When I spotted this at the Cohort a while back, I made a note to save it for Wagon Week. I don’t know what more to say beyond what poster T.Minor already said: ut I’m not sure he should have followed it.
Colonnade wagons have become very scarce on the ground; I’ve only found one. So this may well be the only one we see this week, so try to..ah…accentuate the positive, if you can. If not, we understand.
Oooooo-Kaaaaay. Actually, although it is in horrible condition, I kind of like that roofline. If you can blur your eyes a bit and stop seeing all the seams, it has a bit of a really big AMC Hornet Sportabout vibe about it.
It helps if you don’t like these much to start with, because almost anything you do to it is neutral at worst.
I actually like the Colonnade wagons quite a bit in side profile; the sloping rear window and gate has a graceful quality to it.
Paul, as to colonnade wagons being scarce, they certainly are. I just added two photos to the cohort though that you might find interesting though–the photo quality isn’t great (iphone photos at night with the brightness dialed up through editing) but not only is it a colonnade wagon, but a rather rare one even among the already-scarce species.
Bad. Just bad….
While I’m not sure this defends the owner’s actions, I will say the wide D-Pillar mimics the wide B-Pillar on the A-specials (Monte Carlo, Custlass Supreme, and Grand Prix).
If they had an opera window in the pillar, you could promote it as a lost “personal coupe” proposal from the GM styling lab.
I’ve always thought the Colonnade era GM cars were ugly enough, but this car takes that ugliness to a whole new level.
Dali rises from the grave: “Okay, you win. I give up.”
I was once told that if I couldn’t say anything nice then I shouldn’t say anything at all. With that in mind……..
crickets.
Next stop, crusher.
1960 Imperial called. Then, little brother Prince Valiant called. They want their toilet seat back.
At least it has a bulletproof powertrain.
Compared to the model that followed them, I’ve only seen 1…2 (?) of these Colonnade wagons for sale on Craigslist…a nice Le Mans Safari.
I almost never see a wagon that I don’t like. When you are looking at function over form that becomes commonplace. I also like ugly ducklings and most dogs. What was I saying…..
When these Colonnade wagons first came out, I remember that Consumer Reports or another magazine slammed them for the relatively smaller cargo area – it was narrow and couldn’t show carry the requisite sheet of plywood flat on the floor due to its wide wheel wells, and the slope of the rear tailgate hatch also cut into usable cargo volume.
That’s actually why the Volvo 140 and 240 series wagons were so great – the nearly upright tailgate maximized the usable cargo volume (such as a box or crate) even though it had smaller exterior dimensions than, say, the A-body wagons.
I was surprised to see it had the 1976-77 front end instead of the 1973-75 front end, I’ve always liked the Colonnade wagons and never really saw too many of them except for the Chevrolet Chevelle/Malibu, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Pontiac Colonnade wagon in my lifetime.
Ummm… thinking…I don’t own it! It’s nowhere close to me and with care I might never have to see these images again. It’s not demanding any financial resources from me. It’s a strident warning to anyone even considering similar work. 5 mph bumpers are sometimes not a vehicle’s worst feature. May also be useful for parts.
I remember riding in a childhood friend’s ’74 Buick Century Luxus wagon whose gas gauge would list about 20 degrees opposite of the corner you just turned. It didn’t come back up either when you straightened out the wheel. Perhaps the effort of making the turn guzzled 1/8th of a gallon of gas or something. Man it must have been painful to fill up that thing in the darkest days of the oil embargo when sometimes you couldn’t get gas at any price.
They later had a 70 something Pontiac Safari that was pockmarked with numerous rust spots in places that rust had had no business being. Both these cars were about 6 or 7 years old at the time. That’s the extent of my experience with Colonnade wagons.
I have to confess I thought it was home made using El-Camino bits, I did not even know there was a station wagon model! According to my contacts in Israel who saw it from real close (brave people), it looks inside as if a canaanite dog or a homeless person use it for quarters. I will though pass on the message about its rarity – maybe someone brave enough will take pity on it…
Certain that it’s got a cassette copy of Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” on auto-replay within the cabin….