Station Wagon, Classic Station Wagons, Old Station Wagons for Sale

One of the reasons I like Station Wagons so much is they remind me of a simpler time. Gas was cheap, families had time to spend together, and there were a lot less things to worry about. One activity I enjoyed with my family was car camping. Station Wagons are ideally suited for car camping. They're easier and more relaxing to drive than a truck, but they have plenty of room for all your camping gear. The fold down rear tail gate on many early station wagons works great as a small picnic table, and the back end of many station wagons is big enough to comfortably sleep in if you don't feel like setting up a tent. In fact, Station Wagons and car camping go together so well that Ford published a book on all the aspects of car camping with a Station Wagon. It was out of print for many years but is available again. If you want a good nostalgia trip, you will enjoy reading this book...

Prior to WWII, most station wagons were classified as commercial vehicles and had wood or composite wood/metal bodies. These were very beautiful and today are highly sought after by collectors. Unfortunately the wood bodies weren't as durable as steel so there aren't many left today - if you want to buy one, expect to pay a lot of money for a nice one (of course you can also find one in not so good condition and restore it yourself if you have the skills.) In 1938, Dodge offered the first station wagon classified as a passenger car. This started the trend of station wagons being a highly desired form of transformation, even though they didn't achieve huge popularity until several years after the war.

In my opinion, the best station wagons are American wagons made between 1950 and 1973. In the years following WWII, demand for cars started to grow. Wagon sales started out slowly, but grew rapidly during the 1950's. In 1951, station wagons accounted for only 3.3% of all car sales in the U.S. By 1959, station wagons accounted for almost 17% of U.S. car sales. They were no longer considered utility vehicles. For many car makers, the station wagon represented the top of the line in styling and functionality. The low end wasn't ignored either - both Ford and Plymouth introduced compact wagons in 1960 (Falcon and Valiant respectively), with Chevy releasing the compact Corvair station wagon in 1961 and the much more popular Chevy II (Nova) in 1962. Throughout the 1960's, innovations in station wagons was the order of the day as auto makers tried to "one-up" each other. As the 60's came to a close though, auto makers turned more towards product refinement, although some innovation continued, like GM's "Clam Shell" tailgate design. Ford and Chevy introduced 2 door compact wagons in the early 1970's (Pinto and Vega respectively), just in time for the energy crisis of 1974. The energy crisis, along with new emissions regulations imposed by Congress, marked the beginning of the end for the station wagon. Production would continue for 2 more decades, but for the most part the Station Wagon's best years were behind it.