Vintage Snapshots: Daily Life With Station Wagons In The ’50s, ’60s, ’70s

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!

More Vintage Photos Here