With extra weight over the rear wheels, station wagons have always been mean drag racing machines. They also get more street cred among classic car enthusiasts every decade: a wagon is simply a more unique vehicle choice than a coupe or sedan. But not all wagons are created equal; one classic stands head and shoulders above the rest. It’s a wagon so fast and so cool, that it can make muscle car owners feel foolish.Here's the rub: Detroit just kept building better wagons every year. While you might think the best "performance" station wagon came out of the muscle car wars of the 1960s and 1970s, motorheads disagree. Even fans of older classics prefer a surprising RADwood-era wagon. Enthusiasts insist it marks the "high-water mark for station wagons in American history." One Factory 'Hotrod' Station Wagon Offers 'A Unique Joy' While muscle cars and supercars are cool, they are also a bit cliché. Conan O’Brien said it best while interviewing actor Dax Shepard, “A guy comes into some money, he’s going to go out and get the Lamborghini, the Bugatti. That’s not the way you went.” Shepard—famously a classic car enthusiast—chose a decades-old station wagon for one of his daily drivers. His unique choice is so cool that it might make drivers who bought special edition muscle cars or supercars—spending ten or twenty times as much money—feel foolish.Note that Shepard didn’t choose any old wagon. And he hot-rodded it up to 700 horsepower for a four-second 0-60 time. Which he says makes driving it “a unique joy"—and helps with his parenting. The ‘High-Water Mark For Station Wagons In American History' It Only Lasted For Three Brief Years PowerNation, YouTubeDax Shepard’s most recognizable car may be his 1967 Lincoln Continental. It’s the 700-horsepower slab-sided beast he’s kept for decades. It's also the car he and wife Kristen Bell drove while on the run in their action/romance movie Hit and Run (a great date night flick for any motorheads).You might assume that when Shepard learned he was going to be a dad, he went shopping for a 1960s station wagon. Something similar to his Continental and with a bit more space. But even though Shepard loves 1960s cars, he admits that Detroit just kept building better station wagons every generation. He claims “the high-water mark for station wagons in American history” came decades later. And Shepard has a personal connection to it.“I worked for General Motors for 14 years—that’s what my family did, right—and we delivered press vehicles around the city in Detroit. So, we managed a fleet of about 250 cars. When I was 18 years old, we could pick any car we wanted from the shop to go run chase with. So, we’d drop off a new Corvette and then we had to come back to the shop: there’d be two guys. And these [station wagons] were inordinately fast. We would all fight over these [wagon] cars because there’s nothing funnier to an 18-year-old than getting sideways in a big, huge station wagon.” — Dax Shepard The 1994-1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate A Sleeper Station Wagon That Can Embarrass Muscle Car Owners Bring a Trailer Buick revived the Roadmaster name for the 1991 model year, as both a sedan and a wood-paneled station wagon (the Roadmaster Estate). It was the first rear-wheel-drive Buick since 1985, and the company pulled out all the stops. By the 1994 mid-cycle refresh, every one came with aLT1 V8borrowed from the C4 Corvette that made 260 horsepower. It’s the same motor found in the legendary Chevy Caprice Police Package of the same era.But that’s not the only upgrade the Roadmaster enjoyed. Shepard explained, "That is the high-water mark for station wagons in American history. '94 to '96 Roadmaster: positraction, stainless steel dual exhaust, LT1 motor in front."The Roadmaster Estate models most desirable among enthusiasts have the towing package, rated to pull 5,000 pounds. The package comes with a beefed-up engine cooling system, air shocks, a limited-slip differential, and a 2.93 rear axle ratio—all of which are as useful on the drag strip as while hauling a trailer. Luckily for enthusiasts, collectors appear to still be ignoring these rare and desirable cars. Eight Seatbelts Plus A Corvette Engine Equals A One-Of-A-Kind Ride Bring a TrailerIs the Buick Roadmaster Estate GM’s fastest station wagon ever? Absolutely not. Two decades later, Cadillac launched the supercharged 2011 CTS-V wagon with its stock four-second 0-60 time. And if you want that long roof life today, you can have your pick of wagon configurations of German sports sedans (BMW M5 Touring, Mercedes-AMG E 53 Hybrid Wagon, or the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo). But none of these wagons offer the gutsy feel of old-school muscle wagons. None of them would make a muscle car owner feel foolish—even if they’re faster on paper.There’s something special about a family hauler with a rear-facing rear seat that’s optioned with a V8 and set up to tow a trailer—or launch at a stoplight. Shepard added that in his wagon, “Drifting across four lanes of traffic sideways is a unique joy.” 1990s Performance With A 1960s Personality Mecum AuctionsBy the 1990s, SUVs were already gobbling up market share, and the classic wagon was an endangered species. Buick knew this and leaned into the nostalgia, optioning every Roadmaster Estate with woodgrain panels. It even finished some of these wagons in an ultra-retro blue-on-blue color scheme. The result is a car with 1990s performance, but a 1960s personality.“When my wife got pregnant four years ago, immediately I was like, ‘I have to get a B-Body station wagon between ’94 and ’96 because if I’m gonna be a dad, I don’t want to be in a minivan… I want to be in something I can drift.” – Dax Shepard Shepard certainly didn’t leave his Buick Roadmaster Estate stock. He immediately installed coilovers, big brakes, and a supercharged V8 crate engine from Chevrolet. He nicknamed the result “woodgrain station wagon NASCAR.” It certainly offers some gnarly performance numbers. “We’re looking at zero to 60 mph in four seconds—which you’ve gotta have if you’ve got two young kids, cause you want to get out of that car as quick as possible. So, the faster you’re home, the happier everyone is.”What does Shepard do when everyone isn’t happy? That’s when he presses the rear-facing rear seats in the cargo area into service. “I put my kids back there, because I can’t hear them as loudly—in the way back.” You Can Still Get Into 'Woodgrain Station Wagon NASCAR' On A Budget Buick and its Roadmaster line have become cult classics. When Shepard brought his Roadmaster to Jay Leno’s Garage, he found Leno waiting with a surprise. One of Leno’s favorite cars is his 1955 Buick Roadmaster. He paid $350 for the car in 1972 and then spent the next 32 years hot-rodding it to restomod perfection. The powertrain he settled on was a 572-cubic-inch crate motor from GM Performance rated at 620 horsepower, custom headers, the legendary Chevrolet Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission, and C5 Corvette suspension welded to the frame. It even has Leno’s name etched on the valve covers. What do you do with a pair of 600+ horsepower Roadmasters? A drag race, of course. You can see the outcome in the video above. Is The Roadmaster Estate For You? You certainly don’t want to buy a Buick Roadmaster Estate if you are looking for a sleek coupe with modern conveniences. But if you want a sleeper wagon that makes muscle car owners feel foolish, with enough street cred to draw a crowd at any cars and coffee, and enough space for the entire family, you might want to consider the unique Buick Roadmaster Estate.Bring A TrailerThe 1991-1996 Buick Roadmaster (8th gen) had a brief pop in value, and prices appear to have settled a bit. Note, this value includes listing for the less-powerful 1991–1992 models, and for sedans as well. But according to Classic.com, the current listing price averages $9,419. The top sale of the past 12 months was just $23,500. The Classic Market Benchmark is actually down $12,291. Four Roadmaster Estates have sold on Bring a Trailer in 2026, three of which went for less than $13,000, and a fourth commanded $18,750.
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