Vintage Snapshots: Station Wagons In The 1960s – 1970s

By
– Posted on May 1, 2025

Text by Patrick Bell.

Today we have a fine gallery of station wagons to add to our series.  There is a good variety of these hard working machines that once ruled the roads and driveways, so sit back and relax on this May Day and have a look.

In our first image we have two members of the Winnie the Pooh fan club who took a few minutes from their busy itinerary to pose for a picture next to a ’72 Ford LTD Country Squire.  Ford advertised themselves as the “Wagonmaster” from the late sixties through the mid-eighties, and from a sales perspective, for the most part it was true.  The only one in the background I can ID is the one on the left, a white over blue ’68 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe.

There were a lot of competing patterns and colors in this image, with the house vertical paneling with bright blue trim and shingles, the black car with horizontal paneling, and the lady’s black dress with horizontal rectangles.  Ford was “America’s Wagon Specialist” during this era and this ’60 Country Squire with a Connecticut license plate wears it well.

This all GM shot really shows the difference between the ’60 models and the restyled and simplified ’61 models, especially in the greenhouse area.  The ’60 Pontiac Bonneville Custom Safari on the left was the last year of the short lived flamboyant era that had already been toned down and de-trimmed below the belt.  It shows the remaining dogleg style ‘A’ pillar, and the rear portion of the roof looks like it was grafted on the standard six window sedan.  On the other hand, the ’61 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Fiesta on the right has eliminated the dogleg ‘A’ pillar, cleaned up and squared off the rest of the roof and greenhouse, almost to a fault.  Ah, the shifting sands of automobile styling.

The snow was slowly melting in this image somewhere along the short lived Erie Lackawanna Railroad line.  A ’60 Ford Falcon Deluxe was parked in the driveway ready for its next trip.  It has a New York license plate used from ’66-’72, so this wagon had a few years under its belt.  It looks pretty good for its age, at least from the top.

A freshly washed ’61 Chevrolet Brookwood waiting for the photographer to get done so they can head down the road.  There was an aftermarket mirror mounted on the fender, evidently where the owner wanted it.  I think Chevrolet pulled off the ’61 restyle best of all the GM brethren.  A ’60-’63 Chevrolet or GMC C series truck with an utility bed is in the background, and a big kid’s tricycle is on this side of it.

And here is Pontiac’s version with this loaded down ’61 Catalina Safari at a roadside pull off.  Behind it was a ’61 Chevrolet Biscayne 4 door sedan.

Now we are at a campsite with a ’62 Rambler Classic Custom Cross Country from Ontario.  For this year only you could not buy a Classic with a V8.  If you wanted V8 power in a Rambler you had to step up to an Ambassador.  Those boys in the background look like they might have been up to something.

Here is another offering from “America’s Wagon Specialist”, a ’62 Ford Country Squire from Massachusetts.  It also had a fresh wash on a late spring or early summer day.

Compact wagons always seemed sensible to me, but they often did not sell very well.  This ’65 Plymouth Valiant 100 with the slant six motor and a fancy roof top carrier was the least expensive wagon Chrysler Corporation offered.  But the Valiant wagons production amounted to a little over 10% of the Valiants, while the larger Belvedere and Fury wagons combined portion was 13.9%.  Since any fuel crisis was still nearly a decade away, evidently people figured if they needed a wagon they might as well go big.  A pre ’62 Volkswagen Type 1 right rear corner is on the left edge.

This ’64 Dodge 440 with non original wheel covers could have been a nine passenger model as it looks like a long haired person sitting in the third row facing the rear.  It looks in good condition considering it was in the seven year old range per the photo date.  It was an overcast day at this beach.

Ford sold over 195,000 full size wagons in 1966 like this Country Squire with one of the big block engines.  That represented nearly 18.9% of full size sales.  In the background right, looks like a Mercedes-Benz W111 Fintail.

A pair of buddies who weren’t afraid to get their knees dirty were posing by a ’66 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser from Illinois.  The Vista-Cruiser was introduced in 1964 with a five inch longer wheelbase than the F-85 wagon plus the “Vista-Roof” raised rear roof section with skylights.  From ’65-’70 it served as Oldsmobile’s largest wagon.

The ’68 Chevrolet Bel Air shown here was a relatively basic wagon, which is something you don’t see much anymore.  It used to be a fully optioned vehicle was the exception.  Now that is the only way you can buy many of them.  And when there is a choice, the no option vehicles are the exception. The featured car was from Ingham County, Michigan, and the only option I see is the rear window air deflector.

A loaded down ’71 Dodge Polara Custom from California launching a boat.  This one makes me think of a fire chief’s car.  These Mopar fuselage wagons were, if nothing else, big.  As a Mopar fan, I have always liked them, and despite the faltering quality control I feel like they were pretty stout cars.

Another one from the “Wagonmaster”, a new ’73 Pinto Squire.  The Pinto wagon was introduced mid way through the ’72 model year with the Squire as an option package.  From ’73-’77 the wagon was the most popular Pinto.  The subcompact wagon evolved into the compact utility vehicle we have today, where it remains a very popular body style.  Sharing the platform was a Ranchero GT, and behind it a Gran Torino, both of them new ’73 models.

Perhaps a car show here, as I see a piece of paper in the windshield and three other wagons.  This one is a ’72 Chrysler Town & Country, the luxury wagon from the Mopar crew.  It is wearing a Maryland license plate used from ’71-’75, and has a decal (parking?) on the bumper.

The Town & Country name has a long history beginning in 1941 when wagons were still made of wood.  It was a steady model in the Chrysler line through ’88, and then in ’90 it became the luxury minivan through 2016 when it was replaced by the Pacifica.  To the left is a ’67 or ’68 Dodge Monaco 3-seat, in the background a blue ’75 Pontiac Catalina Safari, and a tan ’65 Chevrolet Bel Air.

For our final image we are on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma, Washington, per a search.  The featured wagon is a money maker, a ’72 Chevrolet Brookwood.  This was the least expensive full size wagon for the year, was based on the Biscayne, and one of seven models offered.  It was the least popular as well, with its production comprising of less than 5% of the full size wagons.

Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

More Vintage Photos Here