Site icon MyStarCollectorCar

FIVE MORE CLASSIC 50S STATION WAGONS YOU NEVER SEE AT CAR SHOWS

Jerry Admin

Station wagons appeal to Baby Boomers and late-stage Gen X refugees because wagons were 20th Century stagecoaches.

There is almost no chance you didn’t ride in a long roof if you grew up in the 50s, 60s. 70s and early 1980s.

Wagons were a part of the culture because big families needed big room to haul kids, dogs and luggage—here are five you’ll never see at your local car show.

Jerry Sutherland

The 1955 Rambler Hudson Cross Country is a good example. You can see the Nash-Hudson roots in this car because it has a Farina-styled, bathtub-like profile that tells the world it’s about function and form.

That sloped roofline at the rear is something no other car builder would try in 1955, but it makes sense if you’re tossing luggage up to the rack. They weren’t, fast but the 190 cubic inch flathead six was reliable—and that is what sold buyers on Ramblers.

You’ll also never see a 1955 Mercury Monterey station wagon at your local car show.

The Mercs were higher-end cars under the Ford umbrella, so most buyers wanted more style than a ’55 Ford long roof offered. They came with a 292 cubic inch so they could easily keep up on the turnpikes, but their biggest feature was simple—they had ’55 Merc style. 

The ’54 Buick Estate wagon is another classic long roof you’ll never see at a car show. There’s a solid reason why you won’t—they only built 1650 Buick Estate wagons in 1954, so this big, bad, kiddie hauler is rarer than most classic muscle cars.

The Estate wagon wasn’t built for the average 50s family living paycheck to paycheck. They were built for a guy who had four or more kids and a large income. The 264 cubic inch ‘nailhead’ V-8 wasn’t a world-beater on the road, but these wagons could easily do highway speeds with a freeway-friendly rear gear.

The 1954 Studebaker Commander DeLuxe Conestaga wagon had its roots firmly in the early 1950s. The nose-cone hood telegraphed how Studebaker rolled with the punches and worked with what they had—not what they aspired to have.

In other words, what was good enough for 1950 was good enough for 1954.  The Conestaga name came from an era when Studebaker built horse-drawn Conestaga wagons to haul settlers to the frontier lands. These wagons were entry-level and only had two doors, but smart buyers like the price and Studebakers reputation. Most Conestaga wagons were lost to history.

The last example is the 1958 Chrysler New Yorker Town and Country. This was a high-end wagon from the legendary Forward Look era at Chrysler.

They were massive cars, but they handled better than most Detroit iron because they had a torsion bar suspension—high tech for the times. They also had plenty of torque thanks to a 392 hemi under the hood, so mom could definitely collect speeding tickets on the way to school. The Town and Country was also a high-end car and the retail price reflected it—a Plymouth owner was definitely in another zip code. Sadly, very few of these classics are still around thanks to their durability in demolition derbys.    

They came, they went and they hauled millions of kids to a lot of fun events—that’s why they are so important to automotive history. 

Jerry Sutherland

By: Jerry Sutherland

Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post,  Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.

Exit mobile version