Last year I was driving near my childhood home, and while cruising down an alley spotted this rather rare clamshell 1973 Chevrolet Impala station wagon. When’s the last time you saw one?
As it was on private property, I took just these two shots from the road. Weathered, but it looked pretty fair to me. I imagine it’s still sitting there! By the way, for you B-body spotters, the white car to the clamshell’s left was a 1982 Buick LeSabre Limited. There was also a circa-’82 Toronado and a 1991-96 Olds Ninety-Eight. Quite the GM stash, huh?
Beeyootiful. After the 71 Buick and 71 Chev, my fave clamshell.
Last time I saw one was in the early 1990’s , my idiot brother in law had a fully optioned Kingswood one , nearly free from one of his Customers who thought it good for hauling his brood around in .
Naturally he drove it into the ground , complaining all the way when he wasn’t remarking on how it kept on going and going and going…. he never changed the oil or anything normal like that .
-Nate
My favorite clamshell is the 1974 Buick Estate Wagon but the last clamshell I spotted on the street must have been one of the rarest ones!
Not in the greatest shape but still driven and considering the weather we have here, that alone is good!
Oooooh, a cheapie Catalina(Laurentian in this case), most clamshells are scarce, but the cheap basic ones have to be the rarest.
I haven’t seen one of these on the road in probably decades. I would rather have a Ford or Mercury, myself. But if a Bonneville Grand Safari came my way….
I have some great memories playing in the back of my buddy’s family clamshell Impala. The pre-seat belt era was fun.
These were all after the pre-seatbelt era. Seat belts became mandatory way back about 1967 or so…….
Sure, cars had seat belts back then, but were seldom used. I never used them until the early 90’s. My Grandfather modified an old credit card to keep the warning light off in the 80’s. He never used a seatbelt, and died in his sleep at 97. Just a few years ago, they wern’t lawfully mandatory in Florida. I totally get the safety and use them, but deepdown I find them chickensh–. I rationally know this is fatalistic, but I ride motorcycles, boat, hike alone, and scuba. And the grim reaper will have his date with me no matter what. The older I get the less I fear death. I also drink bourbon and smoke, with no plans to quit, I’d rather die earlier than miss the pleasure.
I had a friend who called his clamshell Tempest, “The Iron Flounder”. Guess they evoke bottom feeders of one sort or another.
Clamshell Tempest?
Maybe “Tempest-The Iron Flounder” was the full name, like “Clifford-The Big Red Dog”?
I’m of the age where I spent a lot of time in these wagons as a kid. In my opinion, the clamshell wagons were a step backward from their predecessors, as they had poorer space utilization, displayed obvious cost-cutting, and were saddled with horrid malaise era powertrains.
In the previous generation, the two-row wagons had a large trunk underneath the wagon load floor that was often able to take most of my family’s vacation luggage, leaving the load floor for us to sleep, etc. GM’s copy of Ford’s magic door was also very useful. The clamshell removed the trunk, and lowered the ceiling at the same time. The clamshell era also featured thinner vinyl on the seats (we were a Chevy family) and had crappier nobs on controls. Lastly, even with a small-block, a pre-smog wagon could get up and go.
It was the dustbuster Lumina Van of it’s day, a cynical & desperate attempt to unseat the class leaders (Ford wagon or Chrysler Minvan, depending on era) with some hastily contrived, half baked ideas.
I disagree, I currently own a 1975 Buick clamshell and I’ve owned both a 1976 Colony Park and a 1976 Grand Safari as well, and the clamshells are better in every way, the 3rd row is actually usable by 2 adult sized humans as opposed to the ridiculous pigmy Pullman style seat in the Fords, which is only usable by very small children or adults that just consist of a torso and a head.
The forward facing 3rd row seat is also so much better since you don’t have to clean vomit off the rear area from car sickness.
My 3 row clamshell has a locking compartment in the rear floor, it is shallow because the door does go under it, but it still has a locking compartment, both my 75 Buick and the 76 Pontiac clamshells had the compartment, not locking on the Pontiac, and they were both 3 row wagons, the 2 seat wagons had an even bigger storage compartment too, again not that deep, but that storage area isn’t as deep as your childhood memories seem to make it be on the pre-1971 wagons either, neither one is what I would call a “trunk” in the sense of full size sedan terms.
The rear doors on the clamshells are larger than the standard sedan sized doors that were used on the Colony Park, making it easier to get in and out of the 3rd row and the rear seats, the clamshells are a more purpose built wagon, where to me the Colony Park I had seemed like a Marquis with a wagon box grafted on to the rear.
I second your opinion, Carmine. Throughout highschool and college, there were many wagons that came and went in our family, but the ones that really stood out to me in quality were the Clamshell models. Sure, the tailgate could be temperamental, but compared to the downsized B-Bodies we had, the old clamshell seemed more solidly built (hit several things with them and no damage), roomier in that there was more space between the front seat occupants and the windshield (the curve of the glass and depth of the dash made it feel larger inside, somehow), and overall the clamshells were far more curvaceous, or as mom described them, zaftig. Tromp on that Olds 455 accelerator pedal, and we’d go flying up the cascade foothills 😀 Last time I had one was in 2008. . .I really miss that car!
Hey Carmine (there’s a song in there somewhere…) – you need to join us over on the Station Wagon Forums. Lots of clamshell guys…….
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/index.php
First new car my folks bought was a ’72 Chevy Townsend wagon (White top on a Mediterranean Blue body), for which they traded their ’64 Nova wagon. Through six-year-old eyes: it was enormous, the clam shell feature was really cool (but the motor slowed as it aged), the seat belts buzzed loudly unless they were buckled, the steering wheel was tiny and locked so I couldn’t effectively pretend to drive. Also, the doors really hurt when they slammed on your fingers.
As a youth a remember see LOTS of the clamshell wagons with visqueen rear windows due to either breakage or because the glass got misaligned (VERY common) and jammed. I also remember more than a few that had the gates get stuck in the down position as they aged. Sorry, fanboys of these cars, but the Ford and Mopar wagons of the era were far superior. IMHO the best GM full size wagons were the ’69 & ’70 models.
GM was trying to out-do Ford’s 2-way tailgate with the clamshells. Although, when new, they ware called ‘Glide-away’. At the ’71 Auto Show, lots of parents were oohing and ahhhing about the new feature.
My folks said to me ‘someday’, but we got a good deal on a Sedan DeVille to replace our ’68 Plymouth wagon [full size]. Would have been nice to spread out more.
I went to school in one of these from 1st to 2nd grade. it was white with blue interior. In the 70s (Puerto Rico) some people with big station wagons like this would serve like some kind of private school bus and took kids to schools for a monthly fee.
The lady would have 2 kids on the front bench, 4 in the back seat and like 4 in the cargo area. Thanks God there where no accidents!
Approx. 3 years ago a Poncho Catalina Safari. It sits in a barn. For reasonable buck It could be mine but it ain’t. Everytime when I think we got a deal, the endprice became different. The owner is hectic. So I gave up on it.
There’s a nice demo of a 1976 Impala Clamshell on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxmy9wffRvk
I see one regularly theres a Chev Clamshell doin hearse duty locally, I’ll try to catch it outdoors with my camera.
They did hearse duty here in Australia too. Saw one back in 1980 when it came into the local Holden dealer for some work.
In 1974, when I was 12, dad bought a 1973 Impala wagon in a ugly orange/brown color with a cream vinyl interior. It had a 454 engine (the engine sizes were badged on the front fender…I liked how everyone could see we had the largest available), got terrible gas mileage but I remember it being reliable. I hated the color and ours had those same wheel covers as in the pictures…they rusted quickly. It was traded in 1976 on a new Ford wagon, which I liked.
My first car was a ’71 Chevy Kingswood Estate. Ah, that electric tailgate… total chick magnet. *cough*
In 1979 we were offered the in-laws ’72 Olds Custom Cruiser clamshell wagon with the 455 Rocket, which had only a single exhaust,….Couldn’t run away from that deal fast enough, as I recall on a “good” day it got 10 MPG.
A ’72 Brookwood became the family hauler back in the mid seventies. Plain Jane no frills wagon. The back window was power but the gate was gravity driven going down and bicep powered on the way up. We used to ride in the way-back as kids leaning against the tailgate. Seat belt laws eventually put an end to that. We would still ride in the back but duck down when we saw a cop.
The drain on the cavity for the gate would clog occasionally and it would fill with water and make a cool sloshing sound. After a rainstorm we would check to see if the car was lower in the back before operating the gravity gate. If the cavity was full there would be an impressive water fountain when the gate went down. It was a real pain in the winter when this froze. The window would open but the gate would only drop until it hit the ice and that was usually an inch or two. Not enough to get a hard enough pull to latch it up again and then the window would not close. A carefully placed Hibachi full of hot coals took care of that in an hour or two.
By the mid eighties it was one rattle can ahead of the rust when a city bus dragged it by one of the back doors and effectively put an end to it’s driving days.
To this day we always remember the “Great Koolaid incident of 1977” and have a good laugh.
On the day I went to pick up my newly purchased ’71 GMC Sprint from Ecology Auto Wrecking, there was a ’74 Chevy Kingswood Estate wagon sitting in the spot right next to it. It had the fake wood sides, third row seat, and the 400 small block.
Some guy visiting here from Australia had just purchased it. He was planning to ship it back home and fully restore it.
When I was 16 and my dad who owned a paint and body shop (perfect occupation when you have a 16 year old son with a brand new drivers license, for me anyway) it was 1969 and he found a 1965 Marlin, had it gone over, painted it in original colors and very nicely optioned, A/C, AM FM radio, white leatherette split front seats that recline to the rear bench so you could relax if you got tired. Everything inside looked almost new. But the best thing was that it had the 327 AMC engine, 270 horsepower and automatic. It would go fast at a red light derby and stop well, power disc in front. Turning was not one of its high points. Oh yes the clamshell. My grandfather had driven Buicks for as long as I could remember. In 1970 he asked me for help picking options for his new car. One thing he did not tell me was it would be his last car. Cancer. He picked the paimt color, bamboo cream with the wood sides and saddle seats. It came with the 455 so I started with a THM 400, power everything including the clamshell from both, the dashboard or the key on the rear.
When the car was delivered in about six weeks later I took it back to the dealer because it was so slow, my Marlin and even older Mustang six would keep up until around 60. The dealer could not be nicer. Did compression test, replaced the carb all for no help. They had another similar car come in and asked me to drive it like I stole it. They even put a mechanic in the New one and had some straight line races on their property. There was nothing wrong with the car, they stayed neck to neck. 190 net horsepower in a car that had to weigh close to 5,000 pounds. They offered to change the rear end ratio and by this time I learned he had cancer so I thanked them, how often eas he going to floor it at a traffic light. He loved that car all the way to the end.
Sorry for my rant,
Richard.
Richard ;
You are a lucky Man to have had this relationship with your Granpa .
Thank you for sharing your story .
-Nate
If the Blues Brothers had a wagon, this very one would be it.
“You traded the Kingswood for this?” “No, for a microphone.” “A microphone? Okay, I can see that.”
Ah yes, my first car. A 1971 Pontiac Grand Safari. It was totally loaded up with nearly every option and a 455 4 barrel. It was a two seat model with, if I remember correctly, four seat belts for each seat. My buddy would wait for me at the corner Key Market to get off work so he could race me down the little two-lane to our neighborhood. I could actually keep his 350 Camaro at bay in the straights but in the corners, if he could get past my fishtailing rear end, he could take me. That clamshell gate was one of the last cool car gimmicks for probably three decades and I totally loved the ‘fastback’ roof line although it did cut into load height a bit. I learned to wrench on that car. I learned to drive in that car and believe me if you can drive one of those monsters down a narrow two-lane with drop off ditches on both sides at 70mph you can drive just about anything. When it came time to leave home I put down the back seat and packed everything I owned in and on top of it and drove to my new place.
Last time I saw one? When it took my Nanna from the funeral home to the crematorium a few years ago!
A good many of these Chevy wagons – and their GM cousins – met their fate unceremoniously in demolition derby contests where due to their sheer ability to keep running in the face of rampant abuse, prevailed. All of that vast sheet metal @ the rear end helped, too.