Let’s revisit the topic of station wagons from the 1950s, a subject that got a good deal of comments a few months ago on its first installment. Once again, we’re taking this tour courtesy of vintage photos from the period.
Our lede pic is a 1956 Ford Country Squire. How did Ford’s wagons fare in ’56? Quite well, with about 213K units sold. As far as Country Squires, their numbers were 23,221.
Let’s steer away from the Big Three with this Rambler from 1952-53. A bit hard to tell on the black and white photo, but it’s got the fake-wood treatment that belongs to the Custom model.
Back to Ford and their Country Squire formula. This time a 1953 model; officially the Crestline Country Squire in Ford’s brochure. About 11K Country Squires found buyers for ’53.
We’ll cover 1955 with this Mercury Monterey station wagon. About 12K units were sold for that year.
A 1956 Plymouth Custom Suburban wagon. For ’56, Plymouth moved 48K of these 4-door Suburbans.
Now for something a bit different, with this ’51-’53 Willys wagon.
Nope, that ain’t a Chevrolet wagon. Instead, it’s a 1956 Pontiac 860-870 Series (Chieftain) wagon.
If you didn’t care for fake wood paneling, Ford had the Country Sedan for you. Here’s a ’56 model, with Ford moving about 85K Country Sedans for that year.
We’re still in 1956. This time with a Chevrolet; a Two-Ten Handyman. One of 22K built for ’56, with Chevrolet building about 188K wagons altogether that year.
One more from ’56; a Buick Century Estate wagon. Just eight thousand of these cool-looking wagons were built for ’56.
Let’s –finally– move on to 1957, with this Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon, in lovely tri-tone. Ford’s wagon numbers were even higher in ’58, with 322K units sold between its various lines.
One last Dearborn entry, a 1958 Edsel wagon. Looks to be the 2-door Roundup model, which moved only 963 units that year.
And let’s close the decade with this upscale entry from Chrysler; a 1959 New Yorker Town & Country. Just 1,008 of these were built in ’59; and wouldn’t this be quite the curbside find?
Re: 1957 Ford, my father bought a plain Ranch Wagon, not a Del Rio. The complete option list consisted of…..a heater. Not to mention it was black too.
My seat was in the wayback, with the liftgate open(in the summer) so I could breath in those wonderful exhaust fumes!
Memories!
As always Rich, excellent photo selections. I’m impressed by all the pics, especially the Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon. The clean nose design, stands out for the era. A marked contrast, to the Edsel.
Great post👍. While never a fan of wagons, they certainly were far better than today’s choice of crossovers and SUVS (glorified trucks) masquerading as Luxury vehicles.
1950s wagons + plus color photos = always of interest, though I remind myself that a 1920s home wasn’t all that old then.
The ’57 Ford’s door is lettered with “Gatchel’s” (I think)—who knows what local business that was? The Ohio Mercury looks to be in a “nicer” neighborhood where the houses and lots are more than minimum-sized, and the snowy Buick (California plate) and Chrysler cars are a cut above the more basic cars.
Thanks for today’s selection!
It looks like Gatchel’s was a photographic supply business located in the Louisville area – the script on the Ford matches that in the ad below.
I can’t place the location – the campus in the background should be identifiable (assuming it’s in the Louisville region), but I don’t see a match. It sure looks like the Southern Baptist Seminary, which has a similar looking campus, but the buildings don’t quite match, and I see evidence of a stone wall around the seminary property.
I love wagons and have owned more than a few .
Interesting wheel covers on the Nash wagon .
Tell me again how ‘nobody used wide white wall tires in the 50’s ‘ .
-Nate
Colorful “Del Rio” really steals the show.
I love the woody Fords 53 to 56. My parents a 54 sedan with a six and overdrive.
Thanks, Rich, I really enjoyed this post.
My best friend’s dad had a 1957 Ford Ranch Wagon, We kids would ride in the back to little league games with the rear window hatch locked open. Somehow, we got about 12 kids in that wagon!
I recall the time when hanging out the back, as the Ford hit a bump, the hatch came down and smacked my friend in the face and broke his nose. Luckily, it stopped at his nose, as he would have lost many fingers as the hatch came down if it did!
Interesting, how the chromed design on the grille of the Buick Century, looks quite a bit like the current Mazda corporate logo.
My very first car was a ’56 Ford Ranch Wagon. Red and white with a 272ci Y block. I was 12 years old and used my paper route money. Paid $50 for it and yes it ran. My mom drove it home. That’s how I learned about cars.
Thanks for focusing on the rare two-doors. I’d never seen any Chevy two-doors in the mid-50s.
My paternal grandfather bought a new ’57 Ford Country Sedan. My dad graduated from high school in ’56, but he had two siblings, and Grandpa figured hauling two kids was easier in a wagon instead of the ’53 F-100 he had before (Grandma never did learn to drive…). The wagon managed to make it to 1980, despite having rust in places other ’57 Fords didn’t have it (’57 Fords were rust magnets). A new ’80 F-150 replaced it and a ’72 Maverick 4-door.
Damn! I was just finishing a great comment when my connection dropped and I lost everything. So now, I will say I love our traditional American station wagons. They were great looking, spacious and comfortable because they were built on car chassis. Ford always made the best-looking, and most innovative of the Big Three. It was the Magic Door Gate Ford introduced in 1966, and the D pillars with louvers that routed air from the sides of the car to keep the exhaust from entering the car with the gate window down, and with the window up it kept the gate window free from dust. I owned a 1975 Mercury Marquis Colony Park 9 passenger wagon with every available option including ATC. It was built in the Lincoln Mercury traditional styling. It was a great looking car. I loved everything about it. It had the mighty Ford 460 under hood, with a 4 barrel carburetor and duel exhaust. I could load that wagon to its gills and it would climb steep grades and cruise the highways at 75, 80, smoothly and in full comfort. If Lincoln made a station wagon, the Colony Park would have been it. Back in the day, Ford was known as the Wagonmaster, because it truly was. The cars and SUVs were supposed to be today’s station wagons, but they never fooled me. I know what our beloved station wagons were, and SUVs aren’t it. I’ve always thought the traditional station wagons would make a comeback, only with today’s technology, and maybe even an EV. If they do come back, I’ll take mine with the woodgrain paneled sides thank you, even though they were hard to maintain. The woodies were an American luxury status symbol for Suberban American neighborhoods. I love real station wagons, they are just too cool.
Just happened to me on “July 5th”.
My parents purchased a ’58 Chevy Brookwood wagon (base 283, Powerglide, Silver Blue) just before my sister and I started Kindergarten. We had that car through high school. Unfortunately, I don’t have many good pictures of it, mostly like this one which was probably supposed to highlight my grandmother.
In any event, the change in size from the Tri-5 Chevys to the ’58 was dramatic:
’57 – WB 115″, Length 196.5″
’58 – WB 117.5″, Length 209″
Personally, I miss the wagon era.
Quite a good pic of grandmother and the car.
My first car was a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair wagon pretty rare. Very cheap to run, but had a busted head gasket, would spray oil all over the back window. Of course this was when gas was .35 a gallon & I bought bulk oil to replace was was being lost. Normally replacing a head gasket is fairly easy, but for the Corvair there was a winch that wheeled into the back and lifted the engine up.
Only 1 in the whole county. !
Most of them are rather stubby compared to what they became in the 60s and moreso in the 70s
We had a light green 59 Ford Wagon & traveled the Country with a Tent. I have a Chevy 60 Brookwood now.