hp (260 kW)/360 hp (270 kW)/375 hp (280 kW)
• 1967: 325 hp (242 kW)/350 hp (260 kW)/375 hp (280 kW)
• 1968: 325 hp (242 kW)/350 hp (260 kW)/375 hp (280 kW)
• 1969: 265 hp (198 kW)(2bbl)/325 hp (242 kW)/350 hp (260 kW)/375 hp (280 kW)
• 1970: 330 hp (250 kW)/350 hp (260 kW)/375 hp (280 kW)
• 1971: 300 hp (220 kW)
• 1972: 240 hp (180 kW)

[Wilson513]

I had a 1970 Caddy with the 472.

Compare teh HP for the 472 in 1970 and 1973:

1970 None None 472 375 hp (280 kW) @ 4400 rpm

1973 R 63E,Q 472 220 hp (164 kW) @ 4400 rpm




It was the same all across the board at GM. The 1973 would not get out of its own way. I bought a new 1973 Corvette and sold it within a couple of years, it made me so sad. Not to sell it, that made me happy, it was driving the pig that made me sad. I bought a 1968 427.