Where did the old wagons go? They apparently dissolved away, lost into ether (rust more precisely), for finding one is awfully hard. Look on the streets, or the Cohort, and rarely any ever appear. And Chevy wagons? Sidewalk evidence would suggest they never existed. But exist they did, in large numbers. And when a good one appears, memories return.
As a US territory, Puerto Rico was a captive market for US brands (Plaza de las Americas Mall above). And Puerto Ricans cherished their American brands, with late ’60s Chevys still common even in my teen years during the late ’80s. Wagons were part of all this of course, and all got the same use they did in the mainland; they were dependable family haulers.
And the one I remember most is the one my girlfriend’s sister drove in those days; a late ’60s Chevrolet wagon (Caprice? Bel Air?), in semi-beater condition.
My girlfriend and I would sit, talking in the house’s porch while her nephews roamed around misbehaving. The afternoon heat was generally stifling (the tropics!), and a drunkard friend of hers would come talk to us from time to time, to exchange some gossip or other, right there in the porch. If I stayed long, sometime around 4pm, the old Chevy wagon would appear, driving slowly into the street with her sister at the wheel, and her two daughters in the back. The ole’ Chevy would stop in front of the house, idling away, and both sisters would start to chat. Loudly; as we remained in the porch, and her sister in the wagon:
- How are those two in the back behaving?
- You know how kids are… They’re a couple of brats!
I wouldn’t know it from where I sat. The girls seemed fairly well behaved, as they sat quietly, not roaming much around (no seatbelts). These kinds of street exchanges were rather common in the island, and a bit exotic to my more ‘proper’ Salvadorian upbringing. The island was -and remains- a rather fascinating place in my mind.
Not that I remember the little girls much; the sister’s image lingers more in my mind. She was vivacious, outgoing and the family’s anchor. Should anything go wrong, she -and the old Chevy- would spring to action, to sort out the multiple minor emergencies the whole family had a knack for.
After a few minutes, the talk would finish. The old wagon would back away, slowly, and get lost after turning the street’s corner.
So where have all those wagons gone? Memories apparently. Not that it’s such a bad fate, as long as they’re fond ones.
Images from the Cohort by MoparMatt15224, shot in PA back in 2015. Hard to read the For Sale sign, but seems to say it has a 283 engine, with Powerglide.
The great American station wagon, like the great American Luxury Sedan has been replaced by SUVS and crossovers! What a sad situation. There is not one new vehicle produced today that I would want. All just glorified trucks 🚚 🛻. 🤮!
AMEN, Rick. You`re absolutely right about the proliferation of these boxy, look-alike SUVs. It`s almost getting to the point where you can count non-SUVs sedans and coupes on one hand, especially in suburban New Jersey.
Yes I agree as I have a taurus 24V as GM stopped a the mid size in 83. the only newer wag is the 18-20 regal sports wag nice but way to much stuff in it ! but I;d only see one in person in NY & my friend who works in a car wash in NC washed one As no one wants a normal wagon very sad !
Before SUV’s became popular there were vans. Dad’s ’65 Impala wagon was replaced by a ’69 Dodge Sportsman, more rugged and roomy for our desert camping adventures.
Had one with the, 396cu.in. Total Sleeper, was a State Police commercial weight unit. 325 hp,Turbo Hydramatic, Positraction. A, Smoker !!!
In 1977 my parents looked at a Ford passenger van for our family. They were planning a family rod trip the next summer, and our 72 Vega wasn’t going to cut it (especially since I was 14-15 and growing quickly.
When they got it home it was too tall to fit in the garage, so we ended up with a 77 Impala wagon, which ended up being the best car they ever had
Nice writing.
The pictured wagon came along towards the end (in my mind) of the good looking Chevy B-bodies. In 1968 the styling grew more bloated, and it really went off the rails in the 1971 redesign.
First, I loved your essay.
As for the wagon, these were new cars during my childhood and were high school beaters when I was older. These were very common, but not in Caprice trim with the paneling. I am just now noticing how Chevrolet used a lighter color trim (just like Ford always did) but that there is so little contrast between the dark and the light. I don’t think the look is as successful as Fords, and I don’t recall Chevy using this scheme for long.
A friends family had a brand new one, the top line model with many options and wood trim. My main memory is that one of the taillights was VERY crooked. I cannot imagine how it left the factory that way but it sure did.
School friends family got a “67”; white/wood/ blue inside. They got it about 1972-73, I believe. No roof rack that I recall.Thinking it was an Impala.
I still have my 1966 Chevy Biscayne wagon. I bought it on February 5, 1974 for $150 to replace my ’60 Bel Air winter car. Never leaving anything alone I first swapped the 327 from the ’60 into the wagon, soon after that a TH400 transmission. Three years later after wearing out the 327, a big block and in 1980 a 12 bolt. Later, in 1989, a 700R4.
Over the years it’s been painted once (needs paint again), driven well over 100,000 miles by me, street raced and drag raced on several tracks, and used as a hauler and trailer tow vehicle.
It now leads an more pampered life but I did take a couple of trips last year…..one to drag another car home and the other to retrieve big truck parts.
This is a real Curbside Classic that brings back memories. I remember when these Chevy wagons were very common. A friend of my mother’s had a similar ’68 (round taillights); and another friend had a ’69. Never see them now.
Nice color on this one. Usually the Ford wagons had the wood, not the Chevys.
As to “Where did they all go?”– Remember that wagons tend to get hard use–they’re not pampered. Also I don’t think wagons were considered desirable collector cars vs. sedans, hardtops, convertibles, and sporty cars. Hard to find one like this in original form–most 50s-70s wagons for sale online have gotten the hot rod treatment (mag wheels, etc.) which NONE of them had when I was growing up! I guess driving a vintage wagon in its original form just isn’t COOL enough!
I love American Station Wagons, when I was in high school a classmate had a ’66 full size Chevy wagon, we were enroute some where when he slalomed through a bit of road construction over a bridge and slid it sideways into something, I recall not what .
I was sitting in the left side rear seat, the impact point and got my head whacked pretty badly .
he had it towed home and found another body and replaced it, drove the car through high school, I wonder what ever happened to it and him .
About that time I bought a cherry 1962 Ford Ranch Wagon with V8 and Ford-O-Matic two speed slush box, that was a good car until my girlfriend wrecked it .
In the 1950’s through the early 1980’s Station Wagons were an American staple, rich or poor, everyone had one, used one for work or whatever .
None of the modern replacements come close .
Teens and young adults often bought old family wagons dirt cheap and were embarrassed to be seen driving them but their utility cannot be beat .
-Nate
This ’66 Caprice wagon was a big deal, as it was the first Chevy wagon with “wood” planking since the 1951? or so, acknowledging that Ford’s Squire wagons were eating their lunch.
Nice story too.
Here’s a similar wagon getting a “Free Safety Check” at an Amoco station. This is a page from my H.S. Driver’s Ed. textbook, which I saved.
This book could never be used today because, in looking through it just now, I realize how OUTDATED everything is! The book, “Tomorrow’s Drivers” was copyright 1979, but was still being issued to students in 1986!
Where have all the wagons gone?
So true given how proliferate they were in the second half of the 60’s through the 70’s. Just try finding one today in decent condition as a purchase project. My guess is that like a 1966 truck the wagons were used for what they were made for and that task wasn’t gentle on them. Consequently beat up and traded in for another with that now used wagon not getting past the second owner alive.
I would love a Country Squire even though the family never had one. Right now I settle for a Sable wagon and have to say it can come in very handy.
I hadda 1989 Sable wagon, bucket seats & console shift, it has the smaller 3.0 litre V6 pushrod engine and I had 367,000 miles on it when I parted with it, it was a good car that I inherited when my mom passed but I would have rather had the ’73 Gran Torino w/400 in it that she had before that Sable!
That light teal metallic paint colour, such an attractive contrast, to the fake wood. A great colour combination. Very ’60s.
How much is that 1k wagon ?…
Any rust ?…
Ok..SB 383/406..400HP..TH400/3000 stall..factory12bolt/3.43gears..Jet 750cfm Qjet..Torker intake..MSD/HEl..Hedman/Hooker shorty headers..8 chamber flowmaster dual mufflers..Holley Red fuel pump/Large fuel cell under stock location..Drum brakes/ Convert to Power Drum/ Carbon Metallic Shoes…Keep it simple……
Hi,
The 1965 Impala 9 passenger wagon with a roof rack, 327 and Turbo 400 painted in Mist Blue is my all time favorite wagon, with the 1965 Ford Country Squire wagon second, my 1996 Roadmaster wagon third (Be There or B Gone article)(I purchased the Light Driftwood Metallic spray paint and touch up today) and the 1965 Chrysler Town and Country wagon fourth
and the 1965 Jeep Grand Wagoneer fifth!
GM, Ford and Jeep should reintroduce classic station. wagons again!
Thanks for this article!
Gart
I took my driving test in a mist blue ’65 Impala wagon, 327/PG (TH400 only available with the 396). Many family adventures, including off road in the desert, and my hooning that car endured.
I think a couple of factors lead to the disappearance of old wagons. First, in the late ’70’s when the last era of popularity for wagons was still going on, old wagons weren’t cool as used cars, unless they were bought by people that really needed one. Teens and other young people hated getting a wagon as a family hand me down from their parents or grandparents. Second, the minivan became popular and “stylish” in the ’80’s and wagons dropped in popularity and quickly were abandoned and scrapped. Third, the tremendous growth of trucks for personal and family use. Now cap this off with the popularity of SUVs and most people now had many alternatives for passenger and load carrying. Cash for Clunkers and State sponsored buy back for clean air/emission programs led a lot of older cars and wagons to the junkyard.
For our family the timing of wagons disappearing kind of followed our demographics…by end of 70’s my twin sister and I (oldest) had moved out on our own, plus the need to pull a camper trailer went away when Dad sold the camper (guess I was the main person who enjoyed camping) so no more need to pull loads. For them it started in 1961 when they bought their first Rambler Classic wagon, after that we had a wagon for our “main” car up until Dad’s ’78 Caprice Classic wagon was totalled in 1984 (funny both first and last wagons had the word “Classic” in their name.
My Dad also had 2 Ford full sized wagons, he liked the 3 way tailgate better than the clamshell that GM had on full sized until they changed and he bought the ’78 Caprice classic for his last wagon. After the Rambler(s) (had 2 of them in a row) he bought a new ’65 Olds F85 wagon so we went from compact to mid-sized to full sized wagons (as the family grew).
Also, this maybe more psychological, but my parents moved to central Texas (from Vermont) in ’82, and the wagon was the only air conditioned car for a short time (I followed them down their the next year, though I tolerated a non-air conditioned car till ’86 probably because the traffic wasn’t quite so bad and I could mostly rely on breeze through open window while moving). Anyhow, wagons had a larger passenger compartment volume, and though the Caprice Classic had a good air conditioner, with the increased volume the temperature took a little longer to cool…and it is hot in central Texas in the summer. So my Dad went down 2 sizes and also abandoned wagons, ended up buying the worst car he was to own, a new ’84 Pontiac Sunbird 4 door sedan, which was handed down to my (since deceased) youngest sister, it went through 2 engines by ’89 and was totalled after 5 years despite dealer maintenance at recommended intervals.
Funny I looked at the URL for this and it contains “1975 chevelle-malibu-estate” in it…9 years newer and a size smaller than the actual content.
The Mercedes wagon was popular among the well-to-do in the NoVa suburbs in the 80s. It’s surprising that didn’t last, or filter down to the hoi polloi.
The ’65 restyle really makes our ’63 Impala wagon look dated, yet they’re both recognizably Chevrolet.
I’ve heard that many old wagons wound up at the demolition derby, although the thought of that makes me very sad, so I try not to think about it.
In Puerto Rico, they may have had to ship the car back to the mainland for its derby fate.
Excellent essay.
We had a 68 impala wagon. Bought new in 1968
.capitol chevy..I picked it up new..it had a 396.motor…300 horse.drinked gas like it’s last gulped m 8mpg….rode a many day in the 68 wagon
..ti 1970…it’s was a good vehicle..
wagons are thin on the ground now all ,akes and models they often became tool boxes for tradesmen or odd jobbing types, tow vehicles for lawn maintenace guys etc who slowly ran them in to the ground< I have a wagon that despite a spell on a local dirt race track has survive fairly well it was lightly used for 25 years before I got it but its quite rare now.
I have a 1978 Thunderbird I can’t get it in the gear the gear shift keep going back and then forth
We had a 1966 Chevrolet Impala wagon. I guess my parents thought we needed one to carry them, my 5 brothers and I. I remember my Dad putting the snowmobile in the back with the nose pointed backwards before they made a trailer to haul it. That was a cold ride with the back wide open.