It’s time for another visit to the now-gone world of station wagons in the open. Today’s series collects images of wagons in day-to-day activities: at work, at play, or even just looking good with their owners.
A few shots show how these early lifestyle vehicles served that purpose at the time. Others capture the blemishes gained while at work. But in all, they offer a view of a period now hard to imagine, when wagons were a new thing. A serviceable tool in daily family life.
Talk about memory lane! We went cross country in our 1959 Pontiac Catalina wagon and I often joke with my friends about the metal dash and no seat belts! The car also wasn’t air conditioned which made for some warm days on the road which was for a large portion the old route 66.
I was an insurance investigator in the early 90’s., and this 70 Catalina was my “company car”, filled with the tools of the trade. Took a clean 60k mile car and wore it down to the bone….
Nice, I love the chystler wagons, big and still with rocket themed fins. The fabulous 50 and 60, I was just a kid back then. I Remer the first car I saw with power windows. I was hooked. It belong to Mr Egan. He stored sturr in our garage and had a phone line in our house. Mom and Dad were his answering service. I believe was salesmen, wondrr later if he was hit man.
RIP beloved 💔 Station wagons. Although I never owned one, they were so much better than the bloated SUVS and crossovers currently available. As I understand it began with CAFE requirements, which classified Vans as trucks and exempt. Please correct me if I am wrong 🙂
OK, I’ll go for the slightly spotted ’56 Chevy wagon, OH YAASSS!! 🙂 Yup, I stll miss my ’56 2 dr sedan 150 with its “modifications”, like the ’66 327 I put in her. $igh…..
The only wagons we ever had were 2 ’74 Pintos: 1 nu, the other later and very used/abused! DFO
Good lord that Nash/Rambler is awkward looking.
They were “individuals”! lol Quite roomy for the size though.
The two-tone Plymouth with kids hanging out is a close match to our family station wagon. It was a 1959 Dodge (a “Plodge” with the same rear end as the pic, but the front clip from a 1958 Dodge). I always think of it as the ultimate 1950s car – tailfins, pushbutton automatic, and two-tone salmon pink plus metallic bronze.
Make it green, roof rack; was our neighbors “prized, new ride in spring of “70”.Oh, they had “wheel covers” too.
This is referring to “Rhett’s”, yellow “Pontiac”.
I’d forgotten about those lost “mud flaps” across the back. Saw lots of them though.
After a few “wstrn PA” winters, they could look right “forlorn”.
We had a ’57 Olds Fiesta in light/dark brown until I was almost 3, so I have zero memories of it. Rode in it from Carmel to Norfolk at minus 2 months.
Interesting black house behind the Rambler. Hope they weren’t going on the highway.
That green 57 Olds: was that a Little League team, or did that poor lady have 6 boys? !!
Four are wearing the same tee shirt, and one has a Cub Scout cap. I think they’re too close in age to be brothers.
You’re right, didn’t think of their ages.
Better close the doors on that blue Plymouth wagon, or shut off the dome light, before the battery runs down.
Lovely cars, I’ve owned more than a few wagons and enjoyed them all .
Yes the Nash looks weird but that’s how Nashes were, I love the coral paint .
-Nate
Look how narrow the tires on the white Buick wagon.
Also note the window crank on the inside of the rear hatch. I would have assumed these were fixed in place.
Many, many memories. Also, really enjoy seeing old woody wagons. We did tent camping when I was a kid in the 1950’s.. Lots and lots of station wagons in the parks. In the very early ’50’s, 20 tents to 1 RV/trailer often pulled by a Cadillac.
That 57 Olds was parked at our house when I was a kid. Same color different kids, 5 Girls and three boys….I don’t have a picture of the Olds Super 88 Fiesta, but I have a pi ture of one of my many Wagons BIG and small.
The small wagon.
I’m a big fan of small wagons. I replaced my 1993 Corolla wagon with a 2022 Forester, since nobody sells a small wagon in the USA anymore. I like my new Forester but I LOVED my old Corolla.
We went thru three wagons before getting the ’69 Dodge Sportsman van. Once our camping adventures left pavement the ’65 Impala was not up to the task, as much as it tried. But, for typical motel vacations and long haul freeway travel with kids, they were perfect.
Wow! That ’61 Olds sure brought back memories. My parents had a white ’62 which was identical to the one shown except for the grille and trim. My dad bought it new and my folks just loved it. I would say that when my siblings and I think of a family car it is almost always the Olds. My dad even owned it twice. Traded in on a ’66 Galaxie and then bought back from our small town Ford dealer who had never sold it in 1970. It was then used as a second car and to pull a camper. Lots of great memories and fun with that car. I should write a COAL on it some day.
That 61-2 Buick Special wagon has the optional 3-piece rear window, where the center section rolls down (u can barely make out the segments in the open hatch). We had a new ’64 Rambler Cross Country wagon with a manual roll-down tailgate window.. Had factory seat belts too!
Oh man, to be able to have and drive any of these now….my favorite one is the turquoise ’57 Olds Fiesta…4 door hardtop wagon! Definitely that GM Jet/Rocket Age styling…. Any of them would be cool to have.
I also think the Corvair wagon with the new Mom with twins is cute. The beagle in the gold Chevy wagon in the last picture looks less than impressed with his situation though! I’m sure he’d rather be chasing squirrels, if he’s like the beagles I’ve known.
I grew up in the 70s, and one of my teachers had a Mercury Colony Park Estate Wagon that we went on many field trips in. A few years earlier, one of our class moms in my third grade class had a new Chevy Suburban, and you could get most of our class in it! That family had a travel trailer that the Burb towed when they went camping on the weekends. Then in 1982 my brother was born, and we got a Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon. It was a great car except for the early GM Computer Command Control engine management system, which they were still working the bugs out of. Dad and I learned a lot, working on that car; more than once, on the side of the Interstate on a road trip. But we went all over Texas in that car, and to Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas in it too.
Suburbans were being marketed, even in the 70s, as a super wagon, great for hauling people, gear and trailers. Our family has owned 8 over several decades, and three generations of trucks. They’re still great at what they do….just a lot fancier and more expensive now. I’ll keep my older one!
When I was 12 I used my paper route money and paid $50 for my very first car. 1956 Fired Ranch Wagon. That was 1962 and it even ran. My favorite wagon was at 18 1948 Ford Woodie. Lowered with chrome wheels with big and little tires. It was black with a ’52 Ford flathead hooked to a 3 speed.
Had a lot of Oldsmobile diesel powered Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Chevrolet wagons getting a high a 40 mpg
Looking for another to play with now. We then moved into 6.2l diesel and 6.5l turbo diesel Suburbans
which still have 3 of.
When my twin brother and I were born in 1951 and became sons 2 and 3 in our family (later to grow to 5 boys), Dad bought a 1953 Ford Station Wagon. We went to Daytona Beach in it. In 1959 he traded for a 1959 Ford Station Wagon., and we went to Washington, D.C. that year on vacation in it. In 1967 he traded that in on a new Ford Country Squire Station Wagon, forest green with faux wood paneling on it. We went on a number of day trips at nature and historic sites in it. I learned to drive in it, and got a speeding ticket for driving 85 m.p.h. on the then two-lane Rogersville By-Pass at 2 a.m. early one Sunday morning, and Dad took my license away for 6 weeks. I think he took pride in all us Hyder boys being hauled around in these Station wagons. It was a mark of life in the 50s and 60s as this article elucidates.
We always had Olds wagons. Dad’s step-dad had been a small town doctor in Iowa in 30s and 40s and he always drove Olds which as dad said started in Iowa winter and didn’t overheat in humid summers. I was born in 54 and only vaguely remember our first (the blue car we always called it) but we had a 61 or 2 which was indeed “the white car.” Later had a green one and I remember my brother joking that if you learned to parallel park on a 69 Olds Vista Wagon you don’t need your car to park itself now.
Kick back and relax after a nice morning of fishing with a couple of Miller High Life’s 👍🏼
The cars today, weather German, English, American, Japanese or Korean.
They are all plastic, they just snap together. Give me one of these station wagons
Over a car today.
Reminds me of little league baseball when only a few parents were there and each carried a third of a team. Before the “parental guilt trip” days of late where you must attend every practice and game. Our generation was much better at learning to be independent adults because of things like this. Not being constantly under mom and dad’s umbrella.
Unlike today’s cookie-cutter, boring offerings, we can’t help but be somewhat nostalgic with what once was, and will probably never be again. Sad
I love station wagons. Olds Cutlass Buick sport wagon. Ford Ltd
Cub Scouts
This was my first car…my mom won it in a raffle…😅