Cohort Outtake; 1959 Chevrolet Parkwood Wagon – Lots of Woods, But No Woodie

I don’t think we’ve ever taken a look at a ’59 Chevy wagon before here, so when I ran across this fine one shot curbside by Staxman at the Cohort, I bit. Now we’re all very familiar with Chevy’s bat wing styling, which may not have been terribly practical for a wagon, but Chevy made it work, well enough. And since I used to ride to catechism in an almost identical ’59 wagon, I have vivid memories of what the inside was like: roomy.

What we have here is a Parkwood wagon. And that name tells us something that probably just about no other wagon name ever did: that this is a 6 passenger wagon, and not a 9 passenger version. because if it had been, it would be a Kingswood. And if it had been a lower trim (Biscayne-level) wagon, it would have been the Brookwood. Only the Impala-trim version wasn’t a ‘wood’ suffix wagon,as the illustrious Nomad name was saved for it.

 

The Parkwood and Kingswood wagons were in Bel Air-level trim. The original owner of this one was a thrifty soul, as it apparently has the venerable 235 six and what appears to be the three-on-the-tree. needless to say, a palette of 283 and 348 cubic inch V8s were also available. Even a fully-sychronized four speed floor-shifted manual, if one was so inclined, but only on the more powerful V8s. Plus of course Powerglide or Turboglide.

The one I rode in was also owned by Mary Lou Funk’s dad, also a thrifty guy, and it too had the six and manual. Well, it was a short ride to St. Thomas Moore on Monday afternoons, but I remember the back seat very well, especially those foot wells that dropped down between the the X-Frame center and the sills.

Since I started skipping catechism very early (3rd grade, the first time), my rides in the Chevy wagon were increasingly rare.

The only 9 passenger wagon available was the Kingswood; the rest were all 6 passenger wagons. But I can assure you there were plenty of times that there more more than 6 aboard the Catechism Express.