Many innovative vehicles have come off the production line in recent years. However, the car that time forgot still has plenty of merits to mention. The full-size station wagon was an iconic family vehicle that provided great versatility.
If you needed to haul 7-10 passengers around, there was only one car you could turn to. Nothing can match the cargo capacity of the station wagons of the 1960s. Do you remember driving around in one?
Kids would pile onto the rear-facing backseat and make faces at the drivers in the cars behind them. The summer drive to the campground was a historic family memory for so many.
Perhaps you remember going to the local drive-in movie without wearing seatbelts! The station wagon did it all. You could sleep in it and cook in it, and it had plenty of storage space for all your family’s needs.
Sure, you might have had to hold onto the groceries so they wouldn’t slide around in the cavernous back. The biggest version was Ford’s ‘Country Squire,’ which offered 19 feet with room for 8 kids!
If you swung the back door open, it became similar to a pickup truck for hauling plywood or supplies. Hundreds of thousands of these vehicles were sold with massive V8 engines, and the starting price was $2,253 for the car of every family’s dreams.
The Pontiac Bonneville and the Buick Estate featured wood paneling designed on the door for extra appeal. Nothing will ever compare to the mystique around these classic family movers. The station wagon is an iconic American vehicle that kept families close together in the 1960s.
