3 Forgotten American V8 Wagons That Are Future Collectibles

The V8 engine may be an endangered species today, but for several decades these eight-cylinder powerplants were a symbol of American motoring. Large, noisy, and powerful, they embodied the idea of road-trip freedom, powering anything from sports cars to family haulers.

The V8-powered wagon was formerly a common way to get around America from the 1950s through roughly the 1980s, with a few stragglers lasting until the 1990s. If you’re looking to add a piece of American automotive history to your garage, you might consider buying a classic wagon with a V8 on board. Here, we are taking a closer look at three nearly forgotten models that fit the bill and can give you an amazing classic-car ownership experience. These three V8-powered wagons may not be the most famous or flashy, but they are on the way to becoming collectibles, and this might be just the right time to snap one up.

Chevrolet Caprice

We start with the Chevrolet Caprice. The nameplate was originally used for an option package on the Impala in the early 1960s, but it became a separate model in 1966. Although the Chevy Caprice name was used for a total of six generations globally, we’re focusing on the first four generations, the ones sold in the US.

The Caprice was a large, quintessentially American mid-century car with a squared-off silhouette that only softened in the fourth generation. Over the course of its life, the model was available in a very wide variety of two-door and four-door body styles: not just wagon, but also hardtop, coupe, sedan, and convertible.

The powertrain lineup was similarly varied. The first and second generation exclusively offered V8 options, while the third added an inline-six, two V6s, and even a diesel V8 into the mix. The fourth generation offered a smaller lineup of just three V8 engines, with a more efficient V6 exclusively available for vehicles used as taxis.

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This version of the Caprice, the last to be sold in the States, was quite different visually from the previous three. It placed greater emphasis on aerodynamics, as car design had evolved and efficiency became a higher priority. This generation had a sister model in GM’s portfolio: the Buick Roadmaster, a car that brought back a nameplate from the 1950s when it was introduced in 1991.

Today, most examples of the Chevrolet Caprice can be found between $5,000 and $30,000, depending on factors such as age, mileage, and maintenance history.

Buick Roadmaster

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The next car in our trio is a sister model to the Chevrolet Caprice: the Buick Roadmaster. The Roadmaster name had been used for a variety of models and generations throughout the 20th century. Buick brought it back in 1991 after a long hiatus, and it was for a model that shared a platform and several components with the fourth-gen Caprice.

As was the case with the Caprice itself, by this point the Roadmaster had seen its previously harsh lines softened considerably, and its body shape made more aerodynamic, in keeping with changing car design trends. Both the Roadmaster and the Caprice were not just available as a wagon, but also as a sedan. At the time of its release, the Roadmaster was the largest car in the Buick family.

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Despite being on the market for just six years, this Roadmaster had three different engines over its production run, all of them V8s. The first was a 5.0-liter unit which produced 170 hp. The initial version of a 5.7-liter V8 increased the output to 180 hp. In 1994, the third and last engine arrived: also 5.7 liters in size, it produced a considerably higher output of 260 hp. The only transmission available throughout was a four-speed automatic. Today, prices for the ‘90s Roadmaster range from around $7,000 to $20,000.

Read the full article on CarBuzz

This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.