Sometimes I miss the huge station wagons of the '70s

[MrNoodly]

Sure, they got lousy fuel mileage, and they wallowed like hippos, but they had more grace and style than any minivan or SUV.



You could play ping-pong on that hood. Or sleep on it.



A VistaCruiser! With fake wood paneling! If you can't fit your stuff in there, you have too much stuff.

 

[NeedAnEscape]

A 6.2 diesel and 700r4 swap would fix the MPG issues.

 

[Dennis]

I bought a 1978 Impala Wagon in the early 80's because it had all that enclosed room. Throw an ice chest in there along with fishing gear and some eats and had lots of room to lay down and take a nap if things were slow. Used it more than my pickup.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Brings back some great memories

 

[sephson]

When I was a kid my mom had a 1973 Ford Country Sedan station wagon. She drove that car for nearly twenty years.

 

[Txjaybird]

I like 'em too. My uncle had a 1966 Chevy wagon that he ran a egg route with in Kaufman and Dallas TX.  I like the big square bodied Chevy Suburbans.  I think they would make excellent overland safari wagons and lots of room inside and on top plenty of room for solar and roof rack storage. 

 I was very fond of my little 1963 Mercury Comet wagon, inline 6 and 3 on the tree, white and red with a red interior.  One weekend I drove it from Grapevine TX to South Padre Island to Galveston and back to Grapevine on Sunday.  It was a safari with my friend, her toy poodle and my 3yr old son.  To save money we took a big ice chest, elec. skillet, and a toaster, food and drinks, pillows and bedding.  The plan was to stay in cheap motels and cook.  The first snag was my friend Frankie was holding the map UPSIDE DOWN for most of the trip! :huh:  When we got to S. Padre we were sooooooo disappointed  :s :s  It looked nothing like Gilligan's Island....just sand dunes and saw grass.  The motel was very expensive too.....I think we had to pay close to $20?  Who knew?  One night and then off to Galveston and a beach full of jelly fish.  Some shopping and a fried shrimp dinner.  Then back to Grapevine....Everyone else napped on the way, not me I was the one who could drive a standard shift.  At least the damn map was right side up!

Mr.Noodly,   Thank You for the trip down memory lane.  Frankie was my best friend from 1965 until her death in 2003.  She is still missed/remembered by 3 generations of my family.  She was quite a character with a good heart.  She never learned to read a map,  my Daughter In Law doesn't know her Right from her left while travelling in a vehicle.  I often wondered what would happen if they ever went further than Wal Mart together   :angel:  

Jewellann

P.S. I did get off topic. I hope no-one minded the trip. Thanks JF

 

[Queen]

Jewellann - I had a '63 Comet sedan in white and turquoise, it was awesome!! No seat belts, seats so wideyou could sleep stretched out on them.

GREAT trip down memory lane, Noodly!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

My Mom had a 1982 Chevy Caprice Wagon growing up and we all loved that thing. Especially the rear facing seat in the back with the big roll down window. We threw more stuff out that window or tied GI Joe figures to our fishing poles and sent them flying.......ahh the good old days when you had to figure out your own ways to entertain yourself because you didn't have a phone to stare at 24/7.

Now I need to ask my Mom what the heck she was doing, that she'd even allow us to do half the things we did!

That car really pulled triple duty whether it was shuttling a lot of kids around, picking up a load of lumber from the lumber yard or taking us on a family camping trip. Did everything and did it well

 

[LeeRevell]

A female friend and classmate had a huge "Wallywagon" in the late eighties. Worked well for her, hubby and five kids. Metallic green with well worn vinyl "woodgrain", FUGLY! But it was absolutely reliable.
Today's stationwagons (mislabled as "SUV" or <ugh!> "crossovers") are faint shadows of their past glory. Best we can do nowadays is the venerable Suburban.

 

[ArtW]

We had a Pontiac Tempest wagon, not terrible gas mileage and it took us everywhere
I would often go to sleep stretched out in the back on the way home from trips (now my folks would get a ticket for that)

 

[MrNoodly]

Especially the rear facing seat in the back with the big roll down window.

Never mind the exhaust fumes.

I suspect some of us could blame our malfunctioning middle-aged brains on the carbon monoxide we sucked in as kids.

 

[ArtW]

heck, I'll take any excuse for that i can get

 

[Wanderer]

This was Mom's rig for years...New Mexico and back 3 times....

Then the 1973 Ford LTD wagon was next (Note that this is a 1975, but close)

I am still (Many years later) angry at Ford for the 1973 wagon the column snapped on my Mother while she went to work. She survived both physically and financially, but a lawyer now would have made toast of Ford....

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I had a white, full size Impala Wagon in the late 70's - early 80's.  I called it Moby ****.  I used it to haul some humungous band speakers to and from gigs.

 

[BigT]

Back in the late 70's here in the Bay Area there was a car rental company called "Rent A Wreck" that had tons of the old station weapons.  
My dad rented them on many occasions.  
I still see old the wagons around here, in fact I saw one this morning.  Couldn't identify it, though.  :huh:

 

[wagoneer]

I don't miss them glad they are history, cool history yes. before bike lanes were the norm here in SF those 70's monsters would open the drivers door and you were presented with a 6 foot american steel wall to run into

 

[Gary68]

there are plenty for sale on craigslist

http://portland.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=station+wagon&sort=date&max_auto_year=1978

what can i say,i like going on craigslist,typing in a max year and looking at old cars and stuff

if i had $$$ and acreage i would be a car hoarder

 

[jimindenver]

I had a 69 Ford LTD wagon with a 390. You didn't need to fold down the back seat, just lay out in it. My last wagon was a 89 Sable, not nearly the room but much nicer to drive and it had a picnic table that folded out of the back.

 

[MrNoodly]

there are plenty for sale on craigslist

http://portland.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=station+wagon&sort=date&max_auto_year=1978

But the prices are insane.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

In Flagstaff...
https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/5708084194.html