information on large station wagons with wood panels

Hello everyone,
i thank you for allowing me to join. Please let me know if you can assist me with information on large station wagons. I need to find out how many scrap yards/ junk yards from november, 1979- present might of scrapped a large "cream-color" or tan color large station wagon. Also, i need to know if any "cream-color" or tan color large station wagon is still on the road or in car shows. If so, please contact either myself or the livingston police department, livingston, n.y. And let them know who sold it, scrapped it or owns it. The reason is that there might be a connection with solving a 1979 cold case. Thank you for your assistance in advance.

 

You've got to be kidding.

Do you have a year for this car?

The number of "cream-color or tan" "large" station wagons scrapped in junkyards over the last 36 years is probably in the tens if not hundreds of thousands. How would you ever pinpoint the one you're looking for? Heck, a lot of junkyards themselves have gone out of business over the last 36 years. It's entirely possible that the junkyard that scrapped this wagon, and it's most surely been scrapped by now, is long gone, and there's a nice hotel or shopping mall on the site.

As far as how many are still on the road, again, without more information, the number is astronomical. There are literally thousands of car shows around the country each year, and undoubtedly many station wagons show up at them. How could you possibly check every cream-colored wagon that might show up at one?

At a bare minimum, we need to know make, model, and year of this wagon. From what you say, we assume the crime occurred prior to November 1979, so the wagon has to be a 1979 or earlier model. That still leaves a lot of wagons


We're assuming the cold case is a murder as the statute of limitations would have run out long ago on anything else. How is the car connected to the crime?

 

Welcome aboard. I wish you luck in your efforts to solve the cold case. Unfortunately, the description could apply to tens of thousands of wagons built prior to the fall of 1979. Ford and Mercury offered fake wood paneling on wagons throughout the 50's, 60's and 70's and beyond. Dodge from 65 through the 80's, Chrysler and Plymouth from 68 through the 80's, Chevrolet from 66 through the 90's, Buick Olds and Pontiac from 67 till well past the 1979 date, and AMC from 67 through the 70's. Further, even the compact wagons (Like the Volare and Aspen) would be considered large by today's standards. Mid size wagons (like Torinos, Chevelles and Coronets) from all manufacturers weren't much smaller than the full size wagons in the 70's. But just assuming that "large wood paneled wagon" narrowed the options down to just the top of the line full size wagon from each manufacturer, that still leaves you with the Ford Country Squire, Mercury Colony Park, Chrysler Town And Country, Plymouth Fury Sport Suburban (and Grand Fury Sport Suburban), Dodge Monaco and Monaco Brougham, Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, Buick Estate Wagon, and the Pontiac Safari, Grand Safari and Executive (in Catalina, Bonneville and Grand Ville lines) . If you consider the color being described as cream or tan, that kind of leaves out metallic colors and creams that would be closer to the yellow/white shades. There was a non metallic tan that was popular will all manufacturers in the 60's that was kind of the color of a cup of coffee with cream added. By the 70's, the non metallic creams and tans were still popular Chrysler colors, and GM also built a lot of wagons in the non metallic creams and tans. Ford had a cream color that was popular in the 70's, but it would have been closer to yellow than tan. Ford may have had a non metallic tan in the 70's but I don't recall seeing that color on 70's vintage Fords and Mercs. Assuming a car more than 10 years old in that part of the country would have shown it's age with at least some rust, and "old" wasn't used as part of the description, I guess that could mean that you might start the search with full size 70's GM and Chrysler Corp. wagons. But I doubt there is any way of telling how many of each were built in the non metallic cream/tan hue with wood paneling. It is possible that some manufacturers may be able to retrieve that info once you locate paint codes. You can find paint charts on line for each make and model year but frequently the color you see on those scanned color charts can be deceptive. Meanwhile, most of these wagons would likely have been long since been crushed and recycled. You might have better luck trying to get the state to track down registrations within the state, from 1979, of all the possible makes and models, and hope that "large" didn't actually refer to mid size wagons which would more than double the list of possibilities. Unfortunately, my guess is that wagons were frequently titled as part of the car line rather than under the wagon name, for example Ford LTD wagon instead of Ford Country Squire, or Chevrolet Caprice wagon instead of Chevrolet Kingswood Estate. That could make it more difficult.
Good luck.

 

Paragraphs.

 

The bottom line is, he has no hope of finding a station wagon when all he knows about it was that it was "large," cream or tan-colored, and last seen in November 1979.

 

Thanks. I should know better. Didn't intend to ramble on that long.

 

You are going to need more information.

Maybe give us a little background, and we can pin down what kind of information you are going to need. A license plate or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) would be very helpful.

You don't see too many of these type of station wagons now, but back in the late 70's / early 80's (before minivans) they were quite popular. Pretty much every American vehicle make had one in their line-up, and beige was a common color.

Wood-paneled wagons in the late 70's:
(I might even be missing a few...)

Full-size wagons:
- Ford (LTD) Country Squire
- Mercury Marquis Colony Park
- Chevrolet Caprice Estate
- Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser
- Buick LeSabre/Electra Estate Wagon
- Pontiac Executive/Bonneville Safari
- Plymouth Fury Sport Suburban
- Dodge Monaco
- Chrysler Town & Country
- AMC Ambassador/Matador Wagon

Intermediate-size wagons:
- Ford LTD II Squire
- Ford Fairmont Squire
- Mercury Cougar Villager
- Mercury Zephyr Villager
- Chevrolet Malibu Estate
- Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser
- Buick Century Estate
- Pontiac LeMans Safari
- Plymouth Satellite Regent
- Dodge Coronet Crestwood
- AMC Concord Sportabout
- AMC Eagle wagon

 

I've got an off white station wagon with wood panels. It's a '63.
I did it!

 

Krash left out the AMC Matador and Ambassador mid size woody wagons and the Aspen and Volare woody wagons. Wagons like the Eagle, Concord, Hornet, Zephyr, Fairmont, Aspen and Volare are all probably too small to be considered large by 1979 standards.

 

Welcome charismatina87!

 

Welcome, your intro reminded me of a story from Nov. 2014. This was an 1975 abduction of two girls in VA. Story also asks for leads on a station wagon.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/station-wagon-sought-in-1975-missing-sisters-cold-case/

 

I'm guessing the OP won't be back. He's not a station wagon guy. He's just trying to find a particular station wagon for reasons that have nothing to do with pursuing station wagons as a hobby, and he thought, quite justifiably, that this might be a place to look.

He might watch the thread and jump in if someone says, "oh, I saw that car last week. It had dried blood all over the front seat!". But otherwise, probably not.

As I said, he has no hope of finding this car with the sparse, essentially non-existent information he provided, and even if he had the make, model, color, and VIN, after 36 years, the chances of finding it are nil. Given the lack of information he has on the car, all anyone is doing by pointing out all the models of station wagon that might fit the description is highlighting the futility of his search.

 

Interesting story. However, there is a big difference between this one and the OP's case. Here, they actually know that the car in question is a '68 Ford, and they even have a partial license number. That's a far cry from "it was a big, cream-colored, pre-1980 station wagon that was probably junked."

 

I suppose anything is possible..........

 

Thank you all for trying to assist me in my quest to find this vehicle.
I just want to help solve the case and this is a very serious matter. The victims belongings could be inside the vehicle still. Please, care and help me find a way to find the vehicle. Thank you in advance.