I had an unhealthy fascination with the tail gunner position on the many airplane models I built as a kid. Every time we’d jump in our station wagon (s) I’d jump into the rear facing seat for the trip. Every mile covered was with me looking for imaginary Focke Wulfs and Zeros to fend off while the pilot and copilot (aka Mom and Dad) flew through the flak. Thanks for jarring loose some old and very dear memories.
I recall doing something very similar during family holidays touring through Germany in the sixties. Our parents used to buy huge trays of cherries and we would fire the pips out the windows of the car at the passing Chermans! We were side gunners! Rolling your tongue up like an impromptu peashooter and strafing. Oh the shame of it now! The locals were always so warm, kind and indulgent of us children wherever we stayed as I recall and were definitely undeserving of this revolting behaviour. 🥺
Back in 2006, my wife and I were shopping for a new pickup truck at our local Dodge dealer. I had found the truck I wanted on the lot and was making the deal while my wife wandered around the showroom floor. When she didn't return after a few minutes I was forced to go find her as her signature was required on the paperwork for the truck. I was looking around and at first couldn't spot her, until I saw movement in a car sitting in the middle of the showroom. My wife was sitting in a brand new Dodge Magnum R/T....the last of the great station wagons. V8, rear wheel drive, folding rear split seats, seating for 5, etc, etc. There was a little bit of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth as she lovingly caressed the steering wheel and shifter. The look on her face was that gaze given a lover, a gaze I knew well but this gaze wasn't for me. I got her out of the car and we signed the paperwork for the pickup. She then told me she really wanted a Magnum(like I couldn't tell...). Her present car was an '02 Taurus wagon and we were still paying on it. I told her we'd get a Magnum after both the Taurus and new truck were paid down/off in about 3 years. She relented, but still looked at every Magnum she saw on the street. Little did I know what fate was to play in 2008 when Dodge quit manufacturing the Magnum. In early 2010 I went looking for a Magnum for my wife to fulfill the promise I had made. It couldn't be new tho....there were no new Magnums. It took 3 weeks to locate a low mileage Magnum R/T with the extras I wanted. I went and looked at it without my wife coming with me. I checked out the car completely and it was in excellent condition with only 55K miles on it. I put $1000 down to hold it until the next weekend. We were due to make a Sam's Club run to the city where the car was. I got the Taurus title out of the file cabinet without her noticing and we went on our monthly road trip to Sam's driving the Taurus. We pulled into the used car dealer and she got a quizzical look on her face and I told her I was checking out something. The dealer had parked the Magnum inside their service department so it was not visible from outside. My wife and I walked into the dealer and I asked the salesman about that special he had running....he took us back to the service department. She about fainted when she realized that the Magnum she was looking at was hers if she wanted it. She walked around it, then sat in the drivers seat, when I asked her again....she nodded emphatically! The salesman and I went to the office to put the paperwork together. I had to pry my wife out of the Magnum to sign over the Taurus title and to sign the Magnum paperwork. The dealer had even filled the gas tank on the car. She drove to Sam's, we did our shopping and loaded it all in the back of the Magnum, then she drove home. It has 13 more years and almost 200K miles on it now..... she still looks at it the same way....
We were homeless for a while in the early 80s. We (mom, 2 brothers, me and a dog) lived in our stationwagon. I will always think of that time when I see one and this video brought back a lot of memories.
Although an unfortunate situation I wonder what it was like. How did you do to get food, fuel, etc.? Were you parked at a specific location or did you move around?
@@karlhans6678 We moved around a lot. Got food from free food places and free clothes/shoes there as well. I remember some churches helping my mom with other expenses and a couple times I remember being in a hotel for a few days. Thankfully we were in a very giving community in N. California.Had we been in a less giving community I don't know what we would have done. I know my mom worked multiple jobs. We were alone a lot. Im grateful for that experience though, because of it I do not judge others... I know how easily it could be me.
I learned how to drive in a 1974 Pontiac Grand Safari 9-passenger wagon. Parallel parking was a requirement for passing the drivers license test at the time. Once you learn how to park a station wagon, every other car is a piece of cake. Great memories.
I learned on its corporate twin - a 1976 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon, with the clamshell disappearing tailgate/window combination, three forward facing seats & enough cargo room behind the third seat for all the luggage. It was legally equipped, if you counted seatbelts, to hold 8 people, but with a little squeezing we once got 14 in (that included three in the "way back." And, yes, with it's 400 cubic inch V-8 and loads of torque, it was a killer of many a souped-up Chevelle and Torino at stoplights.
@@CPTDoom our Pontiac had the 455 high-altitude engine that was sold in Colorado; maxed out at about 11 mpg. Before the ‘74, we had a 1963 Pontiac Catalina Safari wagon which is the first car I can remember. In that wagon the third row faced backwards.
That's such a great description. As for comfort, how's this: in my mid 20s, I slept funny once, my back muscles were all goofed up bad enough that I couldn't stand straight or walk right. The same day, I drove my 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis Wagon. 55 miles later, my back issues were gone. Another time when I was driving it for a while, I got out of the car at the end of the day feeling _so_ relaxed, like I had just taken a refreshing nap.
My station wagon memory: In 1984, my parents bought a Volvo 240DL, which, as i later learned, was a fairly expensive vehicle for the time. It was bought to replace a Toyota Celica that my mom got into a bad accident with. She got away with only minor bruising on one of her hands and arms, but the Celica was totaled. The Volvos of the 1980s had the reputation for overbuilt safety, which no doubt influenced my parents' decision to get it. On the many road trips we took in that station wagon, the rear seats would be folded down and we kids would be able to lie down and sleep in the back. It wasn't a true full-sized station wagon with the third-row rear-facing seats, but it was a remarkably tough car that lasted 250k miles and survived several crashes. 😂 The other main things i remember about it was the quirky Swedish engineering in it, from the weird push-button headlights, to the interior door latches that were SO HARD to operate for a young child, to the fact that the vanity mirror, which is usually located in the passenger sun visor in most cars - was placed in the glove compartment door! You'd have to open the glove compartment and then flip up the mirror. 😂
Just for the comments section's sake, Wood Paneling was a common thing from the 1960s - 1980s. That's why so many of the 1970s video game systems had it, for example. The Atari 2600 had it, but they eventually made an all-black version later referred to by fans as the "Darth Vader" version.
Ah yes. Exactly. I have memories of my dad hooking his boat up to our 67 Chevy impala station wagon for our family trip to a lake cottage in Northern Michigan. My sister and I playing around in the back during the trip, making a 'tent' with a blanket and pretending to be camping as we rolled down the road.
My Dad bought a new 1967 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser for my mom. The family used it for everything possible and it I got my drivers license in it 73, drove it for years after. We loved that car. I learned how to work on cars with it, changed brakes, transmissions, rear differentials, spark plugs and timing, timing chains, water pumps, etc. It was a great date car for drive in movies. Along with sitting in the front seat when cold it, when warm nights aloud we would park back end to screen roll the back window down, drop the tailgate and stretch out in the rear facing seat. It was cavernous and carried a lode of furniture, Blue Birds, or anything you could imagine. Loved that car.
@@jacksunstone8771 So what you're say is that saying something on the comments drives the algorithms in a positive direction. The more something good is.... ?
Station wagons have a special place in mexican culture as well! Here in Mexico we call them "Mariacheras", they are part of the mariachi iconography and culture because they became the iconic vehicle of choice for many mariachi bands, in modern times other types of vehicles are called Mariacheras if they transport a mariachi band, but the originals will always be the station wagons.
First car I ever held the steering wheel on while it was in motion was a mid to late 70's station wagon my granpa had. He put me on his lap and let me steer. Miss that man dearly.
My uncle let me back out his brand new 74 Ford Country Squire in a rustic copper color, but no wood. It was more of the base model. I proceeded to back out this monster at the ripe old age of 7 barely able to reach the pedals and still see out...he said I did a fine job of backing the moster out of his fairly new 2 1/2 car garage. Tis was all done much to my Aunt's consternation, and nervous fiddling. :) Thanks Uncle Richard! IT's a memory I cherish along with your memory.
Us kids would get into our pajamas, mom would pop some popcorn, and dad would carry pillows to the Plymouth station wagon. We would go to the drive-in and my sister got to sit in the front seat with the popcorn bowl. My brother and I would look over the front seat with our blankets. Can't remember the end of movies, how we got home, or how I got into bed.
@@glennoconnor2980 How my Mom managed to pop 3 grocery bags of popcorn and get 5 kids to pile in a wagon to see Beneath the Planet of the Apes is beyond me.
My Dad had a HK Holden station wagon, which we drove from Victoria to Ayers Rock in central Australia in the mid 1970's, no paved highways through the desert back then, just corrugated dusty roads, we'd camp out at bore tanks and radio repeater stations, it was an incredible adventure for a kid and that old car never missed a beat.
My dad had a such a fascination for woodies that he use to paint it on the side of my old 72 VE Valiant V8 318 station wagon a woodie paint pattern, i never understood why until it was to late and my dad passed away. ❤
Interesting episode that will, without doubt, trigger *numerous memories* among members of this channel's core audience 😉 For me, among my very first. As a child of no more than 3 or 4, in the mid-'50s I wandered away from home. I don't remember why, but I do remember the car of the person who found me and returned me to my parents. It had a wood paneled exterior and speaks of a very different time in multiple ways.
@@higgme1ster A rather inevitable outcome unless you'd prefer to die young 😅 Each gets an indeterminate span in life. And while we cannot choose when we live, I have no complaints regarding fate's timing.
I basically grew up being transported by my parents in their 1956 Ford station wagon that was bought new by them in '56. I still have a fondness for the utility that one of them represent.
They still make station wagons like the '50s models. They just call them crossovers. It's the low '60s, '70s and '80s style wagons they stopped making.
@Jack_Russell_Brown Oh my God! You don't sound a day over 260!!!! Holy schidt! I remember Whitefront stores! And Woolworth's And Earnst! Pay n Save Pay n Pack Value Mart G.O. Guys Piggy Wiggly even. And my personal favorite, Wigwam I'm a little younger.l a l I t t l e younger . Your in your prime, my friend! To your longevity 🙏
The “way back seat”! That’s exactly what my brother and I called it!😂 we used to fight about riding back there. My parents weren’t happy when my brother locked me in the spare tire compartment.
I'll never forget traveling from Mountain Home AFB to Travis AFB in 1974 with my new wife, listening to the REO Speedwagon cassette tape, in our black '66 Ford Country Squire Wagon with our black lab, Jasper. I was about to be transfered to Thailand for a year in support of F-111F's in the VN war. Your history of the station wagon brings back a wide range of emotions and memories. That's my quick story.
We still have our 1982 LTD Country Squire. We even gave it a name. It brought us across country and now sits in the driveway. I hope to rebuild it and use it again as it was great for hauling everything from people, plywood sheets, lumber and groceries. Much more practical that the minivan we drive now.
I recall the joy of identifying makes and models of automobiles by appreance. Today most vehicles (high price to more affordable) all look the same. I honestly do not know why. I am fortunate to have lived during an era when people appreciated indivually.
We traded individuality for safety two decades ago. Side impact tests dictate belt-lines (bottoms of windows) heights. Roof crush tests affect the size/shape of pillars. There are regulations that control how high/low bumpers and lights can be, the shape of hoods in case you hit a pedestrian, the surface area of mirrors, etc. All cars sold in America must meet the same standards so they end up looking similar.
When REO Speed Wagon became a thing in the 70s, it was playing on the radio one day. Dad asked who the band was. I told him. Of course I pronounced it like the band pronounces it. He corrected me pronouncing it properly because he remembered the company and gave me a history lesson on the spot.
My General Motors custom cruiser finally gave the ghost 4 years ago.I still mourn it's passing. Among many other wonderful facets I loved its completely smooth ride.I also loved that you could fit 4' by 8' sheets of plywood or drywall in the back With nothing sticking out the end. And that rear facing rear seat was such a gem.
One of my fondest memories as a child was riding in the very back of my parent’s 1959 Edsel station wagon, on the way from AZ to IN. That car was sold long ago. I would love to have it now. 😊
Thx THG for taking me back down memory lane as at 70yrs young I have many xcuntry trips on rt66 with parents, G'ma and sisters in '58 Chevy wagon. No AC so crossed Mojave desert during night. Stay Healthy
My favorite station wagon was a Morris Minor Woody that I had in the 70's. I drove it up and down the West Coast and a few times out to Colorado. It wasn't fast, but I wasn't in a hurry. It was quite reliable and if there was a problem, I could fix it.
That story about the daughter crying hit a little close to home for me. I have a 1993 Caprice Classic wagon and when we drove it away from the previous owners house his son was balling his eyes out. I nearly turned around and nixed the deal right then. I grew up in a 1984 Olds custom cruiser and the caprice reminds me of it even has the same red interior and just floats down the road.
C.u.v.'s are a station wagon with a birth defect. Stale looking cramped up, CHINISE SHIT! SELF SEAL BERRINGS? MADE IN CHINA? HOW YOU KNOW THAT THOSE BERRINGS EVEN GOT SILICONE SHIT ON EM? you could be driving up some interstate at 60 mph and the wheels would come off! I used to greasey own wheel bearings.
You're one of life's (fairly) good guys You didn't actually take it back ....... but Points for considering it Fact is the guy would have sold it anyway *and* maybe blamed the lad for loosing the sale if you had.
@@babboon5764 chip chip cheerio and all that sort of rot, you are the first GOOD REMARK I GOT IN 67.2 YEARS signed...A SORRY SLOB FROM THE STATE'S! born with a 🎯 on his ass at birth with every rotten brake they could find, and if they couldn't find one, they'd invent one! Bounced around the whole world! I DUNN SEEN, HEARD AND DONE AT ALL! I draw SCHOPRENIC's like a junkyard magnetic attracts a bagga drywall screws! In fact, a London times editorial cartoonist would draw a "HAGGARD HUMAN HEAD ON THE TOP OF A DRYWALL SCREW! all over the world , ever visit buffalo? It's own name cancels it out that one skyscraper, commin in from Hamburg, looks like it givin ya the middle finger! Visiously UNFRIENDLY, I'm too busy runnin for my life to even TRY to make friends! My oldest nice LIKE, YOU GOTTA EXPERIENCE HER! SHE'LL HAVE YOU IDICTED AND HANGED FOR EVERY VILE REPUGNANT LIE SHE CAN FAKE UP IN HER HEAD BEFORE YOU CAN SAY houdy! Then, RUN FOR COVER! there's this cursed football team that either has decades of loosing seasons or they blow it in the end, nanometers from the brass ring..GEE I WISH THEY WOULDA WON THIS FUCKIN SUPER BOWL AND I'D HELP EM PACK! I never seen so many obece sports SCHOPRENIC's! If they win, they plant a wet kiss on the lips of a murderous traffic cop and if they loose?? They slug the wife, abuse the kids and skin the cat! The cops are hoodlums are the cops, this shit phone. 200 charecters, like, don't even let your car tank near here! You're safer in the slums in Soho! Look at barffalo's skyline? FLATLINE!
I wore out two Caprice Classics, one after the other. Wish I still had one. We named one the S.S. Shelley Winters, and the other one was the White Whale.
Grew up in the 70s and 80s. Mom and dad had 2 wagons. I loved them. Roomy comfortable and and just unique. My dad bought a Buick Riviera 82 wagon in 83. Loved that......wagon.
This history lesson brought back a lot of memories about cars. When I met my husband he drove a Chevy van (full-size). He said his Scout troop called it the Adventure van. And it had many more adventures before it died at 400K miles. After it was towed away, he wrote a letter to the dealership where he bought it. This letter read like a eulogy to this much-enjoyed and used vehicle.
My grandfather had a 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon. I got to ride in the way back all the way from Baltimore to Nova Scotia and over to Niagara Falls and back down to Baltimore. It was a great experience!
I'm had one of those, an 87. Surprisingly good car. I got it for $800 in 99, sold it for $500 in 05. The guy I sold it to drove it until 2017. He never had a single major issue with it.
we had a silver 84 growing up in iowa when i was a kid. bought used in 86-87 maybe? Mom had daycare and when we had to go somewhere we load the kids in it with me and my sister in the very back. On road trips to the bigger cities or out of state we would have seats folded down and laying in back playing or sleeping on real long trips. had topper for top which i still have for the real long trips. had dual flip lid in back on floor for more under floor storage we would put coolers in for trips or around town open and use as additional seating since there were 2 levels and it was perfect for 2 5-8 year olds. yeah cops will stop you now for that. it was car both my little sister and i learned to drive in and car i drove to college and used on paper route when raining or snowing. (otherwise used bike or moped i had been using prior to being old enough to drive). I was good at drifting it around corners in the snow. After I graduated college mom wanted to move to arkansas where relatives were and where car made an almost annual trip too for past 10 years. couple weeks before the move my sister once again staying out later than supposed to and coming back from city half hour away and was probably speeding too, hit a deer just 2 miles away from home. totaled car. however she was unhurt and able to drive it home and into our driveway. june 98, the car we called the silver bullet, with almost a quarter million miles, that we spent so much of our child hood in, was no more.
My husband had this model as a company vehicle when we were first dating and then married. We bought it and drove it until, like others, we traded it in for a minivan. It was an excellent vehicle when we needed it at the last minute for a long-distance trip.
IMHO, this is the best episode of the history guy that i've watched yet. I grew up in the back of a station wagon so it kinda touches me right there, you know? Thanks Lance.
Crossed the USA on a family road trip when I was 6. In a '68 Chevy Impala wagon. Learned to drive in mom's '73 Chevy Caprice Estate wagon Bought a '69 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser in the early nineties and drove it around for eight or nine years until it threw a rod. I love station wagons! Such great memories!
As a man of a "certain age" whose mother had a Country Squire that she purchased from our uncle Bill when we moved from Chicago to Virginia, I can attest to the coolness of the station wagon. The moment I saw two side facing bench seats fold out of the rear floor, I knew things were looking up. Having graduated in 83 I also had the privilege of owning an 8-Track, discovering REO Speedwagon on the Juke box, and seeing"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" at a drive in theater from the back of a station wagon. I kind of feel bad for the youth of today. While they have access to more information than we could ever dream of, it seems that it has come at the cost of quality. Thank you for today's show.
I am sill the lucky owner of two Oldsmobiles, a 2003 Silhouette, and a 1998 Regency. Here in the rust belt, it's a dicey thing as more and more of each ends up on the ground regularly.
My station-wagon memory: This was around 1978, when I was in 3'rd or 4'th grade. My class was on a field trip, perhaps to visit the local fire-department or something like that. Rather than taking a bus, a small group of parents drove the kids in their cars. I ended up in the back of a station-wagon with about four other boys. The mom driving us stopped at the bank along the way. Exiting the vehicle, she locked the doors and closed the windows, saying: "I'll be back in a few minutes, kids," before walking off. And immediately one of the boys unleashed a fart of biblical proportion with a stink right out of hell in the small, enclosed space. Chaos ensued, with panicking boys retching and gasping for air, lunging desperately around the rear of the station-wagon. We tried to open the windows and unlock the doors, but soon discovered that the windows and locks could only be operated from the driver's seat. Unfortunately, a metal grid prevented us from getting to the front seat. Child safety features, no doubt. I don't think we figured out who the guilty party was, but vicious accusations and choice words were ricocheting off the walls of the infernal station-wagon. It seemed there was more fart than oxygen in the small space, and the stench lingered interminably. Finally, after what seemed like several centuries, the mom returned from the bank and drove us to whatever the class was visiting that day. The stink gradually faded from our sinuses, and yet the memory of those infamous five or ten minutes is forever burned into my brain. God bless the humble station-wagon for all the wonderful childhood memories it has given us.
I remember as a little kid asking my father how Santa Claus got around when there wasn't any snow. He says: "Well, son... he drives a station wagon." Seemed logical to me.
I saw REO Speed Wagon on 11/4/69 when they played a concert at "Chances R", a night spot in Champaign, IL, when I was a student at U of I. Thanks for the memory, History Guy!
YES, you mentioned the "family truckster" . Omg this brought up so many cherished memories. My best friend's mom had a Buick station wagon and we always sat in the back and played tailgunner for the bomber. My mom had a Ford Fairlane station wagon and it sounded like a race car, it was black and we called it the hearse. I miss those things.
At 31, I just about remember some of my neighbors and relatives still holding onto their old station wagons when I was very young. That was just about the time they were starting to be replaced by the mini van as the go-to choice of vehicle for hauling your family around. Then those were, in turn, replaced by crossovers around the time I was starting college. Funny how trends come and go.
I’m 28 and my folks had a 95 Taurus wagon. While the lack of dependability of that car has kept me away from Ford, I have always tried to have a wagon if possible. You get the cargo room of a crossover without the garbage looks and handling. Genuinely don’t see how crossovers are so popular. They don’t highway as well as a wagon and they can’t off road like a real SUV.
I was born in 1991, and my Dad held on to his 1989 Chevrolet Caprice Estate until 2000 or so. I know it was an 89, because that's the _only_ model year when they had the 3-point seat belts in the middle seats, while _not_ having the front seat belts stupidly attached to the doors.
Born in 1956 , my grandmother in New York got a new car every 3 yrs , we lived in California, she asked my dad if he wanted the car before she got a new one, we had already received a 1956 Potinac Star Chief, we had took a train to go back , ( boy that was fun ! ) we all had fun driving it home , my parents & my brother & myself , then in 1965 she gave us a 1962 ford country squire, that was a boat ! , I learned to drive in that car , a lot of great memories in that car , turquoise blue metallic, all my friends knew it was me in that car , I found out that ford made different colors in the east than here , you never saw an another one like it around here , my dad took real good care of that car, he died right before I graduated from high school , then 4 months later the car died, I sure miss him , and that car ❤️🚗
I grew up in the back of a volvo station wagon and kind of continue the tradition with a 1992 Restomodded Volvo 740 wagon. My wife drives a Volkswagen Passat station wagon but you could hardly compare it to the big American wagons of yore. Its quite a bit smaller, but gets great gas mileage, is surprisingly roomy, given its size and very peppy. We like it.
While in 5th grade or thereabout in Thailand, I remembered my mom came home saying she was gonna buy a used Volvo 240 wagon (red) from the Dean of her faculty (she was teaching architecture at the university). However, another architect friend of hers bought it instead, and he lived next door to us. So, for many years I would see the car nearly every day but never got to ride in it even though sometimes I got to ride in the neighbor's other cars. I guess this was the reason why when I went to the US to study I jumped at the first chance I got to get a 240 Wagon. Bought one sight unseen on eBay (not a smart move) and hopped on Amtrak from Durham, NC to pick it up in DC and drove it back down to campus right away. Apart from a bit of rust, never had any problem with the car. Moved back to Thailand 16 years ago, and have been browsing through used car listings for a 940 or 240 wagon (7-series wagon weren't available here) ever since.
My first car was a 1967 Chevrolet Impala Station Wagon, two-tone Dark Blue body/White top. Small Block V8. $300 with 63k miles. It was 1978. I learned to drive in my Dad's 1972 Ford Country Squire LTD S/W with faux wood panels on the sides and tailgate. On weekends, we would jump in the 1959 Mercury Station Wagon that stayed loaded with fishing poles & tackle and camping gear, tent, & sleeping bags. All the gear was in the back or in this case, the middle seat as the kids would all squeeze into the third seat all the way in the back against the Tailgate.
One of my significant memories of our stationwagon was climbing out the back when the window was down. Of course, it is directly tied to losing my big toenail when my sister opened the tailgate as I was climbing out!
I was a kid before and during the station wagon's height of popularity. We were very poor when I was growing up and could never have afforded one. Seeing this makes me a bit sad on how much I missed as a child and how much we missed as a family. We moved over two dozen times during my childhood. A station wagon would have been really handy. Thank you for yet another fascinating bit of history.
At 15:31- The black & white video is of the historic old grist mill at Spring Mill Park in Indiana. Every summer our family would drive there from Louisville (in our wagon!) for our annual vacation day! My parents were barely scraping by financially, but my brothers & I never knew it, or "felt" poor. WONDERFUL memories! THANKS!
I was born in 1961 in Southern California and station wagons were ubiquitous. When I was a teenager my buddy would pick me up in his parent’s station wagon and he called it the five door funny car. I can remember sitting in the back facing backwards as we came down from Big Bear mountain and the experience was vomit inducing especially if you’re dad was smoking a cigar.
I remember my neighbor bought a huge Ford station wagon around 1964. It had those extra seats in the back that folded down to make a flat metal floor for hauling stuff. It was great! In 1985 I bought an AMC Eagle station wagon. It was one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Wish I had it today!
I bought an '85 AMC Wagon in 2003. Sold it after a couple of years, but yeah, that was a special kind of car. I was a little bummed the Eagle didn't get a mention in the video.
I have a 1967 Ford Country Sedan wagon. It's a behemoth. I'm completely enamored with it. Driving it and driving around in it is a complete joy. Probably the best thing about owning this car is seeing how much it makes people smile.
Hi there History Guy! Great History once more! Thank you. Here in Australia the Holden Station Wagon was King of the Road. Many a Family road trip involved the Station Wagon. That line about the Drive-in brought back great memories. One trip our Family made was a drive from Mareeba Qld to Lismore NSW of 1,934km with 11 of us packed in the Station Wagon, in 1976!
You're going to get LOTS of nostalgia with this one.... Ours was a 1970 full-size Chrysler. 440 V8 engine! Rear-facing back seat, with a tailgate that opened to the side or down. You could use the key in the tailgate to raise and lower the back window.
My mom had a Buick wagon in the early 70's that we called Black Beauty. It was supposed to be the largest one they ever made, and had the hidden clam shell seat in the way back.
@@goodun2974 Those Clamshell Wagons _were_ the longest, although I think they differed a little from year to year and from make to make among all the ones G.M. made. I just looked up the specs for one: the 1974 Buick Grand Safari was 19 ft 3.3 inches.
@@101Volts , that might well be the one; I'll have to ask my siblings what they remember about it (though I was the oldest). We previously had a Volkswagen camper for several years; we took it on long family trips, but my mother hated driving it day to day because it was very poorly aerodynamic and even the slightest breeze made you wrestle with it on the roads, so my folks traded it in and bought the wagon instead. It was at least the size of a hearse, perhaps larger! It was reasonably comfy for road trips to Canada with my folks and us 4 kids.
@@101Volts , My brother thinks it was a 1972 Buick Estate Wagon with a 455 V8 engine! Looking it up, it was supposed to be the 2nd largest wagon they built, but actually the roomiest inside? I do remember that it was enormous!
@@goodun2974 Ah. If it was a 72, it was 19 Ft and 0.3 inches from bumper to bumper. (I'm referring to the site "Automobile-Catalog" for these specs.) I sat in a 73 Impala Clamshell once that was for sale maybe in 2016 or 2017, and yeah, they're darn long. The one I saw probably needed a good bit of work done to it, I didn't look at it for very long. It was the type with the horrible vinyl-topped roof, so I'm guessing the roof might have had some nasty holes in it. A Volkswagon Camper? No wonder one would wrestle with it, with the engine being so low powered. I guess one could take one of those engines and add Water-Methanol Injection to it and then increase the engine timing, but other than that, there's not much to say for what little power output those VWs had. I grew up in a Wagon too, but later, and it was an 89 Caprice Estate - a bit shorter, but still very comfortable on the road.
My Dad had a 65 Olds 'Vista Cruiser' harboring a 265 Olds Rocket V8, which required high octane leaded gas. Dad always ran Sunoco 260 fuel. Man, that high lead gas smelled fantastic. It was called vista cruiser because there were tinted windows over the rear seats.
I had a 1969 Olds 98 with a HO 455, 10.5:1 compression ration, that required high octane premium fuel. The gas cap even specified "premium fuel ONLY". I too bought the Sunoco gas. I recall the pumps with a turn knob on the side that would change the octane rating of the fuel the pump would deliver. I think 105 was the highest (it might have been 108) but since only leaded fuel came from that pump, the lowest octane was pretty high too at 90 or 91. I own a 1979 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser to this day. It has the low compression 8.5:1, 403 cubic inch (6.6ltr) V8 so it'll run on 87 octane unleaded.
We had a station wagon in the 60s. A blue Dodge. My siblings and I loved rolling around in the folded down back, playing games and singing songs. No seatbelts. At night we'd lie down in the back and watch the stars, moon and streetlights go by. Sometimes we just went out for a drive at night. My father liked driving at night. Just around our small town. Sometimes to the beach.
I drive a staition wagon as my daily today! I was born in 83 and didn't grow up in wagons. My dad was a car enthusiast so we had German sport sedans, SUVs ,and a conversation van. I kinda think my memories in our Suburban are kinda similar to those of station wagons with the addition of driving on the beach!
@@MikeBrown-ii3pt if I remember correctly our 1986 Suburban did too. It was such a great vehicle! It hung around till I was in my late teens. I have so many memories in it. Everything from watching MotorWeek on a tv my dad rigged up in the back seat on road trips (I have no clue why watching a road test of a Porsche 911 on a road trip when I was 7 or 8 sticks in my head so much 🤷♂️) to rescuing some friends that were stuck in a big Mid-Atlantic snow storm when I was 16. It was a white with blue stripes down each side 2500. It only had the 350 and had gotten pretty rusty but if I could find a rust free 2500 with the 454 or the diesel I'd love to have one again!!
@@Bout_TreeFiddy unfortunately I don't have a full size rwd wagon but I do get almost 50 mpg! It's a 2014 VW Sportwagen TDI with a 6 speed manual. It's been tuned a little for a bit extra power but mostly for better mpg. I went from 39 to 42 mpg up to 47 to 40 on average but have hit 51 with really good conditions. I work on the side as a medical supplies courier and it's unbelievable the amount of stuff and weight that thing will take. Normally I would have taken my truck for this much weight but a couple weeks ago I put 1200lbs in the back and my 220lbs in the front to drive from Baltimore to Virginia Beach! It squatted in the back a good amount but drove pretty darn well. Oh and my license plate says DSLGATE which I love because only a some people will get it! When I was a kid we had an early 80s LTD sedan. If I remember right it was my grandfather's car and my dad kept it around for awhile. I've been around a lot of great American land yachts but with the size of the sedan the wagon has to be really impressive!
Growing up in East Germany, I loved our Wartburg 353 “Kombi” (station wagon). It was made out of metal, not glorified cardboard as the more ubiquitous Trabant! Also, it had a four-stroke engine, not the rattling two-stroke engine of the smaller car. I didn’t care that it really belonged to my grandfather, who skipped the 15-year waiting list by virtue of his sister who lived in the West and was able to purchase it for valuable West German currency. Many great memories of family vacations in this car!
For a while my mum drove us to "Our Lady Of Sorrows" school in Wahiawa from Pupukea where we lived, and put the radio on to "stay awake> as she put it, and thus I heard a ton of Motown, a genre I still love to the marrow of my bones.
Pupukea to Wahiawa, Sorrow indeed, passing Chun's Lani's Haleiwa, in your hearse-like vehicle. Is the beautiful Chinese takeout still there, offering a ladt meal? " My Fren', I fix you up!" said the proprietor as your vehicle rode up, returning to the dust, six or so surfboards splayed upon the roof with no rack. No gas required on return to Haleiwa, as it was all downhill from there - the allegory of lives not on Island Time
I have fond memories of my dad's 66 Chevy Caprice wagon with faux woodgrain and a 396 under the hood. Sadly it too was a victim of the gas crisis of 1973. How I wish I had that old wagon now as their value has increased significantly over the years!
i own 4 buick roadmaster estate wagons.. 1-92, 2-95's and 1-96.. people come up frequently to myself and my wife with nostalgia in their eyes.. lovely cars.. they go well with my 59, 60 & 70 cadillacs..
There is one in Kansas City. I always used to look forward to driving past it when I was an Uber driver. Long and clean enough to bring a tear to a grown man's eye.
Thanks for the look back! From 1959 to 1970 my family had a Calypso Coral Chevrolet Brookwood wagon with 6 cylinders, rubber floor mats, and no radio. We made many a family trip in it. It might still exist if body rust and my father's misguided use of non-detergent oil in the engine hadn't killed it.
I love how the first wagon you show in the body of the video is a 1958 Edsel Bermuda. The family wagon, for our six-kid family, was a 1959 Edsel Villager. That saw the family through the birth of the last two of us through a move from Idaho to California, all the way up to most of us learning to drive in it. We sold it to a collector/restorer around 1975 and it was spotted some years later in Reno Nevada as part of their "Hot August Nights" parade.
Your video just made me remember the outside-mounted flip-out crank, which you used to crank open the rear window of our wagon. We were so amazed when one of our wagons had windows that went up and down without using a crank...smiles.
Back in my high school days my friend's dad had a 60s era Chevy station wagon. A bunch of us were model rocket builders and flyers and used that old wagon to haul our stuff to the park where we launched. One time we decided to go just before the 4th of July. In Michigan at the time most fireworks were illegal except for sparklers and smoke bombs, but there'd be roadside stands popping up to sell those. We pull in with a wagon full of rockets and the guy's eyes pop out of their sockets. :-)
I had a Chrysler Plymouth Volare Deluxe station wagon. It was built solid like a tank. I remember a woman crunching into the back of it. I felt a tiny bump, but the station wagon had a tiny dent. Her car was totaled. Hopefully she learned to pay attention and not drive into other people from that day forward. It was probably the best car I ever had. Going camping, could fold down the back seats and sleep in the back in a sleeping bag. I helped countless friends move with my station wagon, not to mention it had a stainless steel luggage wrack on the roof. Taking 4 friends to a place? No problem! The back seat had 3 seat belts and of course the passenger seat next to the drivers in the front - so with me - 5 people easily driven safely. Still miss that car to this day.
Once bought a Dodge Aspen sedan in Newark Delaware right where it was manufactured. I really would have been happier if it was a station wagon!! Especially when I drove halfway across the country to attend college with the car packed to the roof.
Thank you for the Memories! In 1971 we drove from Chicago to New York there were eleven of us, and the dog and like you said, the luggage on the top!😊🙏
At @ 10 min you show the kind I grew up with, except it was dark green. I loved sitting in the very back (cargo area - no seat) because going over any bump or hole in the road was like being in a roller coaster! They would lay the back seat flat and slide their mattress in the back then off we'd go for a camping trip. What great memories.
I can relate to that little girl that cried when they traded in the family wagon. My parents traded in their green '69 Plymouth Satellite wagon in '77, but I wanted it for when I would be old enough to drive. Was not too happy about it. At least I got to see Star Wars that year. I did end up owning a 2005 Doge Hemi Magnum wagon. That was a heavy duty cruiser.
In 1975 my dad bought a Ford F250 pickup. It was the only vehicle I had ever known and my dad had promised it to me when I was old enough to drive. Then by the time I reached 15, just a year before I could drive my dad had forgotten his promise and sold it. I don't think I cried, but I couldn't watch as the new owner drove away with it.
I had an '85 Chevy Suburban that my 4-year-old daughter cried when it went off down the street in '99 without us in it anymore. For four years, it had been "her car" and now it was gone.
Of the dozen of so cars that my Dad had bought during my childhood, there were only two station wagons. The one that I learned to drive in, a '56 Plymouth, and our white '58 Edsel. The Edsel was powered by a 400 c.i. V8, that had push button automatic trans mounted in the center of the steering wheel. I'm 74 now, but can vividly recall the red vinyl interior. It also had the rear-facing jump seat for 2 in the back. Great for our Little League games.
Back in the day, I had a 1968 Mercury Montego MX station wagon. I used to park it in a remote spot, somewhere, and my girlfriend and I would use the back area (which was huge) for a memorable and intimate time. Oh, the memories.
Thank-you History Guy, I grew up with Station Wagons (Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser with the windows in the roof), and when I was married, I bought a 1977 Buick Estate wagon and completely rebuilt it drove it well over 100,000 miles. It hurt when I had to sell it because it just wasn't worth putting more money into it. This is truly a trip down nostalgia lane. Thanks again.
I am that age. Dad's car was a'58 Ford wagon, yellow with a small V-8 so he could take buyers on Real Estate caravans every weekend. That was replaced by a white '64 Ford Galaxy style wagon with a 292 and a Fordomatic 2 speed transmission, the one I drove for my drivers license test in 1969. After that it was a nice '64 Valiant wagon with a Slant 6 and pushbutton transmission. THAT was a great little car. Thanks for jogging my memory. History that needs to be remembered.
I was sorry you didn't mention or show a picture of the Olds Vista Cruiser, its to level roof with the glass windows gave it a unique appearance I was in love with as a teenager.
I was disappointed not to see a Vista Cruiser, too! I have a 1965 Olds Vista Cruiser, all original and faded navy blue original paint. I love the car, although I really wish it had disc brakes. Any driver clueless enough to cut in front of this car is committing suicide.
I was 13 years old when my dad took drove our new Vista Cruiser in 1971 from Phoenix Arizona to Colorado Springs. I sat in the small rear-facing back seat with my two sisters. It was amazing. I remember the "futuristic" electric windows, and all of the windows to look out. I remember the green color of the interior.
I learned to drive in a 1972 Chrysler Town and Country wagon, avocado green with fake wood panels. That far was huge. I grew up going on road trips in that car, sleeping in the way back. As an adult, I've only ever owned wagons or in the case of my first car, a hatchback. After my Subaru Legacy wagon bit the dust, I got a Honda Fit, which is just a mini station wagon, really. Thanks for the great video!
My parents 1966 Valiant 225 slant motor was no slouch. If you could imagine a wagon full of bags and 2 adults and 3 kids speeding downhill. At the bottom was a narrow bridge and coming the other way was a rather large truck. We passed him doing 100mph. This was the early seventies , I was 12 and thought I would never see another birthday at that moment. Fun times.
When you talked about the STAR depot hack and Durant Motors, we were reminded of the great history of W.C. Durant. We believe he started more than one car company (3) in his lifetime. We think his history is worth remembering. Thank you, and yes we grew up with many station wagons in our families. We love your history stories!
W.C. Durant formed a partnership with the two brothers McLaughlin in Ontario, Canada. They had just taken over their father's successful carriage company and were importing powered chassis and outfitting them with their own bodies. The chassis were made by a Scottish immigrant living in Detroit by the name of Fred Buick. Durant had also partnered with a race car driver and maker by the name of Chevrolet and another carmaker, Cadillac, before meeting the McLaughlin brothers. The result was General Motors. The rest is history... P.S. There was a third brother McLaughlin. He eschewed the car/wagon business and leaning on his education as a pharmacist, developed a new/better way of carbonating beverages and extracting flavors from ginger root. He started a company named Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Another piece of history...
When we got back from Germany in '72, dad bought a station wagon in New jersey ... I think a lot of folks returning from the military bought them at Kardon. There was a dark blue one with the cool seats in the back or this metallic green Chevy Greenbriar. He said the other one reminded him of Air Force 'blue' so we got the green one. Used it for the trip to Bakersfield which would be his last duty station before retiring from the AIr Force. I spent that trip in the back seat, flat on my back, mostly, with the seats folded down with the stuff, two cats and a ton of books. Fun times. There were lap belts, but those 'new fangled' shoulder belts never came out of the plastic holders above the doors. Of course, in the back,, no seatbelts for me. Was great. The interstate system was getting closer to be completed, so no two lane highways from our trips cross country in the 60s, but still as fun (or boring crossing Texas), but a trip to be recalled, being of a certain age.
That is completely justified praise .... *Well 99% justified anyway* 🙄 *What's the misisng 1%* ? 'Though it got a mention Station Wagons (Estate Cars as we call 'em on the East side of the Atlantic) remain available. German marques like Mercedes & BMW produce some great ones. Me? I drive a ten year old Ford Focus 1.6 turbo diesel Estate. By Station Wagon standards its compact - Still a useful load hauler 'though and frugal on fuel too. Why 10 years old? Its way simpler and far more reliable than the engines that relaced it - Sadly true for too many cars these days OK a Focus Estate won't win drag races from the lights ... but hey ... I ride an (even older) Yamaha R1 too Not much can out accelerate that
Fantastic! My Dad was an Oldsmobile man, and traded "Rosie", our sweet old maroon '63 Olds wagon on a used, low miles 1969 Oldsmobile "Vista Cruiser". It had an extra window in the roof above the rear seat, wood-tone sides, and the Oldsmobile "Rocket 350" V8 . So cool. My folks pulled a camper trailer, and us 3 fighting kids all over the US in that thing, and the 3 of us learned to drive on it. Great memories!
At a classic car show I went to a few years ago I saw several tricked out station wagons. They had some very sweet paint jobs and auto detailing done to them. My station wagon story. One night when I was in highschool me and about six friends of mine piled into the family station wagon of one of those friends and went to the drive-in. On the way back home a smaller car challenged my friend, who was driving, to a race. He accepted and soon we were all zooming down Skyline Drive.
What part of Skyline Drive were you zooming down? I live in Virginia and I've been on the drive several times. I don't remember being on any part of it where you could "zoom" down it without risking death in a curve!
Great topic! Best memories of our family of five loading up the Dodge Colt station wagon for the family vacation. Can't believe what we would fit in there. On top was a rowboat with the tent, luggage & sleeping bags inside. The back seat had us 3 kids with our dog. Best memories ever!!
Sadly, the only wagon my parents ever bought was a Nissan Sentra wagon, but the parents of one of my best friends had an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser in the '80s, and I still remember rolling around in the way back as they took turns. Good times!
I had 2 Volvo estates (estate is what we call station wagons in the UK) they were great cars. I moved a 3 seater sofa in one once. Ot fit inside no problem 👍
My dad loved them and I remember using them as our camper when hunting. Lay down the back seat and you had a bed . We would put cans of raviolis on the exhaust manifolds to heat them up for lunch or dinner. Fishing trips and everyday everything
Thank you so much for this look back. I purchased first car in 1973 that was later deemed one of the most dangerous ever built, a lemon ( pun intended) yellow Ford Pinto Station Wagon. I purchase it to haul my friends, books and golf clubs ( team member) to college. The “ bomb” that it was, I still miss it!
I had an unhealthy fascination with the tail gunner position on the many airplane models I built as a kid. Every time we’d jump in our station wagon (s) I’d jump into the rear facing seat for the trip. Every mile covered was with me looking for imaginary Focke Wulfs and Zeros to fend off while the pilot and copilot (aka Mom and Dad) flew through the flak.
Thanks for jarring loose some old and very dear memories.
Why was the fascination unhealthy? Seems to me it was just the fascination of a young man. I had many as a young boy, and have many still.
I recall doing something very similar during family holidays touring through Germany in the sixties. Our parents used to buy huge trays of cherries and we would fire the pips out the windows of the car at the passing Chermans! We were side gunners! Rolling your tongue up like an impromptu peashooter and strafing. Oh the shame of it now! The locals were always so warm, kind and indulgent of us children wherever we stayed as I recall and were definitely undeserving of this revolting behaviour. 🥺
😂😂🤣 👍🏻
>pilot and copilot (aka Mom and Dad)
so it was your mom was the captain (left seat)? and dad the FO?
ruclips.net/video/YbMGXXrF7ac/видео.html
Back in 2006, my wife and I were shopping for a new pickup truck at our local Dodge dealer. I had found the truck I wanted on the lot and was making the deal while my wife wandered around the showroom floor. When she didn't return after a few minutes I was forced to go find her as her signature was required on the paperwork for the truck. I was looking around and at first couldn't spot her, until I saw movement in a car sitting in the middle of the showroom. My wife was sitting in a brand new Dodge Magnum R/T....the last of the great station wagons. V8, rear wheel drive, folding rear split seats, seating for 5, etc, etc. There was a little bit of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth as she lovingly caressed the steering wheel and shifter. The look on her face was that gaze given a lover, a gaze I knew well but this gaze wasn't for me. I got her out of the car and we signed the paperwork for the pickup. She then told me she really wanted a Magnum(like I couldn't tell...). Her present car was an '02 Taurus wagon and we were still paying on it. I told her we'd get a Magnum after both the Taurus and new truck were paid down/off in about 3 years. She relented, but still looked at every Magnum she saw on the street. Little did I know what fate was to play in 2008 when Dodge quit manufacturing the Magnum. In early 2010 I went looking for a Magnum for my wife to fulfill the promise I had made. It couldn't be new tho....there were no new Magnums. It took 3 weeks to locate a low mileage Magnum R/T with the extras I wanted. I went and looked at it without my wife coming with me. I checked out the car completely and it was in excellent condition with only 55K miles on it. I put $1000 down to hold it until the next weekend. We were due to make a Sam's Club run to the city where the car was. I got the Taurus title out of the file cabinet without her noticing and we went on our monthly road trip to Sam's driving the Taurus. We pulled into the used car dealer and she got a quizzical look on her face and I told her I was checking out something. The dealer had parked the Magnum inside their service department so it was not visible from outside. My wife and I walked into the dealer and I asked the salesman about that special he had running....he took us back to the service department. She about fainted when she realized that the Magnum she was looking at was hers if she wanted it. She walked around it, then sat in the drivers seat, when I asked her again....she nodded emphatically! The salesman and I went to the office to put the paperwork together. I had to pry my wife out of the Magnum to sign over the Taurus title and to sign the Magnum paperwork. The dealer had even filled the gas tank on the car. She drove to Sam's, we did our shopping and loaded it all in the back of the Magnum, then she drove home. It has 13 more years and almost 200K miles on it now..... she still looks at it the same way....
My wife wants me give up my 2005 Magnum RT, 180K. NOPE!
Now that was a good read👍👍.
Man,.
You ain't never cut Martin Luther the King's hair...
@@MB5rider81 Yes I did
In 2019 I was finally able to get an 05 Magnum R/T with only 79K on the odometer. I know how your wife feels and hope she has many more miles to go.
We were homeless for a while in the early 80s. We (mom, 2 brothers, me and a dog) lived in our stationwagon. I will always think of that time when I see one and this video brought back a lot of memories.
Although an unfortunate situation I wonder what it was like. How did you do to get food, fuel, etc.? Were you parked at a specific location or did you move around?
@@karlhans6678 We moved around a lot. Got food from free food places and free clothes/shoes there as well. I remember some churches helping my mom with other expenses and a couple times I remember being in a hotel for a few days. Thankfully we were in a very giving community in N. California.Had we been in a less giving community I don't know what we would have done. I know my mom worked multiple jobs. We were alone a lot. Im grateful for that experience though, because of it I do not judge others... I know how easily it could be me.
I learned how to drive in a 1974 Pontiac Grand Safari 9-passenger wagon. Parallel parking was a requirement for passing the drivers license test at the time. Once you learn how to park a station wagon, every other car is a piece of cake. Great memories.
Ah the clamshell, such an odd design.
I learned on its corporate twin - a 1976 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon, with the clamshell disappearing tailgate/window combination, three forward facing seats & enough cargo room behind the third seat for all the luggage. It was legally equipped, if you counted seatbelts, to hold 8 people, but with a little squeezing we once got 14 in (that included three in the "way back." And, yes, with it's 400 cubic inch V-8 and loads of torque, it was a killer of many a souped-up Chevelle and Torino at stoplights.
@@CPTDoom our Pontiac had the 455 high-altitude engine that was sold in Colorado; maxed out at about 11 mpg. Before the ‘74, we had a 1963 Pontiac Catalina Safari wagon which is the first car I can remember. In that wagon the third row faced backwards.
I still have difficult time believing that one of those could fit in a parking space.
I took my test in a 73 Ford LTD wagon and it was fun to parallel park for sure! Lol
I remember one auto magazine reviewer calling the station wagon "Like a front porch on wheels and just as comfortable"
So true
That's such a great description. As for comfort, how's this: in my mid 20s, I slept funny once, my back muscles were all goofed up bad enough that I couldn't stand straight or walk right. The same day, I drove my 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis Wagon. 55 miles later, my back issues were gone. Another time when I was driving it for a while, I got out of the car at the end of the day feeling _so_ relaxed, like I had just taken a refreshing nap.
The perfect car for me is like riding a couch!
My station wagon memory: In 1984, my parents bought a Volvo 240DL, which, as i later learned, was a fairly expensive vehicle for the time. It was bought to replace a Toyota Celica that my mom got into a bad accident with. She got away with only minor bruising on one of her hands and arms, but the Celica was totaled.
The Volvos of the 1980s had the reputation for overbuilt safety, which no doubt influenced my parents' decision to get it.
On the many road trips we took in that station wagon, the rear seats would be folded down and we kids would be able to lie down and sleep in the back. It wasn't a true full-sized station wagon with the third-row rear-facing seats, but it was a remarkably tough car that lasted 250k miles and survived several crashes. 😂 The other main things i remember about it was the quirky Swedish engineering in it, from the weird push-button headlights, to the interior door latches that were SO HARD to operate for a young child, to the fact that the vanity mirror, which is usually located in the passenger sun visor in most cars - was placed in the glove compartment door! You'd have to open the glove compartment and then flip up the mirror. 😂
Yep, I’m of that certain age.
“Wood ingrained in the auto industry.” I saw what you did there. 🙂
Just for the comments section's sake, Wood Paneling was a common thing from the 1960s - 1980s. That's why so many of the 1970s video game systems had it, for example. The Atari 2600 had it, but they eventually made an all-black version later referred to by fans as the "Darth Vader" version.
Ah yes. Exactly. I have memories of my dad hooking his boat up to our 67 Chevy impala station wagon for our family trip to a lake cottage in Northern Michigan. My sister and I playing around in the back during the trip, making a 'tent' with a blanket and pretending to be camping as we rolled down the road.
My Dad bought a new 1967 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser for my mom. The family used it for everything possible and it I got my drivers license in it 73, drove it for years after. We loved that car. I learned how to work on cars with it, changed brakes, transmissions, rear differentials, spark plugs and timing, timing chains, water pumps, etc. It was a great date car for drive in movies. Along with sitting in the front seat when cold it, when warm nights aloud we would park back end to screen roll the back window down, drop the tailgate and stretch out in the rear facing seat. It was cavernous and carried a lode of furniture, Blue Birds, or anything you could imagine. Loved that car.
It's a shame we can't hit the like button more than once!!
Ya can. Liking in the comments is much the same to the algorithm. 😎✌
Tell yer' friends....
@@jacksunstone8771 So what you're say is that saying something on the comments drives the algorithms in a positive direction. The more something good is.... ?
Just don't hit it twice.... I've made that mistake
I hit my like button for you! So you can count two likes!
..."and the fading memories of people... of a certain age"..... well said Sir!!!!
Station wagons have a special place in mexican culture as well! Here in Mexico we call them "Mariacheras", they are part of the mariachi iconography and culture because they became the iconic vehicle of choice for many mariachi bands, in modern times other types of vehicles are called Mariacheras if they transport a mariachi band, but the originals will always be the station wagons.
This is cool. Thanks for sharing.
Thats really cool!
The Guitarron, alone, must take the seat of honor . . .
amazing fun fact!
I thought they would be called border crossers!😂
First car I ever held the steering wheel on while it was in motion was a mid to late 70's station wagon my granpa had. He put me on his lap and let me steer. Miss that man dearly.
My uncle let me back out his brand new 74 Ford Country Squire in a rustic copper color, but no wood. It was more of the base model. I proceeded to back out this monster at the ripe old age of 7 barely able to reach the pedals and still see out...he said I did a fine job of backing the moster out of his fairly new 2 1/2 car garage. Tis was all done much to my Aunt's consternation, and nervous fiddling. :) Thanks Uncle Richard! IT's a memory I cherish along with your memory.
Us kids would get into our pajamas, mom would pop some popcorn, and dad would carry pillows to the Plymouth station wagon. We would go to the drive-in and my sister got to sit in the front seat with the popcorn bowl. My brother and I would look over the front seat with our blankets. Can't remember the end of movies, how we got home, or how I got into bed.
67 Chevelle wagon, twin mattress fit in the 'back of the back'. And I Am sorry for anyone whose parents listened to reo speedwagon.
Great writing!
'63 BelAir.... with a 230CID Six. Drive-in theatre, eating home-made popcorn from a paper grocery sack.
Ahh, the days.
@@glennoconnor2980 How my Mom managed to pop 3 grocery bags of popcorn and get 5 kids to pile in a wagon to see Beneath the Planet of the Apes is beyond me.
Daddy would carry us into bed. Ah, the memories.......
My Dad had a HK Holden station wagon, which we drove from Victoria to Ayers Rock in central Australia in the mid 1970's, no paved highways through the desert back then, just corrugated dusty roads, we'd camp out at bore tanks and radio repeater stations, it was an incredible adventure for a kid and that old car never missed a beat.
My dad had a such a fascination for woodies that he use to paint it on the side of my old 72 VE Valiant V8 318 station wagon a woodie paint pattern, i never understood why until it was to late and my dad passed away.
❤
Interesting episode that will, without doubt, trigger *numerous memories* among members of this channel's core audience 😉 For me, among my very first. As a child of no more than 3 or 4, in the mid-'50s I wandered away from home. I don't remember why, but I do remember the car of the person who found me and returned me to my parents. It had a wood paneled exterior and speaks of a very different time in multiple ways.
Sigh, and now you are old like me.
@@higgme1ster A rather inevitable outcome unless you'd prefer to die young 😅 Each gets an indeterminate span in life. And while we cannot choose when we live, I have no complaints regarding fate's timing.
I basically grew up being transported by my parents in their 1956 Ford station wagon that was bought new by them in '56. I still have a fondness for the utility that one of them represent.
I always loved the sculpt of the '55 and '56 Fords.
They still make station wagons like the '50s models. They just call them crossovers. It's the low '60s, '70s and '80s style wagons they stopped making.
My parents bought a 57 ford wagon a month before I was born.
@@richardmoramarco6754 Still getting broke in then. 😆
@Jack_Russell_Brown Oh my God!
You don't sound a day over 260!!!!
Holy schidt!
I remember Whitefront stores!
And Woolworth's
And Earnst!
Pay n Save
Pay n Pack
Value Mart
G.O. Guys
Piggy Wiggly even.
And my personal favorite,
Wigwam
I'm a little younger.l a l I t t l e younger .
Your in your prime, my friend!
To your longevity 🙏
The “way back seat”! That’s exactly what my brother and I called it!😂 we used to fight about riding back there. My parents weren’t happy when my brother locked me in the spare tire compartment.
I'll never forget traveling from Mountain Home AFB to Travis AFB in 1974 with my new wife, listening to the REO Speedwagon cassette tape, in our black '66 Ford Country Squire Wagon with our black lab, Jasper. I was about to be transfered to Thailand for a year in support of F-111F's in the VN war. Your history of the station wagon brings back a wide range of emotions and memories. That's my quick story.
Beautiful bird and beautiful car!
good memory
We had the exact same wagon as well, remember how bad the exhaust fumes were in the back as us kids sat in those folding twin seats!?
#1 of a "pack" 7 kids growing up in the 70s, we had at three of them. :) fond memories. Thanks for bringing those memories back. :)
We still have our 1982 LTD Country Squire. We even gave it a name. It brought us across country and now sits in the driveway. I hope to rebuild it and use it again as it was great for hauling everything from people, plywood sheets, lumber and groceries. Much more practical that the minivan we drive now.
I recall the joy of identifying makes and models of automobiles by appreance. Today most vehicles (high price to more affordable) all look the same. I honestly do not know why. I am fortunate to have lived during an era when people appreciated indivually.
We traded individuality for safety two decades ago. Side impact tests dictate belt-lines (bottoms of windows) heights. Roof crush tests affect the size/shape of pillars. There are regulations that control how high/low bumpers and lights can be, the shape of hoods in case you hit a pedestrian, the surface area of mirrors, etc. All cars sold in America must meet the same standards so they end up looking similar.
Yeah. I think cars are UGLY today. I dislike the generic bubble look on them. Even the luxury brands look generic now too. Sigh.
When REO Speed Wagon became a thing in the 70s, it was playing on the radio one day. Dad asked who the band was. I told him. Of course I pronounced it like the band pronounces it. He corrected me pronouncing it properly because he remembered the company and gave me a history lesson on the spot.
My dad used to blast REO Speedwagon, while driving to school in his REO Speedwagon.
I did not know that REO and Oldsmobile come from fellow, Ransom E Olds.
By the time REO Speedwagon was in the radio, it was FM radio and cassette tapes. 8 Tracks didn't last as long as were think it did.
My General Motors custom cruiser finally gave the ghost 4 years ago.I still mourn it's passing. Among many other wonderful facets I loved its completely smooth ride.I also loved that you could fit 4' by 8' sheets of plywood or drywall in the back With nothing sticking out the end. And that rear facing rear seat was such a gem.
I had to restore my donated Custom Cruiser. I live driving it.
This made me smile. Back in the 70s as a young man, I had many good times in the back of a station wagon, parked at night on the beach. ;)
When you wanted to borrow the family station wagon rather than go on a date in your VW Beetle......WHY? They ask. I remember!
One of my fondest memories as a child was riding in the very back of my parent’s 1959 Edsel station wagon, on the way from AZ to IN. That car was sold long ago. I would love to have it now. 😊
Thx THG for taking me back down memory lane as at 70yrs young I have many xcuntry trips on rt66 with parents, G'ma and sisters in '58 Chevy wagon. No AC so crossed Mojave desert during night. Stay Healthy
My favorite station wagon was a Morris Minor Woody that I had in the 70's. I drove it up and down the West Coast and a few times out to Colorado. It wasn't fast, but I wasn't in a hurry. It was quite reliable and if there was a problem, I could fix it.
That story about the daughter crying hit a little close to home for me. I have a 1993 Caprice Classic wagon and when we drove it away from the previous owners house his son was balling his eyes out. I nearly turned around and nixed the deal right then. I grew up in a 1984 Olds custom cruiser and the caprice reminds me of it even has the same red interior and just floats down the road.
C.u.v.'s are a station wagon with a birth defect. Stale looking cramped up, CHINISE SHIT! SELF SEAL BERRINGS? MADE IN CHINA? HOW YOU KNOW THAT THOSE BERRINGS EVEN GOT SILICONE SHIT ON EM? you could be driving up some interstate at 60 mph and the wheels would come off! I used to greasey own wheel bearings.
You're one of life's (fairly) good guys
You didn't actually take it back ....... but Points for considering it
Fact is the guy would have sold it anyway *and* maybe blamed the lad for loosing the sale if you had.
@@babboon5764 chip chip cheerio and all that sort of rot, you are the first GOOD REMARK I GOT IN 67.2 YEARS signed...A SORRY SLOB FROM THE STATE'S! born with a 🎯 on his ass at birth with every rotten brake they could find, and if they couldn't find one, they'd invent one! Bounced around the whole world! I DUNN SEEN, HEARD AND DONE AT ALL! I draw SCHOPRENIC's like a junkyard magnetic attracts a bagga drywall screws! In fact, a London times editorial cartoonist would draw a "HAGGARD HUMAN HEAD ON THE TOP OF A DRYWALL SCREW! all over the world , ever visit buffalo? It's own name cancels it out that one skyscraper, commin in from Hamburg, looks like it givin ya the middle finger! Visiously UNFRIENDLY, I'm too busy runnin for my life to even TRY to make friends! My oldest nice LIKE, YOU GOTTA EXPERIENCE HER! SHE'LL HAVE YOU IDICTED AND HANGED FOR EVERY VILE REPUGNANT LIE SHE CAN FAKE UP IN HER HEAD BEFORE YOU CAN SAY houdy! Then, RUN FOR COVER! there's this cursed football team that either has decades of loosing seasons or they blow it in the end, nanometers from the brass ring..GEE I WISH THEY WOULDA WON THIS FUCKIN SUPER BOWL AND I'D HELP EM PACK! I never seen so many obece sports SCHOPRENIC's! If they win, they plant a wet kiss on the lips of a murderous traffic cop and if they loose?? They slug the wife, abuse the kids and skin the cat! The cops are hoodlums are the cops, this shit phone. 200 charecters, like, don't even let your car tank near here! You're safer in the slums in Soho! Look at barffalo's skyline? FLATLINE!
I wore out two Caprice Classics, one after the other. Wish I still had one. We named one the S.S. Shelley Winters, and the other one was the White Whale.
@@daverockwell1996 Shelly winters. Thee perfect wife!
Grew up in the 70s and 80s. Mom and dad had 2 wagons. I loved them. Roomy comfortable and and just unique. My dad bought a Buick Riviera 82 wagon in 83. Loved that......wagon.
June 1973, my first car was a Datsun (yes Datsun) 510 station wagon. I loved it, I was 17.
We moved so often as a kid when folks asked where home was my siblings and I said "The back of our station wagon." Thanks for the trip.
This history lesson brought back a lot of memories about cars. When I met my husband he drove a Chevy van (full-size). He said his Scout troop called it the Adventure van. And it had many more adventures before it died at 400K miles. After it was towed away, he wrote a letter to the dealership where he bought it. This letter read like a eulogy to this much-enjoyed and used vehicle.
Apparently, you didn't walk off in bare feet....
My grandfather had a 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon. I got to ride in the way back all the way from Baltimore to Nova Scotia and over to Niagara Falls and back down to Baltimore. It was a great experience!
I'm had one of those, an 87. Surprisingly good car. I got it for $800 in 99, sold it for $500 in 05. The guy I sold it to drove it until 2017. He never had a single major issue with it.
we had a silver 84 growing up in iowa when i was a kid. bought used in 86-87 maybe? Mom had daycare and when we had to go somewhere we load the kids in it with me and my sister in the very back. On road trips to the bigger cities or out of state we would have seats folded down and laying in back playing or sleeping on real long trips. had topper for top which i still have for the real long trips. had dual flip lid in back on floor for more under floor storage we would put coolers in for trips or around town open and use as additional seating since there were 2 levels and it was perfect for 2 5-8 year olds. yeah cops will stop you now for that. it was car both my little sister and i learned to drive in and car i drove to college and used on paper route when raining or snowing. (otherwise used bike or moped i had been using prior to being old enough to drive). I was good at drifting it around corners in the snow. After I graduated college mom wanted to move to arkansas where relatives were and where car made an almost annual trip too for past 10 years. couple weeks before the move my sister once again staying out later than supposed to and coming back from city half hour away and was probably speeding too, hit a deer just 2 miles away from home. totaled car. however she was unhurt and able to drive it home and into our driveway. june 98, the car we called the silver bullet, with almost a quarter million miles, that we spent so much of our child hood in, was no more.
My great, great grandfather had one too
My husband had this model as a company vehicle when we were first dating and then married. We bought it and drove it until, like others, we traded it in for a minivan. It was an excellent vehicle when we needed it at the last minute for a long-distance trip.
IMHO, this is the best episode of the history guy that i've watched yet. I grew up in the back of a station wagon so it kinda touches me right there, you know? Thanks Lance.
Crossed the USA on a family road trip when I was 6. In a '68 Chevy Impala wagon.
Learned to drive in mom's '73 Chevy Caprice Estate wagon
Bought a '69 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser in the early nineties and drove it around for eight or nine years until it threw a rod.
I love station wagons! Such great memories!
As a man of a "certain age" whose mother had a Country Squire that she purchased from our uncle Bill when we moved from Chicago to Virginia, I can attest to the coolness of the station wagon. The moment I saw two side facing bench seats fold out of the rear floor, I knew things were looking up. Having graduated in 83 I also had the privilege of owning an 8-Track, discovering REO Speedwagon on the Juke box, and seeing"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" at a drive in theater from the back of a station wagon. I kind of feel bad for the youth of today. While they have access to more information than we could ever dream of, it seems that it has come at the cost of quality. Thank you for today's show.
As a huge fan of the work of Ransom E. Olds I salute your letting the world know a little bit about him and the band that bears his name.
I never knew about the band that bears his name until 1980, but I knew of the trucks that did, as well as their merger with Diamond T.
I am sill the lucky owner of two Oldsmobiles, a 2003 Silhouette, and a 1998 Regency. Here in the rust belt, it's a dicey thing as more and more of each ends up on the ground regularly.
My station-wagon memory: This was around 1978, when I was in 3'rd or 4'th grade. My class was on a field trip, perhaps to visit the local fire-department or something like that. Rather than taking a bus, a small group of parents drove the kids in their cars. I ended up in the back of a station-wagon with about four other boys. The mom driving us stopped at the bank along the way. Exiting the vehicle, she locked the doors and closed the windows, saying: "I'll be back in a few minutes, kids," before walking off. And immediately one of the boys unleashed a fart of biblical proportion with a stink right out of hell in the small, enclosed space. Chaos ensued, with panicking boys retching and gasping for air, lunging desperately around the rear of the station-wagon. We tried to open the windows and unlock the doors, but soon discovered that the windows and locks could only be operated from the driver's seat. Unfortunately, a metal grid prevented us from getting to the front seat. Child safety features, no doubt. I don't think we figured out who the guilty party was, but vicious accusations and choice words were ricocheting off the walls of the infernal station-wagon. It seemed there was more fart than oxygen in the small space, and the stench lingered interminably. Finally, after what seemed like several centuries, the mom returned from the bank and drove us to whatever the class was visiting that day. The stink gradually faded from our sinuses, and yet the memory of those infamous five or ten minutes is forever burned into my brain. God bless the humble station-wagon for all the wonderful childhood memories it has given us.
What a comment
That was a police wagon, or a K-9 unit, and you neglected to mention the matron was taking you to juvie.
Thank you for sharing that memory. It's just the beginning of the day and you've already started it off with a hearty belly laugh for me.
I'm in my 80s, and can remember the rise and fall of the wagon. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
I remember as a little kid asking my father how Santa Claus got around when there wasn't any snow. He says: "Well, son... he drives a station wagon." Seemed logical to me.
I saw REO Speed Wagon on 11/4/69 when they played a concert at "Chances R", a night spot in Champaign, IL, when I was a student at U of I. Thanks for the memory, History Guy!
YES, you mentioned the "family truckster" . Omg this brought up so many cherished memories. My best friend's mom had a Buick station wagon and we always sat in the back and played tailgunner for the bomber. My mom had a Ford Fairlane station wagon and it sounded like a race car, it was black and we called it the hearse. I miss those things.
At 31, I just about remember some of my neighbors and relatives still holding onto their old station wagons when I was very young. That was just about the time they were starting to be replaced by the mini van as the go-to choice of vehicle for hauling your family around. Then those were, in turn, replaced by crossovers around the time I was starting college. Funny how trends come and go.
This particular trend might appropriately be described as a downward spiral
I’m 28 and my folks had a 95 Taurus wagon. While the lack of dependability of that car has kept me away from Ford, I have always tried to have a wagon if possible. You get the cargo room of a crossover without the garbage looks and handling. Genuinely don’t see how crossovers are so popular. They don’t highway as well as a wagon and they can’t off road like a real SUV.
I was born in 1991, and my Dad held on to his 1989 Chevrolet Caprice Estate until 2000 or so. I know it was an 89, because that's the _only_ model year when they had the 3-point seat belts in the middle seats, while _not_ having the front seat belts stupidly attached to the doors.
Born in 1956 , my grandmother in New York got a new car every 3 yrs , we lived in California, she asked my dad if he wanted the car before she got a new one, we had already received a 1956 Potinac Star Chief, we had took a train to go back , ( boy that was fun ! ) we all had fun driving it home , my parents & my brother & myself , then in 1965 she gave us a 1962 ford country squire, that was a boat ! , I learned to drive in that car , a lot of great memories in that car , turquoise blue metallic, all my friends knew it was me in that car , I found out that ford made different colors in the east than here , you never saw an another one like it around here , my dad took real good care of that car, he died right before I graduated from high school , then 4 months later the car died, I sure miss him , and that car ❤️🚗
My last car before I switch to cycling only was a 2001 Ford Focus SW and I absolutely loved the thing!
From a station wagon to a bicylce is quite the jump.
@@richardupcott9026 Indeed! :D But I moved from living in the countryside to a big city and a bicycle made a lot more sense.
I grew up in the back of a volvo station wagon and kind of continue the tradition with a 1992 Restomodded Volvo 740 wagon. My wife drives a Volkswagen Passat station wagon but you could hardly compare it to the big American wagons of yore. Its quite a bit smaller, but gets great gas mileage, is surprisingly roomy, given its size and very peppy. We like it.
I hear Volkswagen and I think of the Type 2 "Microbus" and the Type 3 "Squareback Sedan".
While in 5th grade or thereabout in Thailand, I remembered my mom came home saying she was gonna buy a used Volvo 240 wagon (red) from the Dean of her faculty (she was teaching architecture at the university). However, another architect friend of hers bought it instead, and he lived next door to us. So, for many years I would see the car nearly every day but never got to ride in it even though sometimes I got to ride in the neighbor's other cars. I guess this was the reason why when I went to the US to study I jumped at the first chance I got to get a 240 Wagon. Bought one sight unseen on eBay (not a smart move) and hopped on Amtrak from Durham, NC to pick it up in DC and drove it back down to campus right away. Apart from a bit of rust, never had any problem with the car.
Moved back to Thailand 16 years ago, and have been browsing through used car listings for a 940 or 240 wagon (7-series wagon weren't available here) ever since.
My first car was a 1967 Chevrolet Impala Station Wagon, two-tone Dark Blue body/White top. Small Block V8. $300 with 63k miles. It was 1978. I learned to drive in my Dad's 1972 Ford Country Squire LTD S/W with faux wood panels on the sides and tailgate. On weekends, we would jump in the 1959 Mercury Station Wagon that stayed loaded with fishing poles & tackle and camping gear, tent, & sleeping bags. All the gear was in the back or in this case, the middle seat as the kids would all squeeze into the third seat all the way in the back against the Tailgate.
One of my significant memories of our stationwagon was climbing out the back when the window was down. Of course, it is directly tied to losing my big toenail when my sister opened the tailgate as I was climbing out!
I was a kid before and during the station wagon's height of popularity. We were very poor when I was growing up and could never have afforded one. Seeing this makes me a bit sad on how much I missed as a child and how much we missed as a family. We moved over two dozen times during my childhood. A station wagon would have been really handy. Thank you for yet another fascinating bit of history.
I moved 5 or 6 times during my childhood and that was tough
i know that feeling we moved when the rent was due, in total about 20 times before i moved out on my own whew!
At 15:31- The black & white video is of the historic old grist mill at Spring Mill Park in Indiana. Every summer our family would drive there from Louisville (in our wagon!) for our annual vacation day! My parents were barely scraping by financially, but my brothers & I never knew it, or "felt" poor. WONDERFUL memories! THANKS!
Some of the best journeys in my life started with riding in the back of our family station wagon.
This episode is t-shirt worthy for sure! Just great!
I was born in 1961 in Southern California and station wagons were ubiquitous. When I was a teenager my buddy would pick me up in his parent’s station wagon and he called it the five door funny car. I can remember sitting in the back facing backwards as we came down from Big Bear mountain and the experience was vomit inducing especially if you’re dad was smoking a cigar.
I remember my neighbor bought a huge Ford station wagon around 1964. It had those extra seats in the back that folded down to make a flat metal floor for hauling stuff. It was great! In 1985 I bought an AMC Eagle station wagon. It was one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Wish I had it today!
I bought an '85 AMC Wagon in 2003. Sold it after a couple of years, but yeah, that was a special kind of car. I was a little bummed the Eagle didn't get a mention in the video.
@@getmeagator The Eagle should have been mentioned, as should the Studebaker Wagonair, which had a sliding roof over the cargo area.
Thanks for making me relive some wonderful memories of our Ford Country Squire and the Oldsmobile with the sky roof.
Great video!
Vista Cruiser
@@jjohnsonTX I grew in wayback of a Vista Cruiser.
Yep'ers the Vista Cruiser was the Apex of the station wagons, I always enjoyed the views from those tiny little windows in the roof!!! 🤠👍
All my friends parents had Vista Cruisers. We had a Plymouth Fury III. I’ve got a Vista Cruiser now though.
@@dougcargill6730 but does it have the legendary 455 cubic inch V8? My favorite American motor of all time!
I have a 1967 Ford Country Sedan wagon. It's a behemoth. I'm completely enamored with it. Driving it and driving around in it is a complete joy. Probably the best thing about owning this car is seeing how much it makes people smile.
Hi there History Guy! Great History once more! Thank you. Here in Australia the Holden Station Wagon was King of the Road. Many a Family road trip involved the Station Wagon. That line about the Drive-in brought back great memories. One trip our Family made was a drive from Mareeba Qld to Lismore NSW of 1,934km with 11 of us packed in the Station Wagon, in 1976!
You're going to get LOTS of nostalgia with this one.... Ours was a 1970 full-size Chrysler. 440 V8 engine! Rear-facing back seat, with a tailgate that opened to the side or down. You could use the key in the tailgate to raise and lower the back window.
“The History Guy” in my opinion has to be one best programs out there. Thank you ans keep up the good work.
I started my mechanic career at a Buick dealer in the eighties. I remember those land yachts. Miss the room those things had.
My mom had a Buick wagon in the early 70's that we called Black Beauty. It was supposed to be the largest one they ever made, and had the hidden clam shell seat in the way back.
@@goodun2974 Those Clamshell Wagons _were_ the longest, although I think they differed a little from year to year and from make to make among all the ones G.M. made. I just looked up the specs for one: the 1974 Buick Grand Safari was 19 ft 3.3 inches.
@@101Volts , that might well be the one; I'll have to ask my siblings what they remember about it (though I was the oldest). We previously had a Volkswagen camper for several years; we took it on long family trips, but my mother hated driving it day to day because it was very poorly aerodynamic and even the slightest breeze made you wrestle with it on the roads, so my folks traded it in and bought the wagon instead. It was at least the size of a hearse, perhaps larger! It was reasonably comfy for road trips to Canada with my folks and us 4 kids.
@@101Volts , My brother thinks it was a 1972 Buick Estate Wagon with a 455 V8 engine! Looking it up, it was supposed to be the 2nd largest wagon they built, but actually the roomiest inside? I do remember that it was enormous!
@@goodun2974 Ah. If it was a 72, it was 19 Ft and 0.3 inches from bumper to bumper. (I'm referring to the site "Automobile-Catalog" for these specs.)
I sat in a 73 Impala Clamshell once that was for sale maybe in 2016 or 2017, and yeah, they're darn long. The one I saw probably needed a good bit of work done to it, I didn't look at it for very long. It was the type with the horrible vinyl-topped roof, so I'm guessing the roof might have had some nasty holes in it.
A Volkswagon Camper? No wonder one would wrestle with it, with the engine being so low powered. I guess one could take one of those engines and add Water-Methanol Injection to it and then increase the engine timing, but other than that, there's not much to say for what little power output those VWs had.
I grew up in a Wagon too, but later, and it was an 89 Caprice Estate - a bit shorter, but still very comfortable on the road.
My Dad had a 65 Olds 'Vista Cruiser' harboring a 265 Olds Rocket V8, which required high octane leaded gas. Dad always ran Sunoco 260 fuel. Man, that high lead gas smelled fantastic. It was called vista cruiser because there were tinted windows over the rear seats.
I had a 1969 Olds 98 with a HO 455, 10.5:1 compression ration, that required high octane premium fuel. The gas cap even specified "premium fuel ONLY". I too bought the Sunoco gas. I recall the pumps with a turn knob on the side that would change the octane rating of the fuel the pump would deliver. I think 105 was the highest (it might have been 108) but since only leaded fuel came from that pump, the lowest octane was pretty high too at 90 or 91.
I own a 1979 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser to this day. It has the low compression 8.5:1, 403 cubic inch (6.6ltr) V8 so it'll run on 87 octane unleaded.
Yes to Sunco 260! I ran it in my 1965 Buick Gran Sport!
We had a station wagon in the 60s. A blue Dodge. My siblings and I loved rolling around in the folded down back, playing games and singing songs. No seatbelts. At night we'd lie down in the back and watch the stars, moon and streetlights go by. Sometimes we just went out for a drive at night. My father liked driving at night. Just around our small town. Sometimes to the beach.
I drive a staition wagon as my daily today! I was born in 83 and didn't grow up in wagons. My dad was a car enthusiast so we had German sport sedans, SUVs ,and a conversation van. I kinda think my memories in our Suburban are kinda similar to those of station wagons with the addition of driving on the beach!
My 1984 Suburban has station wagon in the "body style" box on its title.
@@MikeBrown-ii3pt if I remember correctly our 1986 Suburban did too. It was such a great vehicle! It hung around till I was in my late teens. I have so many memories in it. Everything from watching MotorWeek on a tv my dad rigged up in the back seat on road trips (I have no clue why watching a road test of a Porsche 911 on a road trip when I was 7 or 8 sticks in my head so much 🤷♂️) to rescuing some friends that were stuck in a big Mid-Atlantic snow storm when I was 16. It was a white with blue stripes down each side 2500. It only had the 350 and had gotten pretty rusty but if I could find a rust free 2500 with the 454 or the diesel I'd love to have one again!!
What's your daily wagon? Mine's a 91 Crown Vic (last year of the full size Ford wagon)
@@Bout_TreeFiddy unfortunately I don't have a full size rwd wagon but I do get almost 50 mpg! It's a 2014 VW Sportwagen TDI with a 6 speed manual. It's been tuned a little for a bit extra power but mostly for better mpg. I went from 39 to 42 mpg up to 47 to 40 on average but have hit 51 with really good conditions. I work on the side as a medical supplies courier and it's unbelievable the amount of stuff and weight that thing will take. Normally I would have taken my truck for this much weight but a couple weeks ago I put 1200lbs in the back and my 220lbs in the front to drive from Baltimore to Virginia Beach! It squatted in the back a good amount but drove pretty darn well. Oh and my license plate says DSLGATE which I love because only a some people will get it!
When I was a kid we had an early 80s LTD sedan. If I remember right it was my grandfather's car and my dad kept it around for awhile. I've been around a lot of great American land yachts but with the size of the sedan the wagon has to be really impressive!
Growing up in East Germany, I loved our Wartburg 353 “Kombi” (station wagon). It was made out of metal, not glorified cardboard as the more ubiquitous Trabant! Also, it had a four-stroke engine, not the rattling two-stroke engine of the smaller car. I didn’t care that it really belonged to my grandfather, who skipped the 15-year waiting list by virtue of his sister who lived in the West and was able to purchase it for valuable West German currency. Many great memories of family vacations in this car!
For a while my mum drove us to "Our Lady Of Sorrows" school in Wahiawa from Pupukea where we lived, and put the radio on to "stay awake> as she put it, and thus I heard a ton of Motown, a genre I still love to the marrow of my bones.
Pupukea to Wahiawa, Sorrow indeed, passing Chun's Lani's Haleiwa, in your hearse-like vehicle.
Is the beautiful Chinese takeout still there, offering a ladt meal?
" My Fren', I fix you up!" said the proprietor as your vehicle rode up, returning to the dust, six or so surfboards splayed upon the roof with no rack.
No gas required on return to Haleiwa, as it was all downhill from there - the allegory of lives not on Island Time
I have fond memories of my dad's 66 Chevy Caprice wagon with faux woodgrain and a 396 under the hood. Sadly it too was a victim of the gas crisis of 1973. How I wish I had that old wagon now as their value has increased significantly over the years!
my parents car when little was '66 impala wagon with a 327, three speed automatic (turbo 400). ps, pb, and air.
Thanks for the blast from the past, many memories please keep up the good work.
my 2nd car was a $90 '1956 nomad and my 5th was a $100 1955 pontiac safari. wish I had 'em back! guess I'm dating myself....frank
i own 4 buick roadmaster estate wagons.. 1-92, 2-95's and 1-96.. people come up frequently to myself and my wife with nostalgia in their eyes.. lovely cars.. they go well with my 59, 60 & 70 cadillacs..
You nailed the first car I remember my family owning. An Edsel station wagon almost exactly like the one on the first picture in the vid.
🫶1959 red & white Edsel Corsair FTW! Love that car.😻
There is one in Kansas City. I always used to look forward to driving past it when I was an Uber driver. Long and clean enough to bring a tear to a grown man's eye.
Martha Stuwart has an Edsel wagon in an episode of Jay Leno. Jay drives them down a country lane.
@@discerningmind Martha Stewart also owns Edsel Ford's house. (In Maine I think)
@@ericscott5224 Cool! Maybe the wagon came with the house. Find that segment with Jay Leno.
D-pillar superiority gang rise up
Gangs are bad
All rise
Crossover scum need not apply
Now lay back down
D-pillar rot killed my '94 Sable 😢
Thanks for the look back! From 1959 to 1970 my family had a Calypso Coral Chevrolet Brookwood wagon with 6 cylinders, rubber floor mats, and no radio. We made many a family trip in it. It might still exist if body rust and my father's misguided use of non-detergent oil in the engine hadn't killed it.
I love how the first wagon you show in the body of the video is a 1958 Edsel Bermuda. The family wagon, for our six-kid family, was a 1959 Edsel Villager. That saw the family through the birth of the last two of us through a move from Idaho to California, all the way up to most of us learning to drive in it. We sold it to a collector/restorer around 1975 and it was spotted some years later in Reno Nevada as part of their "Hot August Nights" parade.
Your video just made me remember the outside-mounted flip-out crank, which you used to crank open the rear window of our wagon. We were so amazed when one of our wagons had windows that went up and down without using a crank...smiles.
Back in my high school days my friend's dad had a 60s era Chevy station wagon. A bunch of us were model rocket builders and flyers and used that old wagon to haul our stuff to the park where we launched. One time we decided to go just before the 4th of July. In Michigan at the time most fireworks were illegal except for sparklers and smoke bombs, but there'd be roadside stands popping up to sell those. We pull in with a wagon full of rockets and the guy's eyes pop out of their sockets. :-)
I had a Chrysler Plymouth Volare Deluxe station wagon. It was built solid like a tank. I remember a woman crunching into the back of it. I felt a tiny bump, but the station wagon had a tiny dent. Her car was totaled. Hopefully she learned to pay attention and not drive into other people from that day forward. It was probably the best car I ever had. Going camping, could fold down the back seats and sleep in the back in a sleeping bag. I helped countless friends move with my station wagon, not to mention it had a stainless steel luggage wrack on the roof. Taking 4 friends to a place? No problem! The back seat had 3 seat belts and of course the passenger seat next to the drivers in the front - so with me - 5 people easily driven safely. Still miss that car to this day.
Once bought a Dodge Aspen sedan in Newark Delaware right where it was manufactured. I really would have been happier if it was a station wagon!! Especially when I drove halfway across the country to attend college with the car packed to the roof.
Thank you for the Memories! In 1971 we drove from Chicago to New York there were eleven of us, and the dog and like you said, the luggage on the top!😊🙏
-Feel sorry for you.--Well,Not that sorry.
At @ 10 min you show the kind I grew up with, except it was dark green. I loved sitting in the very back (cargo area - no seat) because going over any bump or hole in the road was like being in a roller coaster! They would lay the back seat flat and slide their mattress in the back then off we'd go for a camping trip. What great memories.
I can relate to that little girl that cried when they traded in the family wagon. My parents traded in their green '69 Plymouth Satellite wagon in '77, but I wanted it for when I would be old enough to drive. Was not too happy about it. At least I got to see Star Wars that year.
I did end up owning a 2005 Doge Hemi Magnum wagon. That was a heavy duty cruiser.
In 1975 my dad bought a Ford F250 pickup. It was the only vehicle I had ever known and my dad had promised it to me when I was old enough to drive. Then by the time I reached 15, just a year before I could drive my dad had forgotten his promise and sold it. I don't think I cried, but I couldn't watch as the new owner drove away with it.
Those Magnums were nice looking rides.
@@rustythecrown9317
Mostly. It had a face that only it's mother could love.
@@muznick It's like the PT Cruiser.... loved it or hated it.
I had an '85 Chevy Suburban that my 4-year-old daughter cried when it went off down the street in '99 without us in it anymore. For four years, it had been "her car" and now it was gone.
Of the dozen of so cars that my Dad had bought during my childhood, there were only two station wagons. The one that I learned to drive in, a '56 Plymouth, and our white '58 Edsel. The Edsel was powered by a 400 c.i. V8, that had push button automatic trans mounted in the center of the steering wheel. I'm 74 now, but can vividly recall the red vinyl interior. It also had the rear-facing jump seat for 2 in the back. Great for our Little League games.
Back in the day, I had a 1968 Mercury Montego MX station wagon. I used to park it in a remote spot, somewhere, and my girlfriend and I would use the back area (which was huge) for a memorable and intimate time. Oh, the memories.
Thank-you History Guy, I grew up with Station Wagons (Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser with the windows in the roof), and when I was married, I bought a 1977 Buick Estate wagon and completely rebuilt it drove it well over 100,000 miles. It hurt when I had to sell it because it just wasn't worth putting more money into it. This is truly a trip down nostalgia lane. Thanks again.
Love wagons. The last gm wagon was the Cadillac CTS Wagon in late 2000s.
2014. One of my dream cars is a 2011 awd manual CTS-V wagon. Insane ride
Dream car !
I am that age. Dad's car was a'58 Ford wagon, yellow with a small V-8 so he could take buyers on Real Estate caravans every weekend. That was replaced by a white '64 Ford Galaxy style wagon with a 292 and a Fordomatic 2 speed transmission, the one I drove for my drivers license test in 1969. After that it was a nice '64 Valiant wagon with a Slant 6 and pushbutton transmission. THAT was a great little car. Thanks for jogging my memory. History that needs to be remembered.
Thanks for taking us wayback to many fond memories.
I was sorry you didn't mention or show a picture of the Olds Vista Cruiser, its to level roof with the glass windows gave it a unique appearance I was in love with as a teenager.
The Cruiser was bad ass for carrying surf boards. Inside if you didn't want them stolen. On the roof if you wanted to sleep
Isn’t that the car from That 70’s Show too?
I was disappointed not to see a Vista Cruiser, too! I have a 1965 Olds Vista Cruiser, all original and faded navy blue original paint. I love the car, although I really wish it had disc brakes. Any driver clueless enough to cut in front of this car is committing suicide.
I was 13 years old when my dad took drove our new Vista Cruiser in 1971 from Phoenix Arizona to Colorado Springs. I sat in the small rear-facing back seat with my two sisters. It was amazing. I remember the "futuristic" electric windows, and all of the windows to look out. I remember the green color of the interior.
I learned to drive in a 1972 Chrysler Town and Country wagon, avocado green with fake wood panels. That far was huge. I grew up going on road trips in that car, sleeping in the way back. As an adult, I've only ever owned wagons or in the case of my first car, a hatchback. After my Subaru Legacy wagon bit the dust, I got a Honda Fit, which is just a mini station wagon, really. Thanks for the great video!
My parents 1966 Valiant 225 slant motor was no slouch. If you could imagine a wagon full of bags and 2 adults and 3 kids speeding downhill. At the bottom was a narrow bridge and coming the other way was a rather large truck. We passed him doing 100mph. This was the early seventies , I was 12 and thought I would never see another birthday at that moment. Fun times.
Dodge slant six, was a indestructible engine, but if that wagon was going 100mph, it was about everything it had.
Amen brother life was good in the old wagons lol
🤣awesome!
My dad owned a Valiant with the slant 6- he kept a spare ballast box in the glove compartment- they were prone to fail.
And then we had a 1977 Volare station wagon with the same engine, plus pollution controls and it was pretty anemic.
When you talked about the STAR depot hack and Durant Motors, we were reminded of the great history of W.C. Durant. We believe he started more than one car company (3) in his lifetime. We think his history is worth remembering. Thank you, and yes we grew up with many station wagons in our families. We love your history stories!
W.C. Durant formed a partnership with the two brothers McLaughlin in Ontario, Canada. They had just taken over their father's successful carriage company and were importing powered chassis and outfitting them with their own bodies. The chassis were made by a Scottish immigrant living in Detroit by the name of Fred Buick. Durant had also partnered with a race car driver and maker by the name of Chevrolet and another carmaker, Cadillac, before meeting the McLaughlin brothers. The result was General Motors. The rest is history...
P.S. There was a third brother McLaughlin. He eschewed the car/wagon business and leaning on his education as a pharmacist, developed a new/better way of carbonating beverages and extracting flavors from ginger root. He started a company named Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Another piece of history...
When we got back from Germany in '72, dad bought a station wagon in New jersey ... I think a lot of folks returning from the military bought them at Kardon. There was a dark blue one with the cool seats in the back or this metallic green Chevy Greenbriar. He said the other one reminded him of Air Force 'blue' so we got the green one. Used it for the trip to Bakersfield which would be his last duty station before retiring from the AIr Force. I spent that trip in the back seat, flat on my back, mostly, with the seats folded down with the stuff, two cats and a ton of books. Fun times. There were lap belts, but those 'new fangled' shoulder belts never came out of the plastic holders above the doors. Of course, in the back,, no seatbelts for me. Was great. The interstate system was getting closer to be completed, so no two lane highways from our trips cross country in the 60s, but still as fun (or boring crossing Texas), but a trip to be recalled, being of a certain age.
Lance, Your enthusiasm, passion and attention to detail make your channel one of our favorite go to's. Thanks so much !!
That is completely justified praise .... *Well 99% justified anyway* 🙄
*What's the misisng 1%* ?
'Though it got a mention Station Wagons (Estate Cars as we call 'em on the East side of the Atlantic) remain available. German marques like Mercedes & BMW produce some great ones.
Me? I drive a ten year old Ford Focus 1.6 turbo diesel Estate.
By Station Wagon standards its compact - Still a useful load hauler 'though and frugal on fuel too.
Why 10 years old? Its way simpler and far more reliable than the engines that relaced it
- Sadly true for too many cars these days
OK a Focus Estate won't win drag races from the lights ... but hey ... I ride an (even older) Yamaha R1 too
Not much can out accelerate that
Excellent episode as always. Thank you for sharing!
this episode sure hit home 🤔😥
Fantastic! My Dad was an Oldsmobile man, and traded "Rosie", our sweet old maroon '63 Olds wagon on a used, low miles 1969 Oldsmobile "Vista Cruiser". It had an extra window in the roof above the rear seat, wood-tone sides, and the Oldsmobile "Rocket 350" V8 . So cool. My folks pulled a camper trailer, and us 3 fighting kids all over the US in that thing, and the 3 of us learned to drive on it. Great memories!
At a classic car show I went to a few years ago I saw several tricked out station wagons. They had some very sweet paint jobs and auto detailing done to them.
My station wagon story. One night when I was in highschool me and about six friends of mine piled into the family station wagon of one of those friends and went to the
drive-in. On the way back home a smaller car challenged my friend, who was driving, to a race. He accepted and soon we were all zooming down Skyline Drive.
There was a girl in my high school who raced a Chevy Nova wagon in the Powder Puff class at the local dragstrip. She won more often than she lost.
What part of Skyline Drive were you zooming down? I live in Virginia and I've been on the drive several times. I don't remember being on any part of it where you could "zoom" down it without risking death in a curve!
I remember cross-country road trips in our grandparents' Caprice station wagon!
Great topic! Best memories of our family of five loading up the Dodge Colt station wagon for the family vacation. Can't believe what we would fit in there. On top was a rowboat with the tent, luggage & sleeping bags inside. The back seat had us 3 kids with our dog. Best memories ever!!
Sadly, the only wagon my parents ever bought was a Nissan Sentra wagon, but the parents of one of my best friends had an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser in the '80s, and I still remember rolling around in the way back as they took turns. Good times!
Was the Sentra a stick or auto?
I had 2 Volvo estates (estate is what we call station wagons in the UK) they were great cars. I moved a 3 seater sofa in one once. Ot fit inside no problem 👍
My dad loved them and I remember using them as our camper when hunting. Lay down the back seat and you had a bed . We would put cans of raviolis on the exhaust manifolds to heat them up for lunch or dinner. Fishing trips and everyday everything
Thank you so much for this look back. I purchased first car in 1973 that was later deemed one of the most dangerous ever built, a lemon ( pun intended) yellow Ford Pinto Station Wagon. I purchase it to haul my friends, books and golf clubs ( team member) to college. The “ bomb” that it was, I still miss it!