CC readers should know by now that I have a soft spot for station wagons, with yours truly posting a few galleries featuring them in recent months. But how about one more take on the topic, with a series of images of station wagons on the roads? In their natural environment back in the day?
So these images follow that idea, with at least one station wagon per shot. Either in movement or by the side of the road, from an age when these were commonplace.
That green 57 Ranch Wagon…..my dad bought a new one of these in black. It was optioned with…….a heater. That was it. It constantly overheated, traded it in for a 58 Plymouth. While that never overheated, it didn’t like to drive in the rain. Go thru a puddle and the flathead six would fill with water around the sparkplugs.
The last pic is of a 1964 Pontiac Catalina Safari. Actually I had to look it up. I knew is was a GM of that era, just not the specifics.
Quite a handsome carriage in that pic.
How’d they get its rear side window to roll down?
The tailights look like a 63, no?
Which rear side window are you talking about?
it’s a ’63 Dad had a 1964 Safari here’s a 1964
Generally not a Ford wagon fan but the green ’57 Ranch Wagon calls me.
Holy moly! …..
2nd photo. To right of the tan/beige ’55 Ranch Wagon ….
The rear of a clean, white ’54 Olds 98 Starfire convertible ‼️😎
Photo #5, that green 1960 Dodge Matador wagon! My Dad bought a 4 door sedan of this one year only car. Powered by a 361 c.i. engine, it was a runner! 🙂
I always loved these early 60s Mopar hardtop wagons. That must be a Shriners parade going on down the street.
Is that what’s going on? I did wonder. It didn’t quite look like the Olympic torch, which was my first guess (more coffee needed, definitely!). Now I’m off to google what a Shriner is…..
The big “Merc mobile” , headed toward the church looks rather tired. Odd, since it can’t be old by any means.
Really like the “Dart” in the second from last pic.
Wonder why the cars are sitting on the highway shoulder? (“64 Country Squire”, pic)
I don’t know why the cars are sitting on the highway shoulder there, but I find it amusing that the guy’s got a Seagram’s whiskey box.
Speaking of whiskey, the person in the red jumpsuit wearing a fire hat is carrying a one gallon bottle of whiskey, a size that was never popular and has long since gone away
I noticed that. But it looked like a Shriners’ parade (or whatever local equivalent). And well, you know, Shriners… 😉
(At least as a kid, Shriners always inspired mirth. The best part was when they all started driving in circles toward each other.)
A gallon of whiskey. That’s 3.8 litres. A Buick V6 full of whiskey.
Between a Jeroboam and a Rehoboam, if we were talking about wine bottles. Huge.
Who the heck would buy their whiskey by the gallon? Even if you were entertaining. The bottle would be so heavy, until you’d emptied it.
Not surprised that size has gone away.
“Who the heck would buy their whiskey by the gallon?” Shriners for one…..
The antics they’d get up to after a parade would curl your hair. many had Harley-Davidson Motocycles and their misdeeds are legendary .
I wonder where all those tiny Shriner cars went ? .
As a kid I too thought them wonderful ” here were supposedly grown ass men acting little children .
-Nate
At least around here the liquor store is where you used to go for free boxes. Good strong boxes of a reasonable size.
Very true – same where I grew up. Though (and maybe it’s just my own aversion), I’d avoid taking a road trip with a bunch of liquor boxes.
I’ll step in for Eric703 😀. Here’s Hereford Oregon now, from Google StreetView. No tavern, and not even any CC’s except campers and a trailer.
Awesome!
are you able to say where the “opening pic” is? (the one with the two “Ramblers”?
It’s in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Ah thanks, I was having trouble placing those mountains in Kenosha.
Photo #7 (with the woody Chevy wagon) is from Digby, Nova Scotia. The ivy-covered bank building has been torn down, but the site itself is still a Scotiabank.
My favorite part of that picture is the novelties store called “I. BIZET and I. SELZIT” (on the sign overhanging the sidewalk).
Then-and-now comparison below. Google StreetView link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pJgUZUAENcqdLznE8
My favorite photo is the overloaded Country Squire parked on the shoulder behind the ’63 Lincoln Continental. The ’63 has a grille inside the oval trunk design. It’s amazing how people used to fill up a wagon with passengers, then load stuff on the roof. It looks like the two cars are travelling together and they stopped to iron out the directions, or make some plans for stops along the route. Before cell phones and navigation I remember pulling over like that so that things could be coordinated.
That overloaded wagon tells the story why our ’65 Impala was the end of wagons for us as vans evolved from in-city fleet vehicles. Off pavement desert camping beat the Impala to death, replaced by a ’69 Dodge Sportsman.
I immediately recognized the location of that last photo. It is at Craig’s Pass on US20 in Yellowstone National Park
funny in 1978 My company car was LTD station Wagon, it had a red valor interior and a power drivers seat, power windows and steering and brakes. A real good car.
My “h/s” friends family had a “73 or4” “C/S”. Red as well; no cloth inside though.
It seemed to last a few years as I recall.
Below the doors seemed to rust the most.
The “faux wood” would have kind a hid some rust higher up I expect.
I wasn’t “up close” to it that often either.
My favorite wagon – 1960 Rambler, in my least favorite color, PINK?
Lord help us all.
In the seventh pic, I love the 19th/20th century cannon, pointed directly at the Chevy II Nova wagon. I imagine, if they didn’t put barriers in winter, it would create a snow-covered parking hazard for out-of-towners. Not aware the cannon is there. Not sure of the community, but the soldier’s statue, appears to depict a WWI Canadian soldier.
My dad used to tell me, fellow servicemen in the Canadian Armed Forces of the 1960’s, would struggle to obtain financing at the major banks. Like The Bank of Nova Scotia. They simply didn’t have great incomes. So, they often had to walk a block down the street. To the Household Finance office, to obtain their car loans. As seen on this main street.
My dad also, always patronized Esso service stations. For gas, and service. And his 1969 Ranch Wagon had numerous Atlas batteries, parts, and tires, through the early and mid-1970’s. Neither his Ford, or the Atlas merchandise, were especially good quality.
I miss real station wagons. I had 2 of my own and my mom had one when I was a kid. She had an 83 cavalier wagon for a few years. After I got stationed in Germany I had an 84 ford Granada wagon. Then a US spec Ford escort wagon. My current dd is a Saturn Vue. It’s an 08 with FWD and an automatic transmission power windows and locks. Closest thing I can find to a wagon