What is the largest most luxurious wagon of the 70's

I'm looking for a large wagon.
I like the mercury colony park 1974/1978
But are there any bigger.or more luxurious.
Remco

 

I would have to say early 70's Chryslers were probably the biggest.

 

I came across the following article which speaks to this....

http://www.stationwagon.com/faq.html#q12

 

And it says what I was going to say;the early and mid-70's GM wagons were the biggest.And then the Oldsmobile and Buick wagons would be the more luxurious.If you could manage to find that rare Cadillac wagon that was never a hearse,then it would be that.The Chrysler T&C with the St. Regis under-carriage was crowned most luxurious ride of all time.Not even more recent luxury cars have topped it(according to Car And Driver)The bigger suspension parts with plenty of room have proven to be the best,over the years...Mercury Colony Parks come with Continental/TownCar suspension and accoutrement.Once again,the bigger ones(mid 70's)have the best ride.

 

Good article and info. Only mistake I see is that it says 1975 Chevrolet Kingswood. That should have said 1975 Chevrolet Caprice Estate. It did indeed weigh 5036 and was the heaviest Chevy wagon made. My book says my 72' Caprice wagon weighs 4883. No lightweight.

I think the most luxurious wagon would have to be the 70s Buick Estate Wagon with the luxury interior, the Custom Cruiser with the luxury interior, the Mercury Colony Park. The Pontiac Grand Safari and Ford Country Squire with the luxury interior options were no slouches either.

 

The mid-70's Colony Parks and Country Squires weighed just under 4900 lbs as well.Depending on engine size.

 

Yeah and they always looked so much heavier didnt they?

I think the 71-72 Country Squires were lightweights compared to the GM wagons. Somewhere around 4400-4500 pounds for the Ford wagons versus the high 4s to near 5000 even for the 71-72 GM wagons.

Ford wagons of 71-72 weighed about what the 71-72 GM sedans weighed.

 

The 74-77 Chrysler Town & Country was certainly the biggest as it could swallow a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of plywood in the back.

Plus it had the exterior styling of the 74 & 75 Newyorkers including rear fender skirts. The interiors however were more on par with the Newports using vinyl seats. You could load them up with lots of luxury options though.

The GM Clamshell wagons of course are just too cool. Each make has it's own merits. Buick was the top-of-the-line model, although the Olds wagon had rear fender skirts. The 74 Pontiac Grand Safari had a very luxurious interior too.

The Ford Country Squire and Mercury Colony park wagons with their hide-away headlamps are very attractive too. The Ford was available with just about every option the Merc was offered with. The Mercury however "looks" too much like the less expensive Ford to many people.

If you want the Ultimate luxury wagon, you should look for one of the many custom made ones on the Cadillac Chassis.

The "Castillian" was the best as it was based on the Fleetwood Brougham. A Deville based wagon is no slouch either.





A Cadillac with the clamshell roof is pretty cool too.

 

I'd go for the 71-76 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser. With the 455 V8, I think it has virtually the biggest engine. Was Ford's 460 available in their big wagons? I think it must have been.
Chrysler wagons had the slightly smaller 440 at best, I think, though that is a wonderful engine (once drove a Jensen Interceptor so equipped).

 

I think so too.In the 74 thru 78 generation,most of the added weight was to accomodate Ford's famous park bench bumpers.The law was that they needed to be 5 mph bumpers and Ford made them 15 mph bumpers just to be safer. 4 to 500 pounds of added weight for a full set of bumpers...My 68 Colony Park had a curb weight of 3,975 pounds.My 88 and 95 Tauruses weigh in at 3,995 pounds.:confused:

 

In the 74 thru 78 generation of Ford/Mercury wagons,the standard engine was the 400/390(they couldn't stop messing with it)the 460 was an optional choice.And was more likely to be in wagons with the factory installed trailer hitch option.In 76 thru 78,the 351 was available as the "economy engine" as Mileage Maker Sixes were deemed "no longer powerfull enough to move the vehicles adequately".In 79,the 351 and 302 were the engine choices.When these two engines got EFI they became the 5.7 and 5.0...Before 74,the wagons were still light enough for the Sixes,and could be got with them,the 302,351 and 390 engines.The 429 was a dealer option engine in that era.The 460 was a truck engine then,and reserved for the Lincoln Continental...

 

I thought most all fullsize wagons could carry a 4X8 sheet of plywood? I know mine can and it's certainly not the biggest, only like 18 or 19 feet long.

 

I think it's all been said, check this story out too http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4894&highlight=jeffreyalman

Keep in mind the Olds in the article had a Regency interior not offered by the factory.

 

The 1973 Country Squire with the optional Brougham interior was quite luxurious and was more luxurious than the Caprice Estate and Sport Suburban that year...



As I mentioned in another thread, its sad that GM didnt offer more of this as a option on the 71-76 GM wagons... even the most luxurious line GM wagons back then were based more on cars like the Impala (rather than Caprice), Bonneville (rather than Grand Ville) - (except starting in 73' when the Grand Safari had the Grand Ville interior and was very plush! It had been based on the Bonneville sedan in 71-72), Delta 88 Royale (rather than the Ninety-Eight) and LeSabre Custom (rather than the Electra).

Here is an interior of a 1973 Pontiac Grand Safari wagon. Its the same interior that was put in the Grand Ville hardtop sedan that year. Only difference of course are the seats... the Grand Ville had a more luxurious cloth interior, whereas the Grand Safari had a vinyl interior.








exterior of above car...


On a side note... notice some oddities... it has what looks to be every option, but I notice it lacks the 3rd seat and gauge package... has what appears to be EVERYTHING else from vinyl top, cornering lights, all power, auto climate control A/C, AM-FM radio, etc. Its a beauty! I think this car belongs to someone in Washington state... or it did.

 

I thought only the Custom Cruiser had the door pulls. Obviously not.
Perhaps in the seventies with the clamshells you could buy virtually any wagon and make it into the product of another division just with options.
I'd go for a full-blown Custom Cruiser with every option but the vinyl roof.
That said, any Country Squire, Colony Park or Town & Counrty would do just as well. These are wonderful old cars.