1971 Chevrolet Kingswood

$5800.

1971 Chevrolet Kingswood wagon - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle... (craigslist.org)

 

Doesn't look too bad, but you'd have to really want the most basic of basic big car wagon. Doesn't have any options at all except the power tailgate, luggage rack, and the 400 motor! Neat vintage trailer hitch and trailer brake controller though.

The only area of concern I'd have on the body is underneath that bright work on the rocker panels. I'm sure the windshield leaks too.

 

I love basic! They where the first to get used and abused so that's why you only see the Kingswood estates around. When was the last time anyone ever seen a townsman or Brookwood?

 

I know! You don’t see them around very often. My first car was a 1971 townsman. It was the dark blue, “command blue “. Same color interior as this one and just as basic. It had air conditioning, passenger side manual chrome mirror, factory air shocks, and that was about it. I miss that car.

 

I can't compete with you, my first car was a blue 81 Caprice wagon.

 

Townsman - I saw one or two for sale some years back, I think one was a 72 or 73.

Brookwood - That's a model? I saw a 75 Biscayne, though. The 75 was supposedly the last year for them as Clam Wagons.

 

You are so right. Back in the day many tradesmen only had 1 vehicle for family and work. Crew cab light trucks either did not exist or were extremely rare because I do not remember seeing any. The result was basic wagons were used to haul lumber, paint, pipe, you name it. The last Brookwood in my neighborhood was beat to h___ by a carpenter/painter and my memory of it was paint all over and laying smoke down like a WW2 destroyer on convoy duty. Am very impressed to see a Brookwood or any other base level wagon survivor.

 

The truck stigma was very much a real thing, only "low class" people had trucks. Crew cab trucks were not really a thing until the early to mid 1970s and they were ridiculously expensive and were rather sparsely optioned with little to no creature comforts. And most wives weren't really interested in riding in a truck with vinyl seats and floor mats (no carpet) that rode like a work truck. The station wagons were the way to go.

 

SOLD?

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Yes, Brookwood is a model and it was the equivalent to the Biscayne, below the Belair model. The townsman was equivalent to the Belair. Kingswood equivalent to impala and Kingswood estate equivalent to Caprice. From 1969 through 1972 The station wagons carried these nameplates instead of sharing the names with their counterpart coupes and sedans. You saw a 75 Biscayne wagon because from 1973 on the wagons coupes and sedans all shared the same names again. This separate wagon vs coupe/sedan name difference also happened for a short spell in the late 50s. Yes, 75 was last year for the entire Biscayne model line. In 76 the Belair became the entry level model.

 

One of the reasons we had station wagons was because my father, was in the electrical business. I remember for a short spell he actually worked out of his 1964 Belair wagon. He had roof racks and ladders on top. In 1971 he bought a new townsman station wagon and kept the old Belair as his work vehicle until he bought a new 1972 Ford van. Then the old Belair went away. I also remember a friend of his, a carpenter painter, coming to our house in 1970 to redo the kitchen cabinets. He installed new for Formica and countertops. He came to our house to do the work in a 1963 Belair wagon! I remember his smelling like wood on the inside

 

This is so absolutely true! It is unbelievable how many people do not know this. Many young folks look at me funny when I tell them that it was not cool to ride in a pick up truck back in the day. Today, pick up trucks have taken over the role that was played by large cars and their station wagon counterparts. Today everyone wants a pick up truck but that was not the case back in the 60s and 70s. They started to become more popular in the 70s and the auto makers started adding the creature comforts. It steadily increased over the 1980s and became full swing in the 90s. I remember my father telling me that a pick up truck was the cheapest vehicle you could buy and that’s why so many poor people drove them...they just loaded a large family in the back as seatbelt and child seat laws were nonexistent back then. Now it is the most expensive in any car make lineup