Update: first posted 6/12/2014. This generated a lot of controversy then, and it still is. A number of new comments added since then claim to have seen fleets of these at a phone company and the Air Force, among others. One commenter says he has one, but failed to attach a photo. I’ve been accused of perpetrating a liberal conspiracy. Yet nobody has ever offered definitive proof. In the meantime, I did access GM Heritage Center’s definitive Vehicle Information Kits, in which they list every body style and almost infinite details. No sign of a two door wagon.
And then there’s this comment left a few days after it was first posted: “Hate to pop everyones bubble …I live n fla. And I built this car I have pics and the build sheet on it. One thing I wanted was to make as factory as possible and it seems it worked email me at daviscustoms65@yahoo.com. or call 4073140658.. Awesome to c it again “. That seems to rather seal the deal, eh?
Randy Thompson is the proud owner of this 1965 two-door Chevy II wagon. He posted a picture of it at “The Short and Odd Life of the Two Door Station Wagon” article, with this comment: I have recently become the owner of a factory COPO 2 door 1965 Chevy ll 2 door station wagon, ordered by the Air Force as a runway hatch, have great plans for it. My wife and I flew to Minneapolis and picked it up, we drove it back to Ca. in the S.F. bay area. car got a lot of attention at each stop on the way back.
Well, that was a stunner for me, because I have absolutely zero knowledge of Chevrolet building a two door Chevy II wagon. And it’s a bit hard to imagine them tooling up to do so just for the Air Force, as it certainly would have been cheaper to just buy the four door. Hmmm…
When I e-mailed him and asked for more info, this is what he wrote back: Paul, thanks for your interest, I myself had never seen a 2 door factory wagon, so when I saw on ebay, Had to have it! I dont have any paperwork for this wagon, but to see how this was assembled with all factory pinch welds its obvious this is not a backyard conversion of a 4 door wagon, on this one getting under the dash and look up you see the air force blue the car was delivered with. I’ve gone on GM websites and the have spec’s for a 2 door Chevy ll model 200 wagon, but they lump the 2 & 4 door wagon production together, so no telling how many were produced. also the rear side windows even roll down!
All the Googling in the world didn’t lead me to anything that supports a factory two-door wagon. But maybe I didn’t try hard enough.I did find the text of the original Ebay listing, but no pictures, from back in February of 2014:
1965 chevy II two door wagon, I know your saying they didn’t make them but I have done some research and they did make them for the military and government only. They were built on the copo fleet line and we’re called military runabouts. They came as two doors delivery wagons with glass only,not steel inserts for the side glass. I have had the carpet out of it and been under and all over it, the door jams floors and quarters all appear to be factory spot welds. From what I read they were taken off the assembly line as partially assembled 4door wagons and assembled as two doors on the copo line by hand,like 59,60 biscyane deliveries were. This wagon came from down south ,I was told it was an Air Force vehicle . It’s silver blue under the the dash and carpet,so I be leave it to be true. It has a wagon title and is pretty clean body wise . The only rust I found is in the driver side floor pan has rust and some one welded another floor pan over it. The rest of the body seems ok,it’s got crappy semigloss silver rat rod paint it’s no show car but looks cool and blows minds every where you take it. The interior is ratty the head liner sucks ,but got a new carpet. The wagon has a real healthy 406 sbc with aluminum heads torker intake and demon carb. Seems to have a mild stahl converter ,2500 rpm and a 10 bolt posi with Cal track bars. I was told it has around 500 hp but would say it more has mid 400 hp. It’s pretty fast fun little sucker to drive and sounds great. I haven’t had it very long and don’t no much about it as far as engine specs , sorry I got it late fall drove it a week or to and put it away for winter. Only selling it to put more money into my drag car ,got to go faster you know the deal. Listen I really don’t want to get in a debate about if this is a real two door or not, I have been building customs,rods,bikes,and race cars oft twenty five years and know what I’m lookin at. I did a lot of research and wrote what I found out,you can do the same. Look what normal chevy II wagons are going for , if you bought one and turn it into a two door your talking a lot of labor and money. So if you look at it that way it a win win, that’s the way I saw it when I bought it. The wagon also has original cragar gt rims with wide oval redline tires for that old school hot wheel car look.$500.00 with in 24hrs of the end of auction bank wire or postal money orders for payment, no title till the money clears, shipping is the buyers problem,but will help load. The pics I put up are all I have it’s in storage and really hard to get to,sorry. you can call me , no texts or emails 952-200-5518 Andy.
That didn’t exactly bring my BS Meter back in the green range. I’d like to believe it’s true, and am willing to, with enough evidence. I asked Randy to send me pictures of the bodywork, at critical places. He hasn’t, yet; but says he will.
Obviously, the bucket seats aren’t original, unless the Air Force really had some extra bucks to throw around. But the door trim is also obviously from a high-trim Nova. A two door sedan is of course what would have been used as a donor, if this was a custom job. And making custom two door wagons is hardly unusual. I can’t tell much from this one interior shot, but the weather stripping on the right looks a bit odd.
Pretty suspiciously odd.
Again, it’s not a very detailed image, but the area on that sill/rocker panel behind the door looks decidedly lumpy to me. My BS Meter is dipping even deeper into the red.
And although that work in creating the rear window surround looks pretty good from a distance, do I see little imperfections that also suggest body work?
Randy says he will shoot more detailed pictures when the car comes back from the tire store. That should really prove it one way or another. In the meantime, what do you say: Genuine COPO factory original, or Fake Custom?
I can’t believe this is still being talked about!
Unless there’s a plate similar to this riveted to the dash, it’s fake
The C-pillar seems enough to make it clear this used to be a four-door…it would look as it does only if part of it was once the top half of a door frame.
At a car show one time I saw a two-door Chevelle wagon, it was either a 1964 or 1965 model year. The owner had extensively customized it; he told me it had originally been built for a phone company.
While I was in the Air Force and stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB 1970-72, many of the vehicles in Air Force use where-if I remember correctly-68-69 full size chevrolets-all four door models and an occasional wagon. They were all painted Air Force Dark Blue and I never saw a single two door wagon.
As previously stated, 2-door CHEVELLE wagons wagons were regular production offerings in model years ’64 and ’65. No surprise there.
I saw a two door Chevy 2 wagon once. It was an unforgettable experience. I was in a parking lot when this ultra rare Air Force blue wagon pulled in. A huge hairy guy wearing an Air Force uniform was driving it. He said his name was Lt. Bigfoot and that his car was special ordered by the Air Force. This car was 409 Chevy powered and got 46 mpg. Lt. Bigfoot couldn’t talk for too long because he had an appointment with the Loch Ness Monster. I still have a paper clip AND a marble that he gave me to commemorate this meeting. Complete total proof. I’ll send pictures as soon as I find them. FOX News can verify all of this.
That’s crazy talk; the Lt. Bigfoot _I_ know only gets around in a 2-door black helicopter. I’d show you video but it got erased when that EMP “accidentally” went off in my neighborhood.
Hey, would you look at my shiny little pen here while I put on my sunglasses.
(flash)
“There was never a 2 door Chevy II wagon”
Most of us will agree the wagon was “built”, just not by GM. I was a GM partsman in the late ’60’s and the catalogues are still online. I’m attaching a snip from a 1965 parts catalogue listing for quarter panels for Chevy II’s. You will note there is only one part # for wagons, with no mention of a 2 door wagon.
Well, this was an unexpectedly entertaining read on a grey and wet COVID afternoon, especially on something about which I have no knowledge or opinion nor intention of gaining one or forming the other.
(Must say, though, the fact that Davis Customs is a real company with a website and phone number so does seem rather definitive, but that’s close to expressing the opinion I said I was not going to form about the concluded view that I haven’t got).
Gem Whitman mentioned – some years ago – above that the Brit army made Triumph produce a flat twin that wasn’t sold to the public, so I will throw in this little tale. In the ’60’s, my old man worked for Perkins Diesel in Aus, and one fine day, a rather large parcel was delivered. After enquiries with the truckie as to what on earth it was, they found inside the crate a Perkins something-or-other engine, complete. The something-or-other engine was one they no longer made in that form. After some kerfuffling in the records and on the phone, it transpired they’d sent it to the army for evaluation in a tender 7 or 8 years before. The army had now concluded that Perkins would not be winning the contract. This was a good thing, as they didn’t make it any more. A bad thing in that it had taken the brass 7 or 8 years to conclude the tender process.
Military ordering isn’t reputed for efficiency.
And there are tales abounding of what amounts to the NIH syndrome, either that or the bureaucratic scrambled egg order. Non-car guy CO: “We are NOT wasting money on four doors when two will do, and I am ordering the smallest Chev in base form.” Ok, then. Orders obeyed, bill finally comes in from GM at twice the expected cost – not GM’s problem, naturally – the non-car officer who ordered it has moved on (promoted, most likely) and the cost, well, the cost is buried deep in the books, with Washington yet again wondering why military things always turn out so much pricier. And behold, a batch of misbegotten factory Chevs begin their strangely-birthed lives….no?
Well, it’s no more or less credible than the many other tales above.
Not that I have an opinion.
“Dippshit know it all” – laugh, did I…he’s gonna burn callin’ PN that…….
IKR?
Today I learned that is IS possible to misspell dipshit.
How did I keep missing this?
I love this!
This is one of the best threads ever!
The CC gang and the awesome impostor – this is like reading a post about a controversial painting the owner claims is a rare DaVinci. All the guys were here – except me. Alas! My loss!
And yes – it will take years of research and happenstance to collect enough information to determine a final verdict.
My gut immediately said “FAKE!”
The reason is that while nicely done, the window treatment doesn’t look right. It doesn’t look like a factory job. It looks like a well done “hand-job”, instead.
A very nice vehicle – but not real.
And I cannot believe someone thought they could call Professor Paul – that!
I mean, what a rube!
I don’t care how much you disagree with Paul – his credibility is earned.
1. You can Google ‘2-door Chevy II wagon and quite a few images will pop up. I see at least one at every decent-sized car show I attend. These have ALL been BUILT from 4-door Chevy II wagons. Fact is, as conversions go, it’s a fairly easy job for a skilled body man. All you need is your 4-door wagon, and a corresponding 2-door sedan donor car with decent doors. Depending on how you handle the pillars, you might have to have the quarter glass specially made.
2. If Chevy made 1200 of these for the Air Force, where is just ONE vintage picture showing a 2-door Chevy II station wagon?
3. If some Air Force bean counter told Chevrolet they needed 1200 Chevy II 2-door station wagons, then the Chevrolet bean counters told Mr. AF bean counter how EXPENSIVE it would be, making CUSTOM 2-door wagons…….wouldn’t the Chevrolet bean counter just sell the Air Force a 2-door CHEVELLE wagon, instead?
– Nice story, but that’s all it is.
The whole bandying and bullshitting each other about two-door Chevy II wagon really hit home for me about my first car, 1971 Alfa Romeo 1750A Berlina.
A several years ago, a guy was asking in the Alfa Romeo forum whether 1750 Berlina with automatic gearbox ever existed or not. I chimed in that it did exist and that a very small run of 1750A Berlina (249–251 or 252, depending on the sources) was produced in early 1971 shortly before the end of production. Lot of commentators didn’t believe it existed.
I uploaded the photos of my 1750A Berlina and its dashboard as well as close-up photo of model decal in the rear. A scanned cover of automatic gearbox operating manual from the manufacturer was also uploaded. The bullshitting suddenly stopped, and a more cordial discussion followed.
Fascinating post! I note that someone above from Davis Customs said they built the feature car. There is a Davis Customs on Facebook, with a huge number of photos of cars they’ve customised. No 2-door Chevy II wagon present but they do have a number of photos of them customising a BMW 2002 2-door sedan into a 2-door wagon…
No one has discussed whether it’s a later built South American model? GM and Ford and Chrysler all kept building older models for SA years after they were discontinued in the US. Perhaps this was one of those, adapted to two doors to suit local tastes, or cut costs for a more price-sensitive market?
It’s a custom build, GM never made a Chevy II 2 door wagon
This car is fake.. I am the one that built this car.. I live in fla. And I have all the build pics of this wagon. Do a title search Jason Davis will show up as a owner. When I built it I painted it hot rod black and painted the inside and jams silver. And I installed a 63 grill u can contact me at Daviscustoms65@yahoo.com
When I was a teenager I use to have ten Chevy II’s/Nova’s the year’s 1963-1976.
Two were my driver’s a 66 SS Chevy II 327 4 sp and my 66 Four Door winter beater 2sp PG 194 Inline 6cyl, the rest were for selling part’s.
I was always looking for Salvage Yards in South West Michigan that had Chevy II’s.
One Yard in particular had 5 Chevy II’s with one Station Wagon I was very interested in, I wanted to buy the 1966 Chevy II SW but the owner of Perkins Salvage Yard in Oshtemo would only sell part’s off of his Salvaged Vehicle’s.
The Station Wagon was a 1966 Chevy II “Two Door” with the 2sp Power Glide and the little mouse 283 engine. It was Blue on Blue with factory Low Back Bucket Seats and the 2sp Auto Console, the Second seat was a typical bench seat, it had the Steel 14″ 5 lug wheels & Dog Dish Hubcaps with the Green Tinted Windows and the front Windshield with that cool Blueish Sun Shade in the top part of the glass.
I dreamed about that Chevy II SW for many year’s.
If GM had made a SS Chevy II Station Wagon this would have been one, but it had no SS badges just the usual V8 Chevy II Station Wagon badges.
Several of my high school Buddies and I would make the trip over to Perkins Salvage Yard on many weekend’s, we would try and talk the owner into selling one of us that sweet little Two Door Chevy II Station Wagon.
I never seen another one like her, that Chevy II was an “A Title” the owner had been hit in the front passenger side very hard and the Chevy II was totaled then sent to Perkins Salvage Yard and there she sat until as many parts as possible was sold off of her, then the little Chevy II SW was crushed for scrap when the scrap price went up the owner would crush his older parted out vehicles and make a trip to the highest paying Scrap Yard.
I will never forget the first time I set eye’s on that sweet little 1966 Chevy II Two Door SW, it was in 1977.
I have seen one in 1967 at a factory in Mass. that I worked at. It had a factory 283 and a 3 speed trans. The car was a 1964 2-door wagon used for delivery’s .I remembers as we had a 1964 4-door nova, our family car. Yes, you herd it right a 283 195 hp 2 barrel single exh. I could not get over the fact it had a v-8 I am 74 years old and spent my life in the auto and speed shop parts Ind. and I know my Sh+t. 1965 nova came with op- 327 250 hp. Bless the Nova’s and Chevrolet.
The 283 V8 was a regular option on Chevy IIs in 1964, so that part is no big deal. As to it being a 2-door wagon, well, it didn’t come that way from the factory. There’s just no such thing.