Your Wagon's History

I've noticed often members tell the history, or at least the parts they know, about their station wagons. Why not have a thread about what we know about our favorite vehicles?

There really is no history on my 1955 Chevy wagon. I bought it from a young guy who liked jacked up trucks, in late 80's. He'd swapped in a 350/Borg Warner 4-speed and very wide rear tires. It had air shocks sitting way high with extended shackles. Highbacked van type seats made getting in back seat impossible. Lucky it didn't end up a 4-wheel drive mud truck.
Before that, early 80's, it was used as it was meant to be, a handyman's wagon. An electrician only a few blocks from where I lived used it to haul plumbing supplies. I found pipe fittings and other plumbing things under the seats. I remember it sitting next to a garage for years before the young guy bought it.
Have no idea about where or what the wagon was used for before that.
I always admire those who know the history of their wagons. Especially those one owner or family owned wagons that grandpa bought new.

 

My car's story interested me quite a bit, but probably isn't all that uncommon. I am the second owner of the 85 Colony Park. The original owners (in Maryland) were in their late 50s when they purchased the car brand new. When I purchased the car two years ago, the husband is now in his mid eighties and the Mrs. has passed. The car was the wife's daily driver and used on many road trips. It has traveled to Disney World, the West Coast, and also to Canada several times which accounts for the 171k it had on it when I bought it. The husband told me that his wife had a way of getting attached to things she liked, and this wagon was one. He brought home a 96 Roadmaster woody that was brand new in 96, trying to convince her that they should by it because this would be their last chance to buy a new woody. The CP already had over 100k on it at that point, but she would not part with it. Several years before her death, she had a stroke and although she recovered, she lost some muscle tone in one side, so she refused to drive the CP anymore because she was afraid of damaging it. While I was looking the car over, I asked the owner if he happened to have any paperwork on the car. He replied that he thought so and invited me into his home office as he began digging through the file cabinet. I was astounded at what came out. Enough documents to make roughly a 4 or 5 inch pile. Window sticker, build sheet, Ziebart treatment, extended warranty, dealer brochures, every receipt for oil changes, service, down to changing light bulbs. It took me a couple of weeks after the purchase to sift through everything and put it in chronological order. The owner had a habit of writing down notes about things that were in need of repair, or conversations with the local service department which were fun to read through. Apparently they were also considering buying an 85 Caprice Estate when they purchased the CP, because there were pro/con lists of what things they liked and disliked about the two models. As we shook hands and loaded the car onto the trailer, the owner said that he knew his wife would approve that her car would be going to a loving home.

I also had a very interesting experience about a month after buying the car. I was out running errands with the kids and all of the sudden started getting some white smoke billowing from under the hood. Luckily we were very close to home and made it back. After opening the hood I didn't see anything super obvious. Being my first real car to "work on" I thought I'd see if I could figure something out. I was looking through the threads on this site when one of my son's toy trains that was sitting across the room began to start whistling for no apparent reason. I felt compelled to go grab "the folder" with all of the paperwork for the car. As I carried the folder down from the 2nd floor, I heard the train again. I was the only one at home at the time. I opened the file and thought, well I will try to look back at what has been done the last few years, maybe that will give me a starting point. As I parted the stack and grabbed the first paper, the toy train whistled again. I started reading on a receipt dated in the mid 1990s...."owner states white smoke billowing from under the hood". I got goose bumps. "Replaced heater hose". I went out to the car and took off the breather. After starting it up, I could see the antifreeze shooting from one of the heater hoses. It was not possible to see with the breather on with the direction it was spraying. I grabbed some hose at AutoZone for a few bucks, and problem solved. I couldn't help but think to myself that the Mrs. was still watching over her car. Call me crazy, but it was a very unusual and memorable experience.

 

Thanks for the great post. If no one else replies yours made this all worth while. As for the toy train????????????????

 

Fourth owner, sold new in Oklahoma City, always been a lifelong central OK car...so it's very much rust-free and straight.

 

I'm (well, not legally) the second owner of the Colony Park. I know the first owner bought it new, and he kept it in the garage every winter. It got 230k miles on it before I bought it.

I did notice when I had the tailgate plastic apart, that there was some broken glass in there so it looks like the rear window isn't original. Also, the car has been re-painted.

 

You stole it ?

 

My 83 Olds, picture/date from sellers listing......


Purchased new in Victoria and I am the second owner, car has apx 70k miles on it now (I've put about 20k miles of that on it) and came with just about every maintenance receipt from day one. A Grandmother's car from new, at 92 years of age She battled some health issues and had to hand in her drivers license. Nobody in her family wanted the car and it was listed for $500 firm by the grandson, I drove it home on my test drive and had my wife drive me back with the cash. The only issue the car had when I got it was a sagging headliner. The only issue the car has today is I need to take the steering column apart to replace the wiper switch how ever it's not been a concern for me as it's just a sunny day only drive car for me.

My 87 Buick, pic/date taken on the day it was given to us for free! Also a Victoria car from new....


Below, a couple years later "Suzie" who beat cancer gave us the car is leaning on it....


battling cancer and going through a nasty divorce at the time, Suzie gave us the car for free to keep it away from her husband, now "X". Suzie was the second owner of the car and drove it daily for 10 years as well as keeping it very well maintained. It's my winter battle wagon witch on a side note.... last Saturday I warmed up the car, tossed the dogs in and my wife came out and shouted, "Your insurance expired on the 10th". So I had to steal my wife's Escape to take the dogs for a drive to work. I still have not gotten to my insurance agent yet for new tags, maybe this weekend....And it now needs a new headliner but that will be a spring project.

 

Mine's not that exciting.
81 Eagle wagon
I bought it in 2006. The guy I bought it from had just bought it the week before, from the original owner. He bought it for his wife without her seeing it, but she said it was too ugly. The original owner kept it at his mountain retreat in Winter Park, CO. It had just over 80,000 miles when I bought it. I gave it to a buddy when I left Colorado in 09. It sat in his garage for 5 years and he told me I could have it back if I wanted it.
As purchased


Now


86 Eagle wagon
I bought it because it was an auto and had A/C. The 81 was a manual and had no A/C. I purchased it in 2007 from the second owner and he didn't know anything about the first owner. He owned it for 10 years and drove about 3,000 miles a year.
As purchased


Now

 

Not much about the CP; I have the original "Protect-O-Plate" with the OPs name and the fact it was bought in Philomath, OR. When I found it, the hood and driver's door were both slightly mangled. I talked to the guy who had it, and his son bought it for $300 to yank the engine and trans for a Mustang II, so since I had pulled the engine and trans from my brother's CS, I offered them for the wagon. No dice. I had to cough up $100 to consummate the deal. Once I delivered them, I drove the wagon to my former friend's house, where I swapped out the door and hood, and gave the car a thorough cleaning before I started driving it. Later, I serviced the fluids, swapped the crappy AM/FM radio for the CS's AM/FM/CASS deck, changed the T/G handle (a #6 Vise-Grip fits the inside of the broken handle) and swapped an aftermarket taillight onto the car for the smashed left taillight. A few months later, I fixed the exhaust, rebuilt the Fuel Charging Assembly, replaced the wheels with turbines and replaced the switch for the power driver's seat. After that, I put about 40K on the car, and then it met with a bad rip in the lower rad hose which toasted the bottom end on the freeway. I stripped it of anything I could and junked the rest. Oh, and one Fall, the heater core went bad, but I couldn't afford to change it for a couple months; I'd defrost the windshield by driving it with my head out the window.

 

Found the 64 in a So Cal auto trader. The hardtop intrigued me because at the time I did not know they made these in the 60,s. I thought that ended in the 50,s. The original owner decided to sell after almost 40 years ownership . He had held onto almost ever piece of paperwork including the original sales slip , temporary license plate , and even had filed for a duplicate pink slip . Still wears the original black plates . He was hoping it went a good home and I sent some pics after some work when I first got it it from . I be live Harry is gone now but last time I talked with him he was happy it found a good home. When it gets to that point hope I can pass it on to someone that can appreciate it.


forum image hosting

 

According to the ownercard, My '68 CP was bought new in June '68 from a dealer in Fullerton CA. It spent the next 31 yrs in Anaheim (many years down the street from disneyland). Second owner bought it when it was three yrs old. Since the 2nd owner obtained an ownercard under his name, I figure it had an extended warranty. His family used it as a daily driver/ kid mover/ trailer puller. He did keep a file and logbook for the car. Unfortunately I was not able to obtain those records. He changed things over the years and it would have been nice to have had a guidebook of what to look out for. It no longer had black plates and I was told that they had been lost. I went through a box of parts and found one of them. Maybe when I get the rear compartment open I'll get lucky with the other? I bought it last year and I am the third owner.

 

My '84 Volvo wagon was bought new in Nov '83 from Royal Volvo/ Subaru in Sunnyvale. The original owners lived around San Jose. I think it had different owners by 1989. I still have the owner's manual packet so that is helpful with early history. It has the top half of a 100% Slug frame that tells me it might have spent some quality time around Santa Cruz. The guy we bought it from bought it from a person located in Campbell CA. That Campbell owner had it since at least 1997. We bought it in 2001 with 160k. It now has 417k and was used as a daily driver until this week. I have just recently stopped driving it due to needing to catch up with deferred maintenace (namely a bad alternator, bad master cylinder, and leaking water pump). Hopefully it will be back up and running very soon.

 

These are great. Keep them coming members. Interesting.
I was never one to save or keep records on past cars.

 

My wagon's history is well documented at the link in my signature below.

 

No, it's in my Dad's name legally for the time being.