There’s more to the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser—and its GM stablemate, the Buick Sport Wagon—than we might think. Let’s take a closer look.

It’s easy to suppose that the distinctive greenhouse of the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon was a takeoff on the split-level Scenicruiser bus designed by General Motors for the Greyhound Bus Lines, with its panoramic VIsta Dome greenhouse and seating arrangement. It’s a completely natural sort of assumption.

However: Acording to his coworkers at the GM Body Development Studio, designer Pete Wozena came up with the concept independently, without reference to the Scenicruiser bus. Reportedly, he was known for his offbeat, out-of-the-box thinking. From there the bi-level roof was picked up by the Oldsmobile division for 1964 where it was given the name Vista Cruiser. Buick also signed onto the feature for ’64, calling its version the Sports Wagon (later changed slightly to Sport Wagon). But it was the Vista Cruiser name that stuck in the minds of American car buyers, so we’ll be focusing mainly on the Olds version here.

As this photo of the ’64 model (above) illustrates, there was more to the Vista Cruiser packaging than simply the dramatic glasswork. The wheelbase of the GM intermediate A-body chassis was stretched from 115 to 120 inches, the rear side doors were lenghtened four inches, and the rear portion of the roof was elevated nearly three inches. Thus the interior volume was increased significantly, and among other things, this roomier cabin allowed an optional front-facing third seat. At the time, the third seats in Detroit station wagons typically had to be faced toward the rear, a less-than-optimal arrangement that was known in the industry as “Dramamine seating.”

Buick’s Skylark Sport Wagon (’65 shown below) shared its longer chassis, upper sheet metal, and greenhouse with the Vista Cruiser, naturally. Both the Olds and Buick versions were typically offered in two trim levels, base and Custom, and both divisions continued to offer standard intermediate-based station wagons along with the raised-roof models. For a number of years the Buick and Olds divisions didn’t offer full-sized wagons, and the stretched-wheelbase, high-roof models were intended in part to fill the perceived gaps in their product lines.

Buick discontinued its high-roof Sport Wagon after 1969, while Oldsmobile continued through 1972 with its Vista Cruiser wagons (’72 model shown below). Actually, there was a Vista Cruiser model in the Olds product catalog through the 1977 model year, but from ’73 on it was a conventional A-body station wagon with a standard wheelbase and a flat steel roof. In truth, only the name was continued. Years later, GM would feature an extra glass roof panel over the rear seat on its big ’91-92 Olds Custom Cruiser and ’91-96 Buick Roadmaster Estate wagons.