You could always tell which homes on the street had at least three kids living there: look for a fake-wooden-sided station wagon parked out front.
It's hard to pinpoint when the station wagon got its start. The Ford Model T resembled a station wagon in its most basic form. However, the tiny vehicle could only hold four comfortably.
In 1923, Star (a division of Durant Motors) began marketing a larger factory-built station wagon. The wagon body was made from wood.
As the decades progressed, station wagons became a common sight on American highways. The Pontiac Woodie was one of the most famous, with wooden side frames melded into a steel body. Many a California surf bum drove a restored (or not) Woodie in the 60's.
But the wood was a pain to maintain. Screws needed tightening, varnish needed periodic stripping and recoating, and the expanding and contracting lumber caused all sorts of sealing headaches.
So in 1935, Chevrolet introduced the all-steel Suburban.
But it was expensive, and sales were slow. It was considered a work vehicle, not a family-mobile. It wasn't until after WWII ended that all-steel station wagons finally became cheap enough to produce to be successful.
Add to that the Baby Boom, and automobile manufacturers began cranking out station wagons in unheard-of numbers by the 1950's. And most of them featured fake wood sides that brought back memories of genuine woodies.
By 1957, wagons like this pictured Mercury (thanks, 1957mercurycolonypark.com were common on American roads.
And most of them were full of Boomer kids.
By the 1960's, station wagons were so common that they seemed to outnumber sedans. Wagons were a ubiquitous sight on American roadways right up until the late 1980's.
In 1984, Chrysler/Plymouth introduced the minivan. The death knell for station wagons was sounded.
Minivans allowed multiple passengers to enter the vehicle without dropping (or swinging) the tailgate. In fact, they could almost stand up! The different paradigms were an instant success, and soon practically every automaker, US and otherwise, were cranking out minivans and selling them as fast as they could make them.
Wagons continued to be manufactured, but their numbers fell each year.
In 1996, Chevrolet and Buick made their last station wagons.
We Boomer kids have fond memories of the spacious back ends of station wagons, big enough to set up miniature battlefields or road racing ovals on long vacation drives. You could also stretch WAY out and take a nap, too.
I had a 1990 Ford Taurus wagon with side-facing seats that popped up in the back area, allowing seven or eight to travel in the mid-sized vehicle! A major engineering accomplishment, to say the least. My young children loved getting to sit in the back.
Wagons are still manufactured by a few overseas car companies, and in 2005, the Dodge Magnum wagon was introduced. But long gone are the days when fake-wooden-sided wagons sat in front of a large number of neighborhood homes, indicating that the WWII vet father living there had several kids to haul around.
Boomers, what station wagon memories did you have growing up?
Comments (7)
One famous wood sided vehicle was the 1950 Mercury woody station wagon, driven by Pete in the Mod Squard series from 1968. That was wrecked in a later episode. Pete bought another one in the reunion TV movie of 1979.
Posted by David S Paleg | January 1, 2009 8:12 AM
Posted on January 1, 2009 08:12
My most favorite memory from a station wagon occurred when I was in college during the 1970s. Our wildlife biology class was on a field trip in central Idaho and by chance I ended up in the rear of the car because I had the shortest legs. When I requested that the guy in front of me open a window as I was getting a little car sick, he refused because he was cold. Everyone laughed at his response until I announced that I was about ready to barf, suddenly, every window in the vehicle went down and stayed there until I was reseated to the front of the car.
Posted by Steve Skinner | January 1, 2009 8:52 PM
Posted on January 1, 2009 20:52
Cool website! I am definitely in your demographic.
My favorite station wagon memory was taking a 5 hour trip with my cousin every summer to his cabin. We'd roll out our sleeping bags in the way back and sit on them and play cards, board games and read comic books the whole way.
What saftey? What seatbelts? Bah! ;-)
Posted by Jeff | January 5, 2009 8:37 AM
Posted on January 5, 2009 08:37
We didn't have a station wagon, but our nextdoor neighbors did, It was white with the fake wood side panels! The had 8 children! I remember as a child when one of the girls nextdoor got in the station wagon and locked herself in it because she got mad at her parents. Somehow, she knocked the car into neutral and the stationwagon drifted down the hill into another parked car! These station wagons were all over the place
Posted by Rivers End | January 6, 2009 8:01 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 08:01
I remember wagons well and always hoped my father would get one. You mention laying down in the back. Remember when we could actually do that? Now we are regulated to death with seat belt laws and every other constriction.
It was a better world when we could lay down in the back seat and sleep on the way home. Those were the days!
Posted by Scott | January 16, 2009 7:26 PM
Posted on January 16, 2009 19:26
We used to sit on the tailgate on the way to the dump or the beach.It's most likely a felony now!
Posted by David Chapman | June 13, 2009 7:24 AM
Posted on June 13, 2009 07:24
Jeff and David express common sentiments here. We tire of every simple little harmless thing being banned, fined, forbidden, nearly executed. Wagons were great and very common but kids could not ride in the back now. Have to be buckled in. We are not allowed to live anymore. Our legislators know much better than we do what is safe and reasonable or not. You can think them at election time.
So many great boomer experiences are now all extinct and illegal. Were we so reckless, foolish, retarded, insane, risk taking and so void of any good sense that we had to ban all this stuff? Or is it our representatives who are completely out of their minds. And if they are, could it be the voters are also out of their minds for why else would they put up with the BS laws!
But for sure, it is not for the better, but rather, so much more for the worse, than our world has changed and the old ways gone. I’d sure love to have them back but I guess if I talked repeal, I would probably be tarred and feathered, or worse. Most seem to love the present world. Its all yours gang. I would much prefer the 60s, without hesitation or regret.
Posted by Scott Irv | June 14, 2009 5:10 PM
Posted on June 14, 2009 17:10