Cool Wagon!

Saw this on CL today, never seen one before, its like a Chevelle Wagon;

http://trim.vkdbdil.com/4878141.html

It is a Chevelle wagon. I pass a silver 70 with all the SS goodies every day on my way to work.

I always liked he dual tail gate hinges and the bumper step, making it easier to load unsecured children into the cargo area:

Woody wrote: I always liked he dual tail gate hinges and the bumper step, making it easier to load unsecured children into the cargo area:

I believe those were called "three way" tailgates. It took me the longest time to figure out the "third" configuration was having the window down.

+1 on the cool wagon.

As I recall, the tailgate window may have been power.

Later in the 70's (maybe 76?), my uncle had an Oldsmobile wagon with the clamshell tailgate. It's power window went up into the roof and the tailgate slid down below the cargo floor.

I hated station wagons at the time, but I was fascinated by tailgates.

From: http://www.stationwagon.com/faq.html

"The 'clamshell' tailgate has a rear window that retracts up into the roof, and a lower section that retracts into the body. It is probably a high point in tailgate design (and complexity). It was introduced on, and unique to, the 1971-1976 GM full-size models (it was standard all the way through the 1976 model year). Interestingly enough, in 1971 GM had three different tailgates - the liftback in the Vega, the conventional swinging version in the Chevelle, and the clam shell in the full size. Talk about variety!"

My neighbor had one of these when I was growing up in Chi. After a tree fell on the back half of the roof he turned it into a 4 door El Camino. He did a pretty good job of glassing over the the back end and making it look factory stock.

On the tailgates, another reason why the Roadmaster/Caprices are awesome as well. Obviously not nearly as awesome as a Chevelle, but still....

our 1983 Pontiac Pariesenne station wagon had this feature, the glass had to be all the way down (it was power) for the folding down option to work. It also had a locking 'trunk' area that also flipped up to reveal 2 extra seats in the 'way back'. It was awesome growing up climbing back and forth and riding backwards! With the front bench the car could easily accommodate 8 passengers, with a roof rack and a cargo bag you could haul righteous amounts of stuff, toss a bike rack on the rear and a tow hitch and you could haul 3 kids bikes 3 kids, 2 adults, a boat, and 2 weeks worth of gear on the highway at 65MPH through the hills of ME, NH, and VT...

In the end that wagon saved my life after carrying me, my siblings, and parents for 220k miles without major issue, hauling the boat, christmas trees, etc after a major accident that involved me in the wagon, 2 crazy girls in a chevy S10 and a schoolbus, I miss that car...

My Mom's '66 Fairlane Wagon had this feature ( I believe that it was the first car that could swing the gate both ways)....but the window was manual. You had to unfold the latch on the back and crank it.

Gotta love the wagons.

Woody wrote: "The 'clamshell' tailgate has a rear window that retracts up into the roof, and a lower section that retracts into the body. It is probably a high point in tailgate design (and complexity).

In 1971, my dad decided to take the family to Mexico, and bought a '71 Pontiac Safari wagon with that tailgate setup. The trip from Georgia to Mexico was the break-in period for the car. That wagon was perfect for a set of parents and 3 kids to take a long trip; there was enough room for everybody to get along without cramping each other.

Once we got just outside of Mexico City, we were rear-ended by a dump truck and 2 school buses (yes, that's a story unto itself), and realized that the retracting tailgate had been bent out of alignment, and would not budge from the closed position. The rear storage area was also jammed shut. This was all bad enough, and it took most of a week to get the car out of impound so we could head back home, but in addition to some of our luggage, the rear compartment also held a large stack of fresh tortillias we'd bought for snacks. At some point the tortillias turned into a science experiment, and started to smell something fierce, but we were unable to dispose of them. The smell permeated the car's interior during the long drive back along the Gulf coast. The smell was pretty rough, and left me with bad memories.. I couldn't even smell a Dorito chip for years without gagging!

Those are cool. Unfortunatly, they are probably the best car for demolition derbys, so most of them are long gone.

I grew up facing backward in the third seat of a '58 Voyager wagon. Jukebox drive, 430 engine and I want one today. If you see one call me.

Love wagons!

Love me some wagons..... you people are my new best friends.

I just sold my 57 Chevy wagon. I miss it already.

Every time I sell a car I end up regretting it.

Two door wagons are the shiznit!!! I remember the back back was the next coolest place to ride next to shotgun

Ahhh.....the back back. Yes, definitely the coolest place to ride in a wagon.

When I was a kid, I rode from Connecticut to somewhere in Canada in the back back of my grandfather's 77 Cougar Villager Wagon. That's right, I said Cougar Wagon. His was one of 8269 Villagers made. He was the original owner. They only made Cougar Wagons in 77 and 82.

The car overheated badly on the trip. I don't remember whether we lost the radiator or the water pump (hey, I was a little kid!), but I do remember being the big hero in the family because I was the only one who could speak French.

We ended the trip early and managed to limp home. Shortly thereafter, my grandfather got a new 400M V-8 installed at no cost. My uncle was a big shot at Ford at the time and I'm pretty sure he pulled some strings to get it covered under warranty.

He had it at least until I turned 16, because I remember loading up the back of it with dozens 40 pound lead pigs from his printing business and hauling them to the scrap yard. It was like driving a high end barge.

Lots of stuff happened in that car that would be a huge violation these days, from having an unsecured kid in the back back, to a 16 year old hauling lead to a scrap yard without any safety gear and not having to pay someone to take it.

Not his, but you get the idea:

http://aswoa.com/main/
I happened upon last years national meeting of the American Station Wagon Owner's Assoc in my local mall parking lot. Check out their website and reader ride section.

That would be a great DD with an LS1 and 4speed auto trans swap

I had a 73 clamshell for a while. 454, A/C, and tilt steering. 58k original miles and when I bought it, she still had nylon bias ply tires on it.

Woody wrote: The car overheated badly on the trip. I don't remember whether we lost the radiator or the water pump (hey, I was a little kid!), but I do remember being the big hero in the family because I was the only one who could speak French.

Threadjack here, but I remember always feeling like such a bigshot whenever something like this happened (not that long ago for me), like I was king of the world for a few days.

In reply to Woody:

oh man, you really know how to get my juices flowing... this is a picture of my $600 ford station wagon I had a few years ago, I think it was a 76. The thing was a tank, loved driving it. I parked it on the street typically. Came out of my girlfriend's apartment one day to find the remnants of a toyota celica laying in pieces behind it. Seemed someone got a little drunk and, judging from the amount of car parts left behind, ran into the back of the wagon. This only pushed in the bumper slightly, gave it more character.

This thread is really making me miss my '86 Country Squire....

It made a great moving truck / parts hauler / back-up car / drive-in mobile.

I think another land yacht or maybe a Legacy Wagon will be in my future.

Big wagons are cool in a way minivans will never be. Never had one in my family, but my freinds family had one. Made a few local trips in the third row, fun memories. I'd like a deep green sedan delivery some day. "Dragon Wagon"

That is very cool (most wagons are) but I have to give the win to Curtis73's clamshell Chevy.

I passed on a 73 Buick clamshell wagon that was used as a funeral home's flower car. They wanted a lot of money but it was factory-fresh (and smelled like roses, presumably, not corpses).

Yeah, I have been looking for a wagon as well. I am hung up on late fifties Edsel wagons, as they are the most over the top.