The world has changed a lot in the 50 some years since this Bel Air wagon sagged down on its springs and undersized tires and hauled the family on vacation trips, to Little League games, and the weekly supermarket trip, which filled a good portion of the back with sacks of groceries. We’re not going to attempt to document all those changes here, but one of the biggest ones was the one-earner family with a passel of kids. And when it came time for long-suffering dad to figure out how to make his modest paycheck stretch far enough to buy a new family hauler, this is what was all-too often the answer.
When he pulled up in the driveway in the new Chevy Bel Air wagon, one modest step up from the poverty/skinflint-mobile Biscayne, a modest sigh of relief was to be heard from his kids. No, no Impala wagon with full wheel covers and at least a 327. But thanks god it wasn’t a Biscayne with the 230 six and a three-on-the-tree. A Bel Air; the modest middle, with a 283 and the inevitable Powerglide. A modest sigh of relief, maybe mixed in with a bit of excitement if the tired old car had been a Biscayne.
This great old original wagon was found and posted by nifticus at the Cohort, and hails from British Columbia. And given how much the Canadians back then tended to be thriftier (by necessity) than comparable-job Americans, perhaps there was some genuine enthusiasm from the kids after all.
Given the “Canada 1976” bumper sticker it probably served the original owners for…who knows how long. It all depends on on just how thrifty good old dad was.
I always get a “kick” out of the concept that the lowest line car is “poverty” level. Poor people couldn’t (can’t) buy New cars of any kind, Even a the lowest level new Biscayne in 1966 would have required an above poverty income and decent credit. A 1966 Biscayne or Bel Air would actually be be “poverty level” …….in 1976.
It’s the internet. Everyone can afford that unicorn brown 5 speed diesel wagon. Or would buy the one with the option packages no one offers. Problem is no one will build it, so they keep their money.
It’s internet law that no one admit they can’t afford something.
Wonder if that ’66 Bel-Air wagon has power-steering?
Happy Motoring, Mark
I have a 5-speed diesel wagon. Is it less of a unicorn if it’s ivory, instead of brown?
Though I paid closer to a poverty-level price for it when it was 25 years old –
about 10% of the original price.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Even if I didn’t still like my humble ’64 Ford it wouldn’t matter in the least. I cannot afford to replace it with anything. Any car I’d buy with my budgetary constraints would be less reliable — and probably wouldn’t even run — than the Falcon I have now.
I admit I can’t afford Jack Shytt.
The reference was as much or more to the car than its presumed buyers. The second definition of poverty is “the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount”. “Poverty” does not only apply to folks’ income.
Here in Australia in the sixties, almost nobody bought the base trim level. Government fleet cars and a (very) few private buyers. Most people seemed to go for the one in the middle of the range. I’ve heard the base models referred to as “poverty level” for decades, but never thought of the contradiction inherent in the term.
That continued into the 90s. Fleets would buy a Commodore Executive, Falcon GLi/XT/Forte, Magna GLX/Executive, but private buyers would go for the Commodore Acclaim, Falcon Futura and Magna Advance/Altera.
As the full-size segment contracted here, company buyers and rental car agencies began to switch over to the Commodore SV6 and Falcon XR6 in order to get better resale value.
I like what you wrote, James Slick. The only time since I first obtained a driver’s license in Sept. 1989 when I could have afforded a new car was 1999. And I didn’t buy one. That window of ‘opportunity’ when I had some real money in the bank ended in July 2000.
For years now my bank account numbers read like a horror story . . . even if I wanted to get another car to replace my humble ’64 Falcon there’s nothing even remotely affordable.
Luv looking at the ’66 Chevy station wagon. Pity its days appear to be numbered, but Rust Conquers All. (Sigh).
Carter, if you live close to Florida I am selling a well-maintained, nice condition Ford Tempo (1993 vintage). Everything works, but its demand is limited even at the low price I ask. (Mid-three figures.) A Falcon is a nice car but this might save on your fuel budget. I’m happy to see it go to someone who could use a break and would give it a good home.
Neighbors got one in 1966, A Caprice wagon w/ the wood and a 283. The engine made a weird ticking sound all the time.
Dad had two Catalina Safaris which didn’t have the fake wood or full wheel covers but were so much more substantial than the Caprice, w/ much larger engines – 389 – and real 3 speed autos.
Yes, the Catalina and Bonneville wagons had a much superior standard drivetrain in 1965-66, but they were 20% costlier. According to NADA, base prices of the 1966 six-passenger Bel Air and Catalina wagons (MSRP) were $2940 and $3626, respectively.
The Impala was priced about the same as the Catalina. So, you could get a better trim cheaper brand or low trim mid brand back then. Dad had a ’65 Impala wagon, six passenger, 327/PG, whitewalls but dog dish hubcaps, power steering but no power brakes or A/C. My school principal bought the Catalina that same year. The Poncho had almost no chrome.
There was an air conditioned nine-passenger Belair on the lot when dad bought the Impala. I wanted him to get that one, since we often traveled in summer heat and liked to ride in the far back area of wagons, but he chose the Impala.
You’re probably aware that halfway through the 1965 model year, you could order a fullsize Chevrolet wagon with a 396 V8 and TH400. Not too many wagons were outfitted that way for 1965, but a fair amount of mid-year 1965 Caprices were ordered that way, and I remember car-pooling in a friends moms’ 1966 Impala wagon with that powertrain. It was a super combination, even in the heavy station wagons.
Looks like that one came from Mussalem Motors in Haney, on the outskirts of Vancouver. They were around in the ’80s when I lived in the vicinity, and still had a vintage neon sign from well before this car went out the door. Long gone now.
In the ’60s we were indeed a more frugal bunch here in the great white north, and credit was a lot harder to get. Mid line Chevys and Pontiacs were pretty much standard issue when I was a kid. Rode to a lot of softball and lacrosse games in iron like this.
The Canada 1976 bumper sticker looks to be a relic of the Montreal Olympics. I think we’re still paying for it…….
Montreal got a ballpark out of the deal – the Big Owe – where the Expos played, and Rick Monday hit that home run to knock them out of the playoffs. The Big Owe’s existence may be one of the remaining barriers to Montreal actually being considered seriously for an MLB team.
I nearly made it to the ’76 Montreal Winter Olympics – the rest of my family was there, though as usual I wasn’t allowed to go. I did see the Expos play the Padres in that stadium though. (For some reason, I though “Padres” was French for “Pirates”, have no clue why). I think the Expos lost as they usually did, but no remember for sure.
The 1976 Winter Olympics were in Austria, where Dorothy Hamill won a gold medal.
Summer games were in Montreal. Supposedly were paid off in 2006 or 2012?
If that weren’t a year older than my ’67 Bel Air wagon I had 10 years ago on the other side of BC I’s swear it was the same car. Same colour, drivetrain and condition. Love it! That’s one car I’d love to have back, although it’s completely impractical for me.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1967-chevrolet-bel-air-wagon-a-travelling-family-room-for-the-single-gentleman/
Only surviving pic;
My friend in high school drove her family’s 65 Impala wagon, named “Crate”. Perfect for going to drive in movies.
My own family tended towards new cars in higher trim and equipment levels, but these were fairly common on the road in northern Indiana. My younger sister had a friend whose parents were driving a 67 Biscayne wagon with a 3 speed. I used to marvel at the girl’s mother muscling that big Chevy wagon.
It seemed to me that Plymouth buyers were more likely to go down lower in the model lineup. Fury II wagons were not uncommon at all. And a 318/Torqueflite would beat a 283 Powerglide in my book, any day. At least until trade-in time. 🙂
I’ve long suspected that was because of Chrysler-Plymouth being one division masquerading as two. Anyone who showed serious interest in a loaded Fury VIP or later Gran Coupe/Sedan would get a Chrysler Newport sales pitch.
I’m not sure how that worked with wagons, though, since the T&C was long the priciest domestic wagon and the Chrysler brand didn’t really have a cheaper one to upsell Plymouth buyers to.
Hope somebody does a resto-job, better yet a resto-mod on that wagon. It’s make a perfect daily driver hot rod. 6.0 LQ4/4L60E for the win!
Lived that life exactly as you outlined except ours was a ’64 Belair with, yes, a 283 and a Powerglide trans, power steering but no radio.
Exactly, Paul! Dad bought a new ’67 Caprice wagon. Mountain green, DiNoc, 327 w/THM, roof rack, AC, black interior. Reliable, sturdy, commodious, comfortable (except for those HOT seats), and not slow. Our seven-member tribe enjoyed/endured numerous excursions along the I-95 NJ-to-FL in it.
I had 12 uncles growing up, all but 2 have passed away, and 1 of the 12 uncles bought Ford wagons from 1960 to 1974 (his last car) and 1 bought Chevys. The uncle with Chevy wagons always bought Bel Airs, never an Impala, and bought them new trading them every 2 years. During the 60s he bought cars in the “even” years, and IIRC all were light colored wagons….white, light brown, or light blue.
In the mid 70s, when all his kids were finally on their own, he switched to Buick Regal 2 door coupes…..ALL flashy colored.
BTW, in 66 Chevy offered wagons at 4 price points, while WagonMaster Ford only offered 3.
The four Chevy wagon price points continued into the early 1970s; I still remember the sequence, fancy to plain: Kingswood Estate, Kingswood, Townsman, Brookwood.
That’s about as useless a piece of knowledge as I’ve got.
I’d rather have a Biscayne. Six and a 3 speed, please.
As a Boy Scout, our leaders used to drive us from Wisconsin up to Ely, Minnesota where we’d paddle into the Boundary Waters Canoe area in Canada for 2 weeks in the summer. We’d convoy in the two cars owned by the leaders. One had a gold 6 passenger 67 Chevy Biscayne wagon with a 283/Powerglide. The other a 9 passenger blue 66 Pontiac Safari. We’d leave at dusk and drive through the night. Most of us scouts much preferred the Biscayne.
Why did we scouts like the Biscayne over the cooler Pontiac? The Biscayne only had an AM radio, but the leader let us control the station. Since we were driving at night when the big city AM stations seemed to come on better, we could rock out to Chicago stations WLS or WCFL all night. At some points in the trip, we could even pull in WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana or KAAY in Little Rock.
The Pontiac? It was better equipped and even had the optional 8 track tape player. Trouble was the leader with the Pontiac wouldn’t let us control the radio. He insisted on listening to his 8 track tapes. He had a bunch of stuff we all hated. I remember his favorite tape was Jackie Gleason’s “Music, Martinis and Memories or something like that.
Being Wisconsin cars, neither one had air conditioning, so that sealed the deal. 9 out of 10 boys preferred the Biscayne. The only one who never got to rotate into the Biscayne was the kid whose father drove the Pontiac. Always felt a little sorry for him.
The smallish town I grew up in had one radio station (AM of course) that played rock, and it went off the air at midnight. I remember many a night driving around in the wee hours listening to WLS, WCFL, WABC (New York) and CKLW (Windsor, Ontario but really a suburb of Detroit). Most of the stations might fade in and out but WLS seemed to always come in loud and clear in western Kentucky/southwestern Indiana. In my mind I can still hear the “screaming drag races” commercials; Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, see Dyno Don Nicholson and Arnie “the Farmer” Beswick battle it out at US 30 Dragway.
And Mr. Norm’s Dodge ads.
Yes, Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge; I knew of a couple of people in my home town who made the 300 mile trip to Chicago to purchase high performance Dodges.
Ah yes, the old WOWO when it used to blast at 50,000 watts. Funny that kids in Fort Wayne thought CKLW from Windsor, Ontario was so much more cool.
Little known fact-The Pontiac owner changed careers and got a job at Ford interior design, and this dash was his baby!
Brings back memories of the days before FM radio, when as a teen in Maryland in the mid ’60’s I would lie in bed at night with my Panasonic transistor radio plugged into my ear. Late at night it would pull in such far-away, exotic and awesome stations as Chicago’s WCFL and WLS, Ft. Wayne’s WOWO and Canada’s CKLW. Of course Baltimore had the legendary WCAO, which had something like an unheard of 70% market share at the time.
Lionel Cartwrights “I Watched It All On My Radio” is a song you might appreciate.
Believe it or not, WCAO (AM 600) still exists! – But instead of the cool Rock & Roll format we all remember from those days, it’s now a gospel station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCAO
WCBM (AM 680) still exists in Baltimore too, although a talk radio station now. The AM station that wins the ratings war here now is WBAL (AM 1090) and its sister station over on the FM side, WIYY better known as 98 Rock.
I too remember being on the receiving end of ‘shooting skip’ as the HAM guys called it back in the day. My friend Jeff and I would try with our AM radios to dial in far away stations at night. Now he does it with an amateur radio in a two way conversation. He’s even talked to someone in New Zealand… on the other side of the planet from here.
One night when my Dad was driving the family home from Ontario in our ’68 Impala, also equipped with only an AM Radio, we had just crossed into upstate New York headed home to Baltimore when my Dad managed to dial in “The Alan Christian Show” on one of these Baltimore stations; I think it was ‘CBM at the time. We were so far from home, but yet could hear our local station. It was so weird to this [then] 10 or 11 year old kid.
I recall the same experience in the late 80s. Before daybreak as I was leaving for a daylong drive to Philly from Indianapolis, I picked up WABC in New York. And we must not forget the really big Kahuna, WLW in Cincinnati that was good for 100,000 watts back in the day.
Fort Wayne’s WOWO sold off its Class A clear channel rights sometime in the 90s, if I remember correctly. Now it is just another AM station that doesn’t reach much beyond 75 miles or so.
Yeah, there’s some FCC rule now that requires WBAL in Baltimore to throttle back from 50,000 watts when the sun goes down. This was really annoying when trying to listen to them for traffic reports on my way home from work when the days are short in December. This reduction of power output made them just outside of range for the start of my commute.
On their FAQ(s) on their website sometime ago, they explained that their signal after sunset interferes with a station on the same frequency from Charlottesville, VA at night.
This was only a problem while commuting in my Mustang with an older non-HD radio…
Now that I have a new commuter car (my Civic) with a digital ” HD” radio in it, that’s no longer a problem, as WBAL 1090 AM can actually be dialed in as WIYY-HD2 on the FM side, piggybacking on 98 Rock’s awesome popularity in this market. I regularly switch back and forth between HD1 & HD2 to get my traffic reports. There’s crystal clear sound listening to AM that way (and yes, I know it’s cheating ;o).
Only a hardcore radio “DXer” would call it “cheating”, HD Radio is a blessing to us who have AM broadcasting stations we like but can’t get in certain locations. Along with apps like “TuneIn”, iHeart ETC, I listen to more radio (actual real broadcast stations!) today than I watch TV!
My Aunt’s ’65 Bel-Air 283/PG station wagon was Seriously Slow. Especially when loaded down with 2 adults, 3 kids, luggage and the under dash Western Auto A/C turned on.
My Aunt & Uncle had the above equipped wagon at the same time my parents had their ’66 Country Sedan equipped with the 390 “Thunderbird Special” engine and the three speed Cruise-o-Matic automatic tranny.
I rode in the back seat of both of these wagons many times over the 7 or 8 years of ownership. Even from the back seat I could tell the Chebbie was straining and groaning up and down the hills of Arkansas and southeast Oklahoma
The few times the PG kicked down from high to low, on the steeper hills, only increased the interior noise livel, with little (if any) increase of speed. The Ford “ran off and left” the Chevvie with no effort at all.
Dad said more than once he glanced in the Ford’s rear view mirror and wondered where his sister and her husband were and slowed down so they could “catch up”.
And then there was the ubiquitous “clunk-clunk-clunk wooooooooAHHHHHHHH” sound the Chevy PG made when shifted from drive to Park…..
I’d forgotten that sound. Good description!
Thanks, Pete!
A PG whine, the “Nang Nang Nang” sound of a Mopar gear reduction starter and the low pitched, quietly macho rumble of an Olds V8 factory exhaust system is permanently ingrained in my “Sounds of the 1960’s” mind.
Interesting that there was so much difference between the 283 and 327. Ours was not slow with the free revving 327 4bbl. Steep grades, such as the California “Grapevine” (US 99, now I-5) or the roads to ski resorts were no problem at all.
My Dad would have purchased the Biscayne wagon with a 230 six and a three on the tree, no power steering or brakes and maybe an AM radio.
Exactly what my uncle had in 1962. Only option was an AM radio. Curiously, he traded his 1958 Fleetwood Sixty Special on it. Never did find out why.
The front end of the the 1966 full-size Chevrolet may be my least favorite, but it might be due to how good the rest of the car looked, specifically, the 2-door hardtop. The rest of the mid-to-late sixties full-size Chevys had much better looking front ends.
Although, on the more pedestrian wagon, the 1966 front end looks okay.
Very nice write-up, Paul!
The registration on the car is good until June 23 of this year. However I think this car’s days are numbered. It was parked in an industrial area by some garages and the interior was filled with junk. I think I smell derby car, unless someone wants to fix it up. But it’s also very rusty, probably past the point of no return.
Living in the rust belt, I feel qualified to say that this is a parts car at best. If it looks this bad at eye level, and it is bad, it will be significantly worse underneath. Sad but true.
I spent many hours in the back of a white ’66 with the back seat folded down. A friend of mine’s father worked at GM Powertrain, Hydra-Matic back then? Anyway, they had it a couple of years before it already showed rusting on the bottom of the doors, so it was sold to a relative of theirs and it was replaced by a “frosty” blue Buick wagon that they had for a longer time than any of their previous cars. At present they have a Buick Encore, the wife drives and he has a Cadillac XLR with a modded engine. I don’t know what year it is. They are both like 90 years old, and in good shape. Their oldest kid just turned 70.
Poverty in the US but in 1960s Israel such a car – yes, even with a six – would have been bought new by a wealthy person, in this case by someone like a successful building contractor or similar who occasionally needed the practicality of a wagon. Relatively low-income people needing a wagon bought an Israeli made Susita or – if they had a large family – an older pick up truck; the children would sit behind in the bed (it was legal to carry up to 8(!) passengers on folding sideways seats back then)…
In Australia we only got four door sedans and four door hardtops, in one trim level each. A wagon would have been a special import, so definitely for a wealthy person. Mind you, you’d have to be wealthy to afford to run a Chev at all. Same in Israel too, I expect.
Well, my family had a ’65 Bel Air wagon in the lighter “Artesian Turquoise,” and a ’66 Caprice wagon in white, both two-row seats, bought used (the first at some point in the late ’60s, the second around 1970), so this is pretty familiar looking to me. I think the Caprice may have had a 327, but it’s possible the Bel Air had a 6. I doubt my parents would remember at this point.
I grew up in Ford wagons, 1956-1973, but my first car (age 22, 1975) was my grandfather’s still-reliable ’67 non-Impala, 283/PG with AM radio & power nothing. Redoing brakes, carb, tuneups and so on was a source of great pride, but by 1978 (date for this pic) frame rust got it, and I limped it a couple miles to the junkyard for my consolation prize of $75. Maybe Ford sold the most “longroofs,” but those modest-spec Chevy wagons were *everywhere* in my childhood.
(Now I’m gonna hafta go onto YouTube and see if I can listen to those Powerglide sounds….)
Poor old thing .
.
I remember when America’s roads were filled with station wagons of every stripe, brand and color .
.
I still miss my 1962 Ford full sise base wagon, V8 and two speed slushbox.
.
-Nate
Middle aged folks who had fresh memories of Great Depression bought low trim cars, not necessarily “poverty level”. Bel Air was still lower middle in ’66, but then was just a Biscayne with a small piece of chrome by ’69.
But, family wagons were usually mid level, until the late 60’s when woody Country Squires were all over suburbia. Chevy caught up in mid 70s..
Once the industry went to a four trim level system (Biscayne-Bel Air-Impala-Caprice, also Custom-Custom 300-Galaxie 500-LTD and Fury I-II-III-VIP) it seems like one step below the top was the volume seller and the two lower trims were such that the base model was for strictly-low-bid fleet buyers and a “prices starting at” special while the first step up was for more actively managed and concerned with resale fleets and/or ones where a company car was mainly a tool but also a *bit* of a perk, and private buyers who looked at the loss-leader as just a bit *too* stark but didn’t want to be upsold all the way to an Impala (let alone a Caprice).
Some of my best times were riding in my cousin’s 1966 Bel Air Station Wagon!! It was all original when he bought it, which came with a three speed manual on the column, and a 283 V8 lurking under the hood!! I loved that old car, because you just didn’t see them on the road at all then, even in the early 1980s! He put a mattress in the back of his and there was still enough room keep the first set of rear seating upright so a bunch of us could all ride in it, which included his girlfriend at the time!! He put a floor shifter in it too, which I thought was pretty cool too and a stereo system as well!! Still smile when I hear The Eagles or Steve Miller Band thinking back to those days and that car!! Lastly his car had a McDonald’s Bumper Sticker on the rear bumper from the 1970s, that was supposed to read “I Feel Good I Had Breakfast At McDonald’s” but somebody changed it to read “I Feel Odd I Had Breakfast At McDonald’s”!!!! LOL