What does a wagon mean/represent for you.

All have been good to me and I have learned a lot from owning them. Poor Kerm, he had a huge heart but no umph on the expressway. His defense on BMWs or SUVs bumpering him, blowing oil out his tail pipe when you stepped on the gas. I enjoyed when the idiot would then use his wipers, thus smearing all that oil!

 

I have noticed the same thing. Here I am with my '78 Country Squire with 250k original miles, showing the life it has lead with dings/dents, Chicago style parking, and the years of raising a family. It still shines but has primer coming around the corners, puffs smoke when started, wood grain is showing its age.....BUT people go nuts over it. Taking pictures, telling their own kids about the third seat, and stories about high school, drive ins, dates.......

BTW: I have had two people film me on I-88 and I-80 with their camera phones while I was passing them.

 

My Colony Park, too, nothing special. I've been driving it to work since Monday and every day when I'm on break, people stop at the car to tell me how much they love it or that their parents, grandparents, etc had one once upon a time. I'm really enjoying all the memories that the car evokes.

Everyone chuckles, too as modern cars park next to me, Toyotas, Hondas, Malibus, etc. The Merc's got a mile on 'em all. I wish I had a nickel for every 'that's when cars were cars' or 'they don't build 'em like they used to' that I hear.

 

I get a lot "How do you drive that?" and people will stop and stare while I parallel park my wagons.

Also people get worried when they are around them. "I hope I don't hurt it". My stock reply "Nah, she will kick your butt and your tin can back to next week. See that dent there? That was a Toyota.......and that dent? That was a city utility pole........."

 

My wagons are actually easier to maneuver than my Silverado. The turning radius on that pickup stinks out loud.

One Co-worker told another today "Freddy, you could drive your Corsica right into the back of Tom's wagon!" lol

 

I noticed my '73 can turn on a dime, love it!

HA HA HA, into the back of the wagon, NICE!

 

The station wagon means a lot to me. A lot.
It isn't a car, a purveyor of people. It's an era. A space in time. A time when people were gracious, worked hard to get ahead and the family came first. And they had pride. Pride in their work, their family, their home and their Country. They were proud to be Americans in a free Country where you could succeed with hard work and a little ingenuity. If a neighbor should have a problem people would unselfishly reach out a helping hand because, by God, we were Americans and we stood together. There was an inherent honesty in those times. People cared and it was legitimate. They cared about quality in their work. They cared about good family values. They cared about others. They cared about the American flag and all the things it represented. The station wagon was a significant part of that time. It was the best of times.
To some, the wagon was a work horse that carried tools to the job. To some, it was the family car that carried the family and all their necessities to a quiet lake for a deserved vacation. To some, it was both and more. It carried kids to the game and to the local drive-in movie. It pulled boats, travel trailers and other cars. It carried lumber tied down to the roof rack and sheets of building material in the back. It was the great American car.
The wagon evolved through these best of times like a loyal friend. From the tin lizzies, to the woodies that wore jackets of real wood, to the behemoths with hundreds of pounds of gleaming chrome, to the fins from outer space, to the huge, growling V8's that freed the soul of all those that drove them. And then.......they were gone. Shoved aside in the name of progress never to return. A sad statement for the wagon. And for the times.
But, the wagons were built tough. They hung on. All they ask of us is a little care. Those of us that remember the best of times, or who want to experience them, seek that dirty, rusty wagon in the field and pull it home. We search for parts, spend our hard earned money, put in hours upon hours of hard work to bring this winking star of history back to the beauty of its glory days. And it reciprocates with a heartfelt feeling that fills us like none other.
When I walk up to my wagon, look at its beauty, touch it, I swear, it's like it's alive and knows I'm there. It smiles with appreciation and I can feel its loyalty. When I turn the key and hear the soft rumble of power it's like.......well.........it's like that dog you had that was your best friend that smiled and wagged its tail with love and affection, his only mission in life was to please you. It's like that. I sit there inside and hear the blub of the dual exhaust and the purr of the engine just waiting to please. Drop it in gear and it responds with anticipation and I drive sealed in that space of time gone by.
The station wagon means more to me than a car or a purveyor of people. When I drive my wagon it happily responds to my every wish , my every desire. It gives back all that I put in and much, much more. It cradles me in a cocoon on a ride through yesteryear. And every ride I take in this beauty from another era I realize that it is the only thing I know that can, and does, give me back what I miss the most. The best of times.

 

sniff - that's so beautiful
I'm think I'm going to cry.....

My wagon is just being a pain in the butt right now...

 

'Fox, that was perfect. Everything I can't manage to articulate was just spelled out right there in black and white.

 

Wow! One of the best written bits about a station wagon I have read!

Your not the only one that thinks that too. I have had a few wagons that when I took delivery of it, it was on its last legs. After some proper tuning, elbow grease, and attention, the true beauty came out to shine. And sometimes it felt like it knew that I brought it back up from the dying.

Sure it had its foibles, its characteristics that would turn people off. But they all had/have a common thread, they ALL never stopped working for me. In the ice, the snow, hitting a deer, college life........like you stated, like a K-9. Loyal, always wagging its tail and asking "so whats next boss?".

 

The guy in Texas is a pain in mine...Fannie is in an induced comma, she has no idea what's happening right now! But I hope to get a little of what foxy has some day

 

Silver Tongued Fox

Silverfox, you bring a tear to the eye of all early automobile lovers. Will we be able to write things like that about the cars we buy today? And those vintage street scenes are like automotive porn to my eyez!:banana:

 

Yup, the sly old Fox has a way with words. Does remind me of when Niebours were Niebours, leave the house unlocked, help a stranger with no worries, and wagon or not when some one drove a new car home nomatter what it was fancy or plain jane every niebour and all the kids horded around for a day because you were king of the hill.

 

Well said Fox. A wagon knows its owner as much if not better than the owner knows the wagon. It's not just a configuration of working parts - it's a partner in hope. If people treated their cars better, they might even learn to treat each other better.

 

As Archie Bunker said "Those were the Dayz".

No one locked the house or the car. I drove to work nites and left windows down often. No matter what was in the car was still there when I returned after 10-12 hours working. Neighbors gave kids Kool-Aid and cookies and we played in their yards and streets. Every parking lot had station wagons. Fairly new here and this site makes me feel like I am with people who remember and still live with the values of the good ole days. Haven't learned a lot about station wagons so far... but a lot about people that was forgotten........... Don't let this go to your heads!