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23 Photos From The 60s Prove That Station Wagons Were The Coolest Cars Ever
There is no doubt that the 60s were one of the most aesthetically pleasing eras in human history. From clothing and music to technology, everything looked like it came straight from a movie. Even now, many of us enjoy having a look at vintage photos and imagining what life was like more than 50 years ago.
One of the iconic creations from 60s was the station wagon – a car that was able to fit the entire family and looked more like a limo than your ordinary car. Also, nobody had to wear seatbelts!
Scroll down to see what life was like when you were able to fit a kitchen in your car!
More info: Vintage Everyday
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#1
Ruth Beaty 7 years ago
My dad built something similar for the back of our Suburban, which replaced the pink and white Rambler Stationwagon, lol!
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#2
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#4
Diver Driver 7 years ago
My dad had one as a loaner he took a bunch of friends an me for popcorn
Crouching_Penn_Hidden_Teller@yahoo.com 7 years ago
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Kathy Balestrieri 3 years ago
We had the Ford Country Squire wagon, solid white, no wood panels, rear facing seat.
Kyle Stan 4 years ago
We had the Dodge Coronet, the intermediate model, the back seat had a floor well that as a small kid could sleep comfortably on the way home. With the seats folded the large/intermediate MOPAR's could hold full plywood sheets. 9-Passenger wagons with comfort.
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Louise Brigance 7 years ago
Das Boot...those things were so hard to drive and God Forbid you had to parallel park. Backing up was a almost as bad as parking.
Kyle Stan 4 years ago
I drove a full size Plymouth Fury and it might have been a battle cruiser but drove and handled great.
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Sean Pierson 5 years ago
how many kids fell out of these shitty gas guzzling beasts? and died duh!
#5
Bob Collins 7 years ago
This was so great! Seat belts? We didn’t need no stinkin’ seat belts! Lots more fun if you could move around. And we didn’t need them. The cars were built to withstand a nuclear explosion; plus we could trust our parents to drive safely. We all did finer, whiner!
Anggi Angkasa 7 years ago
Are you they are not just the cartoon cut up board in human size?
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Thomas Golian 3 years ago
No way shape or form should the government dictate what you do in a private vehicle outside of drinking alcohol
#6
Aunt Messy 7 years ago
Totally unrealistic. No one's thrown up because of motion sickness and the kids aren't killing each other.
B Hernandez 7 years ago
Ah, the memories! Kids playing carelessly as they travel the highways, sitting in the safety of the rear end crash crumple zone.
Kirsten Kerkhof 7 years ago
My parents drove an Austin Montego in the 1990 and we had one of these seats. It was great to interact with other drivers (in good and bad ways, depending on our mood). Very cramped once you got to a certain age though ...
Monika Soffronow 7 years ago
Two very blonde Swedish kids from Älvsborgs län, close to Gothenburg, in another Saab 95. (I googled it) They must be around sixty years old now. Safety-think wasn`t thunk back then the way it is today! ;-)
#7
diane a 7 years ago
So sad to see - not one of them is happy at where they are going or why - not even the dog
C. Wilson 7 years ago
I know why... We all god car sick in the back. Remember,most everybody's vacation was by car. We went from Long Beach Calif a couple times during the summer and every kid of the era said one thing regularly... "Are we almost there?"
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diane a 7 years ago
sod the poor car - look at the poor kids - and the dog- that is a photo of pure misery and the rocking chair on top just says it all
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Milt Heger 2 years ago
We had 2, identical, used, 4 door '59s in blue. I still have the radios. LOVED those cars! Something special happened to me in one. ;) Better yet, HER idea. ;)
Wyatt Bridger 3 years ago
I liked that at first, then I realized they weren't going on vacation. Good pic, though.
#8
B Hernandez 7 years ago
I see why mfr was able to avoid mandatory seat belt legislation for decades. The common sense arguement that you didn't need seat belts, not if you gripped tightly with at least one hand to the roof rack.
#9
Jenný Samúelsdóttir Herlufsen 7 years ago
"Alright Joseph, you stay in the trunk so the groceriebag won'the fall on the side"
B Hernandez 7 years ago
She brought along a vacuum cleaner in the back just in case the darlings might make a little mess.
#10
BusLady 7 years ago
Nowadays, all these kids would have their noses in a device. Scenery, what scenery?
Sam Wilson 7 years ago
I always had my nose buried in a book on trips. Now I have books on my phone. The delivery is different but the result is the same!
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Connie Martin 7 years ago
Was this one of the models on which you could swing the tailgate to the side OR down? I remember thinking that was like magic!
John Ashley 7 years ago
Yes. I think all U.S. automakers had them at one point.
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April Simnel 7 years ago
Is this a Ford wagon? If so, then my maternal grandfather had this one for toting stuff to his hobby farm (and for when he went boating, fishing and hunting). He also had a Caddy for some reason (I suspect ego and bragging rights!), and a Buick as his "everyday" car. He wasn't rich, he just had a really good job in the auto industry from the 40s-70s and was good with his money. I remember riding in the back of the wagon with my cousins to Lake Michigan when we were really little.
#12
Monika Soffronow 7 years ago
This Saab photo is from somewhere around Gothenburg. There is an incredible amount of Swedes that have their own boat. Lucky kids.
#13
Night Owl 7 years ago (edited)
Looks like the safety standards were really lax back then. (the baby etc.)
Tony Moon 7 years ago
The dash board was made of metal. The seat-belts only existed in the front seat and those were optional (notice there are no shoulder harnesses at all? Its not that the safety standards were lax, its that they didn't exist.
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M O'Connell 7 years ago
Especially since people drove conservatively back then! Turns were slow and deliberate (bias-ply tires could only handle so much without screeching), top-speeds were limited (remember 3-on-the-tree?), and drum brakes only gave you the 'notion' of stopping.
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#15
Carol Emory 7 years ago
Or mash the accelerator! Little Billy's going to go sliding out with the paint....
Load More Replies... Donna Reynolds 7 years ago
No safety concerns whatsoever. We are lucky we made it out of the 60's alive.
John Everett 7 years ago
It's ok, there is a bit of red cloth on the long plank. Did you notice dad's hair has turned gray already?
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Sam Wilson 7 years ago
My dad still has a 68 rambler rebel with the rumble seat in the back ❤️
MBZ MetalsmithArtist 7 years ago
I had a 56 Rambler 4door sedan with the continental wheel pack. Try tone blue and chrome. Sold it when I realized I couldn't afford to keep it running safely. Every few years I see her driving around town...looking great...so I'm glad she's being treasured but wish I never sold
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Spider Webb 2 years ago
We had a chocolate colored Rambler station wagon. I do not know the type. We would go to drive-in movies with us little kids in the back with pillows and blankets. The best was going to picnics and use the tailgate down for a table or even a seat. We went on trips to Florida all the way down south in the back. When we moved to the Va Peninsula we went to Va Beach and used the back tailgate for, again, the picnic table. Mom knew how to pack a great picnic. What precious memories we had. I was sad to see it go but one day driving past a parking lot I saw it. I knew bc it had the RoadRunner sticker on the Wagon rear window!! I was happy it was still used. WE SURVIVED AND YES, PEOPLE DIDN'T DRIVE AS FAST. 😂❤️❤️❤️
Rose the Cook 7 years ago
Magenta, I miss the colours of cars of the 60s and 70s. Todays colours tend to be so bland and boring.
#17
Donna Longhurst 3 years ago
Definitely NOT the sixties. More like National Lampoon's Holiday from the 90's
Gabrielle Woodard 3 years ago
I have an 81 Pontiac Catalina safari wagon! It’s been in our family for 31 years. My mom gave it to me right before she passed earlier this year. Great car, so many memories ❤️
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#19
Bobby Whittemore 7 years ago
'58 Fairlane Country Squire....Man, would I love to have that! Wonder if it came in a 3-door?
Kyle Stan 4 years ago
Great place to make a person...........save money on a motel.............
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#20
Amanda Wilson 7 years ago
I remember when I was little we used to ride in the back of the truck.
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phil blanque 7 years ago
Yeah...I remember a trip to Colorado in a station wagon in the 60's. Surely not completely safe, but GREAT!! Bingo in the back, coloring books.....Wonderful!!
Lulu Huffington 7 years ago
We used to drive from NWIndiana to Michigan in my dad's pickup to pick strawberries for tons of jam. About 5-8 of us. Lawn chairs stacked in a corner of the truck bed with probably 10+ 5 gallon buckets. We would pick strawberries all day long and on the way back the lawn chairs would be set up with us all sitting on them in the truck bed with the buckets, filled to the top, under our seats. Best time of my life. Everyone waved. Kids were jealous of us. Truck drivers honked when they passed. Good memories. The jam was awesome too.
Load More Replies... #21
Something Special: A Wartburg Camping Wagon - Made In The Gdr.
Final score:
10points
Alan Townend 2 years ago
This was worth waiting 13 years for, they are worth a great deal of money now. I love things that I can fix!
Constantin George-Florin 7 years ago
As a person living in a former communist country, I can state (without being afraid of making a false statement) that people in the GDR did not do a lot of "camping" trips. Despite the name, the German Democratic Republic was anything but democratic, as its people were under a twofold dictatorship: the Soviet influence and the GDR leaders (that were no more than dictators, ruling with an iron fist called the STASI). For the regular GDR citizen, buying an automobile meant applying for it, getting their name on a waiting list (even that was difficult and required being "connected"), paying for it and then waiting between 5 and 13 years for an automobile such as a Trabant or a Wartburg. The "camping Limousine" was most likely manufactured in no more than 1000 units. America had it great since the '50s, Eastern Europe... not so much.
Stefan_Berlin (Submission author) 7 years ago
Although your explanaination about the difficulties of buying (or applying for) a car are accurate, I see a bit too much negativism here. Actually, camping was a widespread way of spending vacations and/or weekends in the GDR and in other countries of the former east block. But it's the revoulutionary concept of the car what I was actually trying to point out here: In a time, when most west-German station wagons used to be more or less poorly equipped delivery vans with windows, the manufacturers in the GDR succeeded to build a lifestyle-car here - which was produced in nearly 9000 units.
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#22
John Ashley 7 years ago
Studies and tests have shown this position is actually safer in head on collisions. Lack of seatbelts, however, is another thing.
Load More Replies... B Hernandez 7 years ago
The crash test dummies were not born yet. Detroit had to settle for the human type to keep development costs down. They made safety design changes only after long bouts of litigation and their political cover dried up. Remember the Corvair?
Milt Heger 2 years ago
Nothing wrong with Corvairs except for Mr. Nobrain on any speed. :p
Load More Replies... Bob Collins 7 years ago
...and where they can enjoy themselves and not be pestered by nosey adults.
Eric Baker 7 years ago
Where I got my sex education from the neighbor's kid on long trips....lol
#23
1960 Chevrolet Station Wagons
Final score:
7points
Marcel Scuderi 2 years ago
We had one of those in a metallic brown and white top with roof racks. Loaded for the day I suppose. Loved the look.
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What do you think ?
Krystine Patterson 7 years ago
No wonder the road deaths per year back then was in the tens of thousands. "Also, nobody had to wear seatbelts!", isn't something to be proud of. Seatbelts came in to try to stop children becoming human missiles when the car suddenly stopped. Cool pics though.
inkey2 6 years ago
The last time I went car shopping I vowed it would be a station wagon because I knew these cars were vanishing. I bought a 2005 Mercury Sable Station wagon used in 2012. The car was fully equipped for 2005....leather seats every option possible for that year. I still have the car and sadly the Massachusetts winters are starting to take a toll on it.
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Aunt Messy 7 years ago
It was the '60s. The only seat belts were in the front, and they were only lap belts anyway.
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RaroaRaroa 7 years ago
Oooh, they had SO much space in the back. We just upgraded our 2009 station wagon and it was very hard to find a newer one with a decent amount of space in the back. They've made the space shorter, and the back door slopes more steeply, cutting of the height. The side windows are tiny. "Everyone wants SUVs now" one salesman said. No, not everyone. I think its' ridiculous that people drive those things around suburbia. They're so damn big I don't know how you wash the roof. :-) You can't see past them when reversing out of an adjoining parking space. Cars in general are so much bigger now that parking spaces laid out years ago aren't wide enough anymore. We found a stationwagon in the end, but the dog can only just stand upright in the back without banging her head and she's only a medium sized dog.
Kenny Kulbiski 7 years ago
How can this be "vintage?" Doesn't vintage mean old ? Oh. Never mind.
Aunt Messy 7 years ago
When I was a kid, we had a 1967 Chevy Belair station wagon in Lemans blue. It pulled a 17 foot Scamper travel trailer all over North America for years and was only retired in 1976 after it rusted apart in little chunks. ...///... The bodies of those cars were horrible, but that simple, twit-proof 350 cu" engine never died. It's one of the best engines ever made in North America.
Krystine Patterson 7 years ago
No wonder the road deaths per year back then was in the tens of thousands. "Also, nobody had to wear seatbelts!", isn't something to be proud of. Seatbelts came in to try to stop children becoming human missiles when the car suddenly stopped. Cool pics though.
inkey2 6 years ago
The last time I went car shopping I vowed it would be a station wagon because I knew these cars were vanishing. I bought a 2005 Mercury Sable Station wagon used in 2012. The car was fully equipped for 2005....leather seats every option possible for that year. I still have the car and sadly the Massachusetts winters are starting to take a toll on it.
Load More Replies... Aunt Messy 7 years ago
It was the '60s. The only seat belts were in the front, and they were only lap belts anyway.
Load More Replies... RaroaRaroa 7 years ago
Oooh, they had SO much space in the back. We just upgraded our 2009 station wagon and it was very hard to find a newer one with a decent amount of space in the back. They've made the space shorter, and the back door slopes more steeply, cutting of the height. The side windows are tiny. "Everyone wants SUVs now" one salesman said. No, not everyone. I think its' ridiculous that people drive those things around suburbia. They're so damn big I don't know how you wash the roof. :-) You can't see past them when reversing out of an adjoining parking space. Cars in general are so much bigger now that parking spaces laid out years ago aren't wide enough anymore. We found a stationwagon in the end, but the dog can only just stand upright in the back without banging her head and she's only a medium sized dog.
Kenny Kulbiski 7 years ago
How can this be "vintage?" Doesn't vintage mean old ? Oh. Never mind.
Aunt Messy 7 years ago
When I was a kid, we had a 1967 Chevy Belair station wagon in Lemans blue. It pulled a 17 foot Scamper travel trailer all over North America for years and was only retired in 1976 after it rusted apart in little chunks. ...///... The bodies of those cars were horrible, but that simple, twit-proof 350 cu" engine never died. It's one of the best engines ever made in North America.
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