Text by Patrick Bell.
Station wagons really hit their stride in the 1950’s, and today we have a good variety of them to view. Without any further delay let’s take a look.
We are beginning in far west Canada, at Long Beach on the western shore of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The year was 1961 and this family was vacationing in their 1958 Chevrolet Delray Sedan Delivery. Per the image notes their children rode on top when they were driving on the beach. In the left background was a 1956 Ford Mainline Fordor with a 1961 issue British Columbia license plate, and yes it was pink.
This Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe was actually a 1949 model, but it represents the 1949-1952 generation that had little change over its four year life with the exception of a minor update in 1951. The featured car had snow tires on the rear, some rust beginning in the rear fender, and a license plate where the state name was in the shadows. Plus a windshield decal that may have been a state inspection.
The location here appears to be the bottom of a mountain pass likely in the Rockies. The sign in the center says “Vehicles without chains on the rear wheels are prohibited”. The 1953 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country in the foreground may have just come through the pass since it had snow on it while the others did not. It had California license plates and was one of 1399 built that year.
To the right was a brown 1949 or 1950 Pontiac Chieftain De Luxe 4 door sedan, and in the background a dark blue 1947 or 1948 Chrysler 4 door sedan with the deck lid open and a man on the ground that likely was installing tire chains.
Now we are out on the prairie with a 1953 Ford Customline Country Sedan that was equipped with the flathead V8 that was in its last year. It also had a covered area in the back providing shade for the “kitchen area” where the camp stove was located. And someone was waving from inside the cargo area.
And here was another Country Sedan, this one a new 1955 8-passenger model that was nicely equipped with a V8, fender skirts, wire wheel covers, and I think I see power window switches on the inside of the left doors. It appears to have a permanent type license plate on the tailgate, and also buyer’s tags on the upper tailgate and windshield. It looked very nice in solid black and red inside.
This fellow was enjoying himself on the beach with a 1955 Chevrolet Two-Ten 4 door that was powered by a six cylinder and had quite a load. Photo notes indicate this was Daytona beach, and the year was 1956.
There were at least three people on some sort of outing with a Jeep Station Wagon or Utility Wagon that was a 1952-1959 model. It had baby moon style hub caps along with street tires, so they weren’t going to do any serious off roading.
Here was a Chevrolet driveway with another Two-Ten 4 door, this one a 1956 V8 model that appears to be a Townsman, which meant it was a six passenger. On the other side of it was a 1951 Chevrolet Advance Design pickup with De Luxe Cab Equipment and Rear Corner Windows.
A 1956 Studebaker Pinehurst was backed into the water launching or retrieving a small boat. The Pinehurst was the top of the line wagon that aligned with the President trim series, and only 1522 were produced. Standard power was a 289 cubic inch “Sweepstakes” V8. It was seven years old when the California black plate was first issued, but having the first letter “T” added several more years. And this “T” looked larger than the other letters, so it may have been an altered plate.
A brand new 1957 Ford Ranch Wagon amongst other new Fords at Tallahassee Motors in the city of the same name in the state of Florida. This was the least expensive wagon and it was only available in a 2 door model. If you wanted/needed a 4 door you had to step up to a Country Sedan. To the right was another wagon, a two tone that could have been a Ranch Wagon or a Country Sedan. The rest of the cars along that row appear to be Custom or Custom 500 sedans.
Here was Chevrolet’s wagon for 1957, a Two-Ten Townsman 6 passenger with V8 power and a Missouri license plate. It was a looker in white over red. Parked next to it was a 1956 Buick Special 4 door, and in the background a white over dark blue 1955 Chevrolet with a possible twin on the other side of it.
Another 1957 Ford, this one a Del Rio Ranch Wagon. It was a two year wonder that succeeded the 1956 Parklane as the dressy 2 door wagon. It had the Custom 500 trim and two tone style. The featured one was a commercial vehicle, with the business name on the door and the weight on the quarter panel. To the left was a brown 1949 Chevrolet Styleline Sport Coupe that was having it’s tire pressure checked. To the right parked across the street was a black 1953 or 1954 Plymouth. For another view and a discussion about this Ford see HERE.
And here was Plymouth’s entry in the low buck wagon department for 1957, a De Luxe Suburban with the new “Flight-Sweep Styling”. Once again, if you wanted a 4 door you had to step up at least to the mid range Custom Suburban. There was no “V” on the fender, so this one was a 6 cylinder model, with aftermarket twin fender mirrors, full wheel covers, and a restricted 1962 Alberta license plate.
Let’s head the other direction with a top of the line 1958 Chevrolet Nomad. The Nomad became a regular wagon in 1958 and was chosen to be the top series based on the Bel Air. This one appears well equipped with a V8 engine and full wheel covers, plus the aftermarket roof carrier and side window sun screens. It had a 1959 issue Texas license plate, and the image location was a store/post office building somewhere in rural Texas.
Two brothers were posing by a 1959 Buick Le Sabre Estate Wagon that was parked in the driveway of a ranch style home. The standard engine was a 364 cubic inch V8, with a 401 cubic inch optional. This was the lowest priced wagon of two offered, and the other was the Invicta.
Mom and her two boys were posing along with their 1959 Chevrolet Brookwood while dad was taking the picture. The boys looked like real tourists as one had a camera and the other what may have been a camera case. They had a load inside and on top and were road ready. To the right the rear section of a 1957 Ford Custom 500.
For our parting image today we have another independent offering, a 1959 Rambler Custom Cross Country with a 250 cubic inch Rebel V8 and a California license plate. The right hand mirror head was missing, as well as two letters from the nameplate above the grille. That caused an identity crisis, and its other personality was a Ram LE pickup from the future. It looked good for at least a seven year old car as evidenced by the 1966 Ford F-series to the right.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
First pic: I thought Sedan Deliverys had no seats in the back. Is that true?
The 57 Ford Ranch Wagon: My dad had one in black. The complete option list consisted of…..a heater!
They typically didn’t. But it was pretty common back then for kids to ride in the back of a station wagon with the seats down and on an old mattress or such, like the one on the roof. A rolling rumpus room. No wonder they wanted to ride on the roof, given the lack of windows. This was obviously a work car being used to haul the kids to the beach. They may well have not had a personal car.
My father owned four station wagons between 1960 and 1975. When us kids were younger on long trips he would put the back seat down and throw in a mattress and there we would ride!
I also remember seeing sedan deliveries where the owner would install a pair of non opening windows on the side and install a seat obtained from an auto wrecker to make a low budget wagon.
If you look close you can see the front edge of the cargo area platform/floor behind the driver’s seat.
The 58 Nomad is at the Fischer Store in the Texas Hill Country. It still looks the same today.
Thanks, James!
Well, I’d say that those kids in the first photo deserve the fun of riding on the roof as it must have been a pretty awful trip getting TO the lake…riding in a car with no windows other than the back window and probably no seats in the rear.
I think that the 1958 Nomad in TX is set up for carrying some sort of livestock on the roof. Turkeys or chickens? Back then, you could send and receive poultry via the mail (at least chicks), so maybe that occasioned the trip to the Post Office.
The road to Long Beach is a challenge even today. Narrow, winding, hilly and much bad pavement. In 1961 it would have been little more than a gravel logging road. Those kids definately earned some fun!
Today Long Beach is part of Pacific Rim national park, and it would be unthinkable to drive on the beach. Parks staff and locals are fiercely protective of the area. Tides there can be very strong and there are lots of stories from old timers about vehicles ending up under water back in the day.
I posted a comment earlier that vanished when I edited some bad punctuation, and I’m not going to retype it but I am virtually certain that a buddy of mine owned that same ’58 (much the worse for wear) 20 years later. It was identical and there just weren’t that many sedan deliveries around.
No station wagon involved, but this is us camping on Long Beach in 1962 – me (a few months old, in white sunhat), my mother and my aunt are at the far right.
We lived in Vancouver at the time – the Morris was a 1958 model and took us all over southern BC and Washington state.
Several rarities here!
Those letters on the front of 59-60 Ramblers often came off intentionally to make AMBLE.
Just like Studebakers became Studs.
Great photos again, I keep finding myself liking the lower model cars with dog dish hubcaps better than the fully decked out top of the line models, the strange thing here is a lot of those cars have whitewalls.
Our ’59 Brookwood, same light metallic blue, but a two door, had whitewalls, very common option dressed up even bottom of the line.As for dog dishes, even Impala trim in ’65 did not include full wheel covers.
Terrific photos. The 2nd photo, ’49 Chevy has NJ plates and inspection sticker.
Thanks, Jeff. That means the car was at least ten years old in this image. It looked pretty good for a northern car.
Another great photo set. Long beach in the first photo is just south of Tofino. We were there in 2023 and had a great time, cars are no longer allowed on the beach. That’s probably just as well for their paint to not get sandblasted off.
I suffer from an unreasonable desire for Sedan Deliveries, and even though 1958 is not my favorite design from Chevrolet, I would happily own that ’58 Delray Sedan Delivery.
Hope someone can figure out where the “Del Rio”, pic was taken. Looks a bit a familiar.
I’ve maybe posted this before, but in 1956 our family moved from Wyoming to Illinois. For the trip, my dad wanted a new station wagon. The choices boiled down to a ivory over red Chevy or a light green Ford. He bought the Ford because the Chevy 2-dr was impractical. My only shot at a Nomad (sigh).
The Ford was a good car, though traded in for a Rambler s/w in 1958. We forget how new cars were kept for only a few short years in those days.
The mid 50’s Ford wagons remind me of the movie “The Russian are Coming, The Russians are Coming”.
I may be the new guy here, but can someone tell me why the features and comments get scrunched to the side, it makes it extremely difficult to view the content or make a comment. Also, my computer runs out of time when posting a comment, you have a great site, but like Rosanne Rosanadana said, “it’s always something”,,
What device are you seeing this on? Try refreshing the page; that may help.
OMG! Bringing back memories of many long trips in the (always) Ford station wagons of my youth.
Here is a 1958 Nomad that I restored and sent to a friend in Sweden. Wish I had it back!
Location of the third picture is most likely California, due to the plate. We have always had chain requirements and still do. The scene looks like the San Bernardino mountains, where I learned winter driving.