What is it about station wagons, estate cars, or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods that appealed so much in the far-off past? Station wagons are a dying breed in 2022, but enthusiasts out there are willing to pay big money for a well-preserved classic.
If you like faux wood trim, V8 engines, and enough space to legitimately live out of it if you need to, this 1969 Pontiac LeMans Safari station wagon might just be your white whale. The ultimate classic American wagon. It comes to us for sale via a private Craigslist user out of Marion, North Carolina. But based on its condition, we'd believe you if you told us it was a California car all its life.
Unlike the god-awful woodie tributes of the mid-2000s, the stylized wood-grain veneer accenting the entire length of either side of this Pontiac looks tasteful, stylish, and not at all lame in the same way a PT Cruiser with the same wood-finish tends to feel like. A nicely detailed black paint color to contrast that striking wood grain makes for a two-tone look unlike almost anything else on the road.
According to its listing, the LeMans Safari was an exclusive station wagon package in the LeMans lineup for the 1969 model year. The Safari served as a station wagon variant of several Pontiac models based on the GM B-body between 1957 and the late 1980s. If the anecdotes about this LeMans Safari's rarity are true, it makes it one of the most desirable Pontiac Safaris.
Under the hood of this behemoth is a 350-cubic inch (5.7-liter) Pontiac V8 engine that's technologically very different from the Chevy 350 small block V8 under the hood of a whole host of GM cars and trucks at this time. Engine variety was so much better in the days before the Chevy 350 cannibalized the market of all other GM V8s, wasn't it?
Photo: Craigslist User Marion, NC
It's tough to tell how much power this particular Pontiac small block is cranking. Still, an old thread on the Jalopy Journal forum about the details of the Pontiac 350 seems to indicate that at least in the model year after this one, it made around 250 hp with a stock two-barrel carburetor.
The high-performance, higher-compression HO variant was rated at 330 gross horsepower from the factory. So expect the engine in this station wagon to be made in between those figures. Underneath the car, we can see the stock GM rear differential, and it appears as though the rear shocks and coil springs have been replaced recently.
All in all, not so bad underneath the frame and suspension-wise with this positively ancient Pontiac wagon. Moving to the inside, the interior of this LeMans Safari is in remarkably good shape. The factory option lap belts that do little other than bend you in half in an accident are still present. It's a nice token gesture of well-being, but ultimately not all that effective.
Though most American interiors had seats covered in a vinyl wrap, these seats appear to be genuine leather. The seat cover material's deeper, more supple-looking texture indicates this is the case. No cigarette burns or miscellaneous blemishes appear on any of the carpets, and with 47,000 miles (75,639 km) on the odometer, there is still life in this relic of a bygone age. Though, it almost feels wrong to daily drive a classic car this nice.
Photo: Craigslist User Marion, NC
It certainly won't do favors for your bank account in fuel costs. But for a price of just $18,000, there are certainly people out there who'd rather drive this every day than a mildly used Nissan Versa.
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