A Nostalgic History of the Station Wagon

[Ingomike]

I remember in the mid-70s when my buddies’ family switched from a station wagon to a Chevy Suburban. I had never seen a Suburban in person before, and thought it was kind of neat. I didn’t realize I was witnessing a change of eras.

What is crazy is Ford does not even sell a car right now…

 

[yotehunt]

91 Buick roadmaster. Cannot believe how loaded this was for the year. Auto headlights, auto hvac etc. And the air ride still works!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Our family had a 73 Pontiac Catalina Safari. There were 6 of us back then. Quite the car…

We had a 70 or 71 Pontiac wagon, white with wood-grain sides, and (I think) a 455. Our neighbor called it "The Queen Mary"

Way back in the day, we'd go to the drive-in, park in the back, and dad would put a twin bed mattress on the roof of our '67 pontiac station wagon, and us kids would lay up there and watch the movie. I still remember watching Herby The Love Bug when it first came out. Good Times.

 

[HoughMade]

Growing up, I think we only had 1 wagon- 1978 Chevy Malibu with the vinyl wood sides.

I currently own a wagon, a Saturn SW2 that my daughter has at college and all my kids have driven since I bought it when my oldest son turned 16 in 2013.

Wagons are very practical, but with 4 kids, the minivan was our pick to click over the years. Owned 3 of them, one after another.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

We had a Country Squire (with the fake wood paneling on the sides) and then a Country Sedan (which became my car when I went to college). I drove the Country Sedan for a few years. It got so rusted out that once when driving it out into the country on dirt roads to a party up near Lafayette, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw what appeared to be a dust storm inside the car moving up from the rear of the car. When we got to the party location, my buddy and I were covered in dust.

 

[gregkl]

Growing up, I think we only had 1 wagon- 1978 Chevy Malibu with the vinyl wood sides.

I currently own a wagon, a Saturn SW2 that my daughter has at college and all my kids have driven since I bought it when my oldest son turned 16 in 2013.

Wagons are very practical, but with 4 kids, the minivan was our pick to click over the years. Owned 3 of them, one after another.

Our Malibu wagon was a '79 with woodgrain sides. It was a dark metallic blue and the woodgrain looked pretty rough. So I peeled it off unaware that they were a little shy of paint under the woodgrain. It still looked better, but not much.

But I pulled the V6 and dropped in a fresh 350 I took out of a '70 Chevelle and rebuilt. It was a sleeper wagon after that.

 

[Mgderf]

Had my parents still owned their '69 Catalina wagon when I got my license, parallel parking would have been near the bottom of the list of things I woulda/coulda/shoulda nailed.

Not a wagon, but I took my driver's license test in a 1966 Pontiac Catalina.
Talk about a boat!
I did nail the parallel parking in that thing, but I had received a lot of practice by the time I took the test.

 

[Bill2905]

Ohio did away with the parallel parking test the year before I got my license. They replaced it with an easier test that required you to back the car between two rows of parallel cones. I don't know that I could have passed the parallel park test in the big Dodge wagon at that point in my driving career.

 

[Sigblitz]

My mom always had a wagon. There was something different about each one. First one I remember is maybe a fairlane, white, red interior. I think it had 2 side seats facing each other. Had another that also had a table. Others had front facing seat, rear facing seat, disappearing door, little step up windows on the roof.

 

[Sigblitz]

Ohio did away with the parallel parking test the year before I got my license. They replaced it with an easier test that required you to back the car between two rows of parallel cones. I don't know that I could have passed the parallel park test in the big Dodge wagon at that point in my driving career.

I took my test in that real long Chrysler with the 3rd window, and had to parallel park. I think it was a Chrysler. It had the huge 3rd window like the Cadillac Fleetwood had.
Edit: 1975 Buick Electra 4 door

 

[MRockwell]

Does a Chevette hatchback count as a station wagon? That was our family car until I was around 12, then we got an Astro van.

I remember my aunt had a station wagon that the back door opened to the side, or opened down like a pick-up tailgate. That was cool.

 

[55fairlane]

I had 3 wagons, I really miss them all
53 DeSoto, beast of a car, 331 hemi, 9 of you buddies in the car and you still had room for a cooler
57 Pontiac hearse , kinda a rare car a 5 door coach, 1 road side door for the driver, 3 doors curb side, rear door, casket went behind the driver. Red mohair upholstery, 78 rpm record player
73 Plymouth satellite, road runner hood , dash, seats,steering column, floor shifter, 15 inch cop car wheels , 440 engine (mildly warmed up)

 

[55fairlane]

View attachment 252562
91 Buick roadmaster. Cannot believe how loaded this was for the year. Auto headlights, auto hvac etc. And the air ride still works!

I always thought those cars were ugly, until I saw the yellow "salt flat special " that moon equipment did ......

 

[Lmo1131]

I inherited my mom's '89 Ford Escort GL in 2004. Still driving it, although it's not as pristine, now, as it is in this photo.

 

[cg21]

View attachment 252562
91 Buick roadmaster. Cannot believe how loaded this was for the year. Auto headlights, auto hvac etc. And the air ride still works!

I am hoping to find one of these for a project/cruiser with the lt1

 

[Timjoebillybob]

I am hoping to find one of these for a project/cruiser with the lt1

I'd like one myself. IIRC the LT1 was in the 94 and 95 years only. They were also 2 bolt mains in the roadmaster and the caprice vs 4 bolt in the camaro and corvette.

 

[Eagle]

VW Jetta wagon here. It’s great for us. I believe a wagon is better then an SUV in most cases, and usually has more cargo room—today people just buy SUVs because they’re plentiful and everyone else has one.

 

[Ingomike]

VW Jetta wagon here. It’s great for us. I believe a wagon is better then an SUV in most cases, and usually has more cargo room—today people just buy SUVs because they’re plentiful and everyone else has one.

And a much better field of vision. I hear that a lot as a driver of the decision to get an SUV over a car…

 

[rkwhyte2]

VW Jetta wagon here. It’s great for us. I believe a wagon is better then an SUV in most cases, and usually has more cargo room—today people just buy SUVs because they’re plentiful and everyone else has one.

I also drive a Jetta Sport Wagon. Great car, mine is the TDI model with the DSG tranny.

 

[Alamo]

…

57 Pontiac hearse , … 78 rpm record player

!?