Scanning Around with Gene: Let’s All Pile in the Station Wagon!
We were a Buick family, so our wagon was a red and white Roadmaster Estate Wagon (which was the last full-size American wagon made up to 1996). But there was the Ford Country Squire, the Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser, the Chevrolet Nomad, Plymouth Suburban, Jeep Wagoneer, Mercury Colony Park, International Travelall, Pontiac Safari, Rambler Cross Country, and many other great names.
Since I was the youngest child, I rode in the way-back when it wasn’t full of luggage or something else. In those days we didn’t worry about the lack of seat belts — most cars through the mid-60s didn’t come with them. You could hide under a blanket, or even better, face backward and wave at the people behind you.
My fondest station-wagon memories are on a few rare family vacations that began before the sun went up. We’d pile everything in the wagon, set the alarm for 4 AM, and hit the Winchell’s donut stand for fresh donuts on the way out of town. There’s nothing quite like watching the sun come up while eating a maple bar in the back of a 1957 Buick Roadmaster.
Like all excessive American traditions, the station wagon gave way to more practical alternatives and was substantially down-sized to the point where the difference between a wagon and a sedan is mostly the body shape. Perhaps kids today grow up to have fond memories of riding in the family mini-van, but somehow I just don’t think the two are comparable.
Today’s family transportation vehicles are ultra-safe and the young ones are strapped in behind tinted glass. It’s been a long time since I found myself driving behind a row of kids sitting facing backwards, making faces or rude gestures toward me. And if mini-vans come in two-tone I haven’t noticed.
But at least there are a few donut shops still in business, so I suppose piling in the Subaru Outback and heading off on vacation can still have its charm. That is, of course, if you can afford the gas to go anywhere!
I’d love to hear your favorite station-wagon memories. Just use the Comments button below! And please consider giving a listen to my weekly podcast, Inside Digital Design, available on iTunes and at insidedigitaldesign.com.
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I remember when my dad bought a big, yellow 1973 Buick Estate Wagon. We were satisfied with the 10mpg highway we achieved in our vacation trips across Texas. Not too bad for a 455cu engine. Quick a difference from my brother-in-law’s Opal.
In the 60s, my family had a red Rambler station wagon. Made many family vacations in it, Arkansas, Tennessee, Colorado from Louisiana.
As usual, I love scanning around with Gene.
When it comes to the family wagon, the one that sticks out for me was our baby blue 1957 Ford. For a reason I can’t remember, in 1960 my father had the engine replaced – with one that came from a sporty Thunderbird. It was memorable simply for the fact that the engine overpowered the stock exhaust, so much so that starting the car in the garage was strictly verboten, as the whole house would rattle as the car thundered to life.
And that explains our family name for the baby blue beast: Thunderwagon!
Every summer from the late 60’s to the late 70’s my family would drive from NY to Montana every summer in a long line of Estate Wagons. There were five of us, plus whatever dogs and cats we had at the time. 12 hour driving days at 10 mpg, and lots of memories!
Our Country Squire was big – but never big enough to keep my sisters and I from “touching each other or we’ll scream” in the back seat. Our patient parents loved family road trips in our station wagon – and I’m lucky they did!
Although my folks had a decent sized family (4 kids!) my Dad steadfastly refused to buy a wagon. We had lots of big Mercury sedans, instead. Our friends & neighbors had wagons, and I guess because they were so different than our sedan, I really liked them.
I love the picture of the Pontiac wagon on the first page! The illustrators who did that work should be national heroes. They were called Van & Fitz (Arthur Fitzpatrick & Van Kaufman) worked for GM from about 1959 to 1970 or so, and did primarily Pontiac ads. Those ads were one of my inspirations to go into art as a career.
Yes, I love their work. Has a certain Leroy Nieman quality to it, only better! Thanks all for the great comments!
If only we had more wagons to choose from today in the US market.
Great article as always from Gene!
In the mid 60s, I had an aunt & uncle who drove a station wagon everywhere they went, and they only had one child. The one thing I thought of when I read your article was climbing in and out the back of it through the window. I was a chuncky kid and they took Polaroid movies of everything. They took one shot of me climbing in or out of the back and every time we had family get togethers they would show show their home movies. One of the favorite things the kids would always shout out was, “Make Ronnie go forwards and backwards”. So for the next minute or so I would be on the big screen climbing in and then out, in and out of the back of that station wagon. Quite hilarious really.
We had a 1960 Ford Falcon Station Wagon when I was about 5 years old. I remember riding down dirt roads on the tailgate while it was down. Nowadays my dad would’ve been arrested or something for that! Those were the days of carbeds for babies and no booster or car seats, either.
When we got married in the summer of ’72, we bought a new ’73 Ford Gran Torino stationwagon. It had the woody-sided look — wish I had a photo of it now! At that time we were part of the pit crew for a couple of fellows who were into racing (Formula Vee and Formula Atlantic), and we used the wagon as a sleeper when we were out at Mosport racetrack (see https://www.mosport.com/home/home.asp) overnight with them. Lots of room in the back for the two of us and our sleeping bags!
It was a great vehicle and we kept it until 1980, when the timing chain broke. Got rid of it then, but six months later I saw it parked on the street near where I worked. It was unmistakeable as it had a Shell racing sticker on one of the windows…. So someone who could tinker had fixed it up and it was back on the road.
Although it was the year of the notorious “rusty Fords”, ours was undercoated and never developed a speck of rust. My dad had the same model, without the undercoating, and the difference was amazing.
We have really fond memories of that wagon!
Lesley & Hal
Edmonton, Alberta
In those days, our overnight home was parked in what is now the ‘corporate tent’ area. Our buddies, of course, overnighted beyond the pit area on the other side of the track.
https://www.mosport.com/trackmap.htm
Lesley & Hal
Edmonton, Alberta
I was pleased when page 2 came up and there was the Jeep Wagoneer. Mine (as well as Gov. Schwartzeneger’s) is a blue 1987 Grand Wagoneer woodie!
mark scantling New West Pop Art http://www.mscantling.com
Our first “wagon” was a 1941 Dodge Sedan Delivery. It was a bright shiny green (reminds me of green M&M’s) with wide whitewalls on red rims with chrome center caps. My grandfather bought it new and passed it on to my Dad around the time I was born (1967).
I have fond memories of that car. A real classic.
I too remember those pre-dawn departures Gene mentions. In my case, it was a V-8 Ford with a disappointing two-barrel carburetor. But that vehicle took my dad and me to New York and back, and I later learned to drive with it.
I remember the Studebaker Lark, but not the station wagon model Gene shows. Was anyone else struck by the conservatively handsome design of that model? In some ways it looks a bit like my 2005 Forester.
Thanks once again, Gene.
As a kid in France, It was only possible to dream about those beautiful wagons,
But the concept is still alive : the fist thing I bought for my three kids was precisely a wagon (oh, by the way, we call it “break” or “estate” in France),
It would have been a Forrester if I could afford it.
My family had an early 70’s Mercury version of the Country Squire – yellow with “wood” siding. We would travel twice a year from Northern KY to Maryland to visit relatives. The thing I remember is the packing of the luggage rack. This was only done by my father. He would have everything, to be taken, in the driveway. It was always a great production of loading and unloading until everything fit in the most areodynamic manner, covered with a tarp and tied down with rope.
My second memory is of my grandfather. He worked in construction and instead of driving the customary pickup truck, he always had a Ford Country Squire. He would keep all of his tools and supplies in the back of the wagon. It sometimes rode pretty low. He would buy a new wagon every year. By the time he traded one in, the floor would be practically covered in sawdust and dirt.
I grew up in Sao Paulo state, Brazil and my father had a Chevrolet Opala Caravan.
It was roomy enough for a family of eight (dad, mom, and 6 kids!) plus everything needed for a weekend on the beach or when visiting relatives in Goias state.
BTW, we call it “perua” in Brazil.
Looking at an 88 Squire. Sweet ride, especially interior. Could anyone get close on an est.mpg. highway use?
Not a wagon, but read all the way through: I just barely remember the blue Checker we had, which my mother adored because you could fit a twin-size mattress on the floor in the back (for the kids to snooze on long trips to the grandparents).
When it finally died, we got a brand-new 1974 Buick Century wagon, which I eventually learned to drive on. As big of a boat as that was (you could fit a stack 4×8 sheets of plywood in it), my mother complained that the Checker was so much better because it was BIGGER inside!!! We loved it because we could ride in the “back-back” and make faces at the drivers behind us.
Ah, modern cars will never have the same charm.
Always enjoy revisiting treasures from my childhood, although I feel odd when I realize my kid favorites are now antiques. Guess that makes me a classic! :^ )