Text by Patrick Bell.
Station wagons were a popular family car during most of the second half of the twentieth century. Today we have a good variety of wagons at work that show how versatile they were; a slice of life during that period.
We have two wagons at a tennis game for our first image, and both of them are from Kansas. The one on the left is a ’74-’77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme or Vista-Cruiser 3-seat, and on the right a ’76-’79 Audi Fox with a trailer hitch and is from Johnson County where the seat is Olathe. On the left edge is a ’77-’79 Lincoln Continental Mark V. It looks like a nice summer day with only one couple prepared to play tennis.
Here is a load of cute kids along with an adult couple in a ’58 Plymouth Custom Suburban 9 passenger from Wisconsin with a roof top carrier. Chrysler Corporation’s ‘Forward Look’ for ’57 ushered in their first roll down tailgate window, which became the standard. Through the glass on the left looks like a ’55 or ’56 Chevrolet Task Force pickup.
The photographer is cracking a joke as these fellows are loading or unloading a couch in the back of a ’54 Ford Mainline Ranch Wagon. The woman in the driver’s seat is laughing as well. The flowers are blooming, so it is likely a late spring or summer day.
How many (insert your own derogatory term here) does it take to load a roof rack? This tired looking ’57 Ford Country Sedan 9 passenger has a load and I don’t see any passengers aboard. The eight men seen plus the photographer would fill all three seats, but it sure would have been a tail dragger. Across the street in the driveway looks like a ’65 Ford full size.
Three cuties sitting on the tailgate of a ’61 Ford Country Sedan with the second row seat folded down. I would say the two outer girls are sisters, while the one in the middle may be a cousin. This was Ford’s first year for a roll down tailgate glass in the full size line and I believe they were the last one to adopt that style.
This lady had a system with her camp cooking setup. There was a custom built cabinet, a cook stove, a griddle with breakfast cooking, extra counter space on those bat wing fins, and likely a dog tied to the left air deflector. I don’t see a cooler, but there was a bottle of milk so a cooler must be there somewhere. Her chuck wagon is a ’59 Chevrolet Brookwood 4 door, and this was Chevrolet’s first roll down tailgate window.
Per a search, this image was taken in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The girl’s name was Linda Claire and she had her duffel bag packed for a trip to summer camp. She is riding in a ’61 Chevrolet Parkwood 9 passenger. On the left edge is the right rear corner of a gold car in the garage that has the look of a ’64 Chevrolet Bel Air.
Another load of cute young people in the back of a ’62 Pontiac Catalina 6 passenger Safari from Pennsylvania. It looks like a cool, damp, early fall day. On the right edge is another Pontiac, a ’48 DeLuxe Torpedo or DeLuxe Streamline Sedan-Coupe, followed by a ’53 or ’54 Chevrolet. Through the windshield of the Catalina Safari may be the toothy grille of a ’55 DeSoto.
It looks like the whole family was out at the ice fishing hole in a ’66 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country with a six cylinder, snow tires on the rear, and the typical style of air deflectors to help keep the back glass clean. Even the family dog is in on the action.
There was quite a tailgate party underway on a cool and possibly breezy day in a ’65 Chevrolet Bel Air. I see a variety of liquid refreshments that seem to have been flowing very freely. The lady on the tailgate could have been saving cups by taking it straight from the bottle, and two of the people standing had one drink in each hand. To the right was a Citroen DS, followed by a ’57 Cadillac Sixty-Two convertible.
The partial door on the right edge has a British look to it, and since I don’t see a steering wheel it may have been right hand drive. In the center row there were four Fords, a Buick, Oldsmobile, and an Imperial. The white wagon was a ’64 Ford Custom Ranch Wagon. On the road in the background, I see two wagons just to the right of the telephone pole. The blue one I am not sure about, and the gold one looks like a Jeep Wagoneer. And further up at the next pole was a white C1 Corvette, most likely a ’61 or ’62 model.
Double decker camping in a ’68 Chevrolet Bel Air with the kids on the top level and parents in the back of the wagon. I am sure there was some setup and take down time involved, but it looks like it all would have worked. Good for camping on a budget.
It was interior clean up day on a ’70 Mercury Colony Park with Dual Facing Rear Seats from Iowa. One was wiping down the inside of the tailgate, one involved in shoe adjustment, and two more tag teaming the floor mats. This is a good view of Ford Motor Company’s improved ‘Dual-Action Tailgate’ that could now be opened as a door with the window up. It was introduced in the ’69 model year.
Now we are off to the beach where a ’75-’77 AMC Hornet Sportabout X, apparently from Kentucky, was lounging in the sand.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
Big fan of the Sportabout; I thought it was a brilliant design in a reasonably sized package.
All those cute kids are now in their 60’s or 70’s, time marches on.
That lady with the 59 Chevy sure has a great setup for tailgate cooking, I’d like to go cross country in that rig.
Well, I guess I’m one of those cute kids now in his ’60s….
I remember every kid in the neighbourhood packed into one of our Mom’s wagons heading for the beach, or a ball game or wherever. No seatbelts, and Mom puffing away on a Rothman’s or a Number 7. Different times for sure!
Finally, a use for those batwings. What other car had a big shelf on either side of the tailgate?
The Batwing has curtains for the windows–or is it a long cape?
Studebaker kept the lift up, upper tail gate thru 1962. I believe Rambler American kept it thru 63, making them the last. Curiously, my 92 Roadmaster also uses that style. Great pictures of when the long roof was King.
GM also revived the lift-up window/drop-down tailgate in the 1978 A body wagons. The advantage of that design was a wider rear window and thus better rearward visibility, since the window didn’t have to be narrow enough to slide down into the tailgate. Compare the width of the Roadmaster flip-up rear window to the slide-down ’80s box B body wagon rear windows; the latter are much narrower with wider pillars surrounding it.
You are correct, Memery. And I should have remembered the Studebaker since my parents owned a ’62 wagon when I was growing up.
We had both ’59 and ’65 Chevy wagons, what memories. ’59 Brookwood was a two door so the kids couldnt open a door and fall out. I took my driving test in the ’65. We were still staying in motels with the ’59, but started camping in the ’65.
Great set of images! Love me some wagons!
Of interest, how do we know that it’s not a Buick in the first image?
The tail lights are slightly different. The Olds has silver bars bordering the backup lamp, the Buick does not. I had to study on that one a while. Thanks for asking.
Thanks!
Oldsmobile.
Wow, to think GM thought it was worth it to make two ever so slightly different taillamps for the two divisions. I’m good at catching details but never would have noticed those thin chrome bars.
The roof tent is reminde that the concept has been a round for a long time but only recently fashionable. I surprised there was only one import, where I grew up the Volkswagen Squareback and the Volvo 145 and 245 were very common
All of these pictures could be advertisements! The Mainline is my favorite. Those are Ford People for sure.
My parents never owned a station wagon, but my dad often had one as a company car. Those roll down tailgate windows may have been a big advance in station wagon technology, but I didn’t like them as a kid.
One of my earliest car memories was a green ’56 Chevy 2-door wagon. It was a basic model fleet car – not a Nomad unfortunately. We loved riding in the back with the transom up. From a kid perspective, the nice part about transoms was that shutting the transom required stopping. We were quite adept at climbing in the wayback and ensuring the transom looked close, but wasn’t latched. As soon as we got moving, we’d raise the transom so we could yell out the back – much to the irritation of our parents.
My dad either switched jobs or got a new company car after a few years. Replacement for the Chevy was an appliance white ’58 Plymouth 4-door wagon. Although the car was probably pretty basic, it did have a power back window. I didn’t like it as much because the folks could shut it if we were misbehaving in the wayback by yelling at friends we passed by.
Someone near where I grew up had one of those Audi Fox wagons, which I couldn’t tell apart from a VW Dasher wagon except for the badges. It was maybe the first Audi I’d seen. Unsurprisingly, it took me decades to think of Audi as a real luxury brand.
I had completely forgotten that Audi sold Fox wagons – when I saw this lead picture I assumed it was a Dasher.
There was no difference.
And Audi had not started the move upmarket yet.
Great pictures that bring back also great memories .
My uncle Bill had a ’54 Ford wagon at one of his Cap Cod houses, I remember riding on the open tailgate dragging our feed in the sand on the sandy road leading to his place .
I too think the use of the Chevies bat wings to be clever, imagine someone doing that to their hobby car now .
-Nate
Just the amt of “stuff”, piled on /in the back of that “59 Chevy” is exhausting! (orderly, still exhausting)
Why didn’t you post a photo of the best looking station wagons ever?…The 55-57 Chevy Nomads.
My parents had a brand new 1969 Chevy Kingswood Estate station wagon that they drove their family of nine from LA to DC. Fun trip but I wouldn’t do it today. They gave it to me seven years later as my wedding gift. Kept it for another four years.
Missing is a wagonful of little leaguers on the way to a mom and pop ice cream place after their big win.
Before seat belt laws took effect in Ontario in 1976, the station wagon cargo area, was our uninhibited play area as kids. Board games, taking naps, playing cards, enjoying our baseball card collection. Even though in the summer of 1975, our parents knew they should probably start getting us used to wearing second seat seat belts. They never enforced it. Even after the mandatory laws took effect at the beginning of 1976, I recall the Ontario Provincial Police were quite lenient until 1977-’78. And increasingly less tolerate thereafter.
I appreciated having the open rear window of my dad’s Ranch Wagon, for ventilation comfort. Pre-1976. When he bought his Aspen wagon, I did not miss the cargo area as a playspace. As the environment, was now much more confined. Aided, by the sealed rear tailgate.
My favorite is the lady with the chuckwagon setup in the 1958 Chevy. I’d probably be overly cautious and urge her to move the gas can farther away from the stove…but really, she’d be just fine.
I love finding those chuckwagon setups in more modern settings. I have a friend who built one of those teardrop trailers to pull behind his car and he made something that looks pretty much the same as the one in 1958. I’ve seen a bunch of those.
The Coleman multi-burner stove is the crowning touch. Last count, I think I have three of those.
Good memories in the late 70s thru 1981. I’m still in my 40s. My grandparents had a yellow 77 Impala wagon. Same thing, they had the seats permanently folded down, and it was my sister’s and my play area. Toys scattered throughout. They had their fishing poles, and would go puttering down back roads and hitting the creeks for trout. Or sometimes would go down abandoned railroad grades or behind abandoned factories to fish. They would sip on booze, but not enough to get impaired. Meanwhile we had our Deluxe Grahams and Treesweet apple juice with the foil pull tabs. Grandpa was always funny, he would make up stories and silly songs as he took us through heavily wooded roads that were dark even in daylight. Back at the house, I either slept at the foot of the couch with grandpa, or in a bed made of 2 overstuffed chairs pushed together. I still have dreams about that and how warm it was. Worked on puzzles with grandma and watched late night TV, or tinkered with stuff and worked in the garden with grandpa. He built me things at work like a gearset puzzle, a car shifter in a box, a drawbridge with crossing gates and lightposts that all functioned with the turn of a crank. He took a signal flag from an abandoned railroad for me to play with. It was always a good time, I will always miss them. It was a different time back then. Before seat belt laws, and before zero tolerance drinking and driving.
1982 my cousin came along, and for the most part the party was over.
Whers the Famly Truckster?
You are younger than me but your writing style and your memories trigger memories of my young years. How lucky we were to have those people in our lives that made those years so memorable.
This was in reference to Troy C’s comment. Well done Troy!
In 1998 I bought a 1964 Ford Country Squire Wagon that seated 9 people. Paid $500. Not a “babe magnet” at all. It was a beast until it was featured in a James Bond movie… Goldfinger, I think
About the roll down tailgate window. Our 1952 DeSoto Firedome station wagon had the roll down window, as did Chrysler and top line Dodge wagons that year. I don’t know the first year they were used but they were used in 1952.
I grew up around station wagons. My father bought a new 1960 Falcon two door wagon when I was three and he progressed up the ladder with a 1963 Ford Fairlane 500, a 1965 Plymouth Fury II and finally a 1970 Meteor Rideau 500 that he traded for a 1975 Chevrolet Impala Sedan when I turned 18. When we went on family trips the backseat would be folded down and a mattress shoved in the back and all of us kids rode back there. Most of these years we had a camping trailer of some sort, tent trailer with the Falcon and a cabin trailer with the rest. Being the oldest I often slept in the back of the wagon when we went camping to avoid the claustrophobic top bunk in the trailer.
Notice how slim and thin they all were?
Would love to see pictures of my father’s 56
Ford (Parklane) wagon. I believe it was created to compete against the Chevy Nomad. In any event it was two tone blue and fully carpeted, passenger and cargo area. Don’t remember seeing one in the many car shows I’ve attended.
I sure love reading about these classic ’50s and ’60’s wagons…yes..times are way different than they were then..We had a ’57 Ford Fairlane, Baby blue..my neighbors had a “woody”…station wagon..real wood side panels
I didn’t see any photos of them..All the kids would pile into the back for a trip to the New York beaches.. Great photos..
👍 good stories
Have many fond memories of trips to the mountains in my Dad’s 1979 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon. That car was a beast; 350 V-8 that could really move, even when fully packed!!
Regarding the cooking setup in the batwing Impala — I find it interesting that the stove is propane fueled, not a white gas Coleman stove. The propane ones were rare then.
The white gas stoves were (and are) better performing than propane ones, a difference you never realize until you actually use one.
Reply to Morgan,
In 1976 I bought a ’64 County Squire wagon for 150 bucks. It needed some work but was one of the best cars I ever owned, fully loaded with a 390 engine. Numerous camping trips and we brought my son home from the hospital in that car after he was born. Sold the car to my brother in law for $500. and he drove it for years afterwards. Bought a ’75 that turned out to be junk.
I bought a ’66 Chevy Biscayne wagon in Feb of 1974 for $150.00. I still have it. Oh the stories I could tell.
Ooh…the 11th picture down, we didn’t have the Chevy wagon, but the unit on top, we did (it looks home made but it was not.) It was called the “Camp O’tel” and the photo only partially does it justice. You can barely see the grey “gangplank” you stepped on to get between the middle of the unit on top and the ladder (so you didn’t need to step on the roof of your wagon). The pole that sticks out the back of the unit where ght gangplank is mounted doubles as the mount for a slide-off kitchen unit, kind of a combination of a picnic table (both sides swing down as table); in middle was gas stove and 2 plastic bins that you’d wash and rinse dishes. There were 2 bench seats that slid under the camper unit that you brought out once you arrived at your campsite. And there was a tarp that mounted above the rear of the unit big enough to fit over a regular picnic table brought close to the car). My Dad was a big guy (heavy) but he managed to get on top in his younger days (he was in his 30’s when he owned it)
But…that’s not it. See those cylindrical units underneath? Those were water tanks, for about 5 gallons of water each (there were qty-2 of them). On one side there hung a cabana unit that had a shower (cold water) and sink, the “valve” was a wingnut that snugged onto a piece of tubing that went to the water tank, gravity fed. Also was a “bag” toilet (nothing more than a seat on legs with a bag that collected the nasty stuff).
The whole thing mounted on the ceiling of our garage, with crankdown cables to go onto the top of the car…the legs for the camper mounted in the rain gutter channels. When folded up it looked like a box, covered in canvas.
We outgrew it after my younger sister was born…it slept 4 up top max and maybe 2 below in the station wagon. The beds on the side had little headroom, so everyone vied for the middle to get changed in (or used the cabana). It would get claustrophobic during rainy days, but you were up high so you were high and dry. After owning it maybe 5 years Dad bought a pop-top camper (conventional) which was much roomier which we liked since we had 6 people in the family (though my sister stopped going with us when she got a bit older).
We had it when we owned our ’65 Olds F85 wagon. Before that we had two different Rambler Classic wagons, a ’61 and a ’63. Dad’s last wagon was a ’78 Caprice Classic which was pretty plush compared to the earlier wagons.
Pretty neat idea, the guy who came up with it had a good imagination. Better picture at: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1317389