JC posted this shot of a Dodge van, but it’s the 1970s Subaru wagon just off the edge of the shot that’s the rare bird here. I see a fair number of these Dodges, but these old Subarus are now missing in action.
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: Nice Dodge Van, But What About That Subaru Wagon?
– Posted on April 21, 2023
I still see some of these old Dodge vans around too, but most of them have massive holes and brown stains in the lower 1/3 of the body. Which is probably the same condition that took most of the Subarus off the roads here.
Always disliked any vans feeling that they led to the demise of the station wagons and eventually full size luxury sedans. Dodge was clever with name Caravan (car a van). If I recall correctly, CAFE standards did not apply to trucks, and somehow these vans were technically considered trucks 🤔. Now we live in a society swamped with SUVS and crossovers! Yuck 🤮 🤮 🤮. When vans first came out, they were considered family haulers for the wife and kids. One guy at my local gym took a lot of trash talk driving a van to the gym!
Woof!
Yeah – that is an amazing Subaru wagon! Such an original looking and engineered vehicle. Colorado was filled with them. Don’t see many anymore because they rusted out like nobody’s business. Even in Colorado, those little toys rusted out. I know you have covered them before, but it would be good for me to reread them. Those old Subarus were unique in many ways.
Dodge van – yeah. Whatever.
A friend in Sweden said the full size Dodge vans held up better than the Fords or Chevys. Very harsh climate there. Probably all gone by now.
I think most of the 70s Subarus rusted, even in Oregon. In our old neighborhood in Bend there was a two wheel drive Subaru wagon with automatic for double rarity but I haven’t been there in a few years. Oddly Dodge vans aren’t that common here apart from RVs, perhaps there was a regional preference for the Chevy van over Dodge as a distant second place to the Econoline.
My Dad bought a ’76 Subaru DL new in Winooski. Back then, I think there was only one wagon offered in AWD, Dad’s was FWD. It was kind of that light yellow color (which I disliked) and automatic (Dad drove standard fine but it was a concession to my Mother, who really has never been comfortable driving anything but an automatic, though she normally drove a full sized wagon while the Subaru was my Dad’s commuter car, since the gas shortage Dad wanted my Mom to be able to drive the smaller car to save gas if necessary, hence the automatic. Other than that, don’t think it had any options…it had an AM radio, but I think that was standard, as well as rear window defroster.
The hood buckled maybe by ’78, when even the secondary catch didn’t hold the hood during a sudden gust of wind…Dad never had it fixed; he ran a shock cord between the front wheelwells to hold down the hood (guess he wasn’t concerned with anyone getting into the hood to get to the battery or the spare tire, which sat on top of the engine). It was probably just as well, by 1980 he’d given it to my sister, and it got progressively rustier, though he did spring for Rusty Jones treatment when it was new. My brother-in-law wasn’t too impressed with it until it became sponsored car of the US ski team, and he got to park it free when he was at the ski area.
Interestingly, Dad’s next car was a Dodge (albeit, an Omni, not a van) in 1980. He reverted to a manual transmission for it (last car he was to buy with a manual as it turned out).
That IS a fairly nice Dodge van from the early 80’s. I’d love to have one of those to do some back road traveling and antique hunting. The Subaru? Eh, surprised it hasn’t completely turned into a pile of iron oxide by now.