Pontiac Catalina Studebaker Wagonaire Mercury Colony Park

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos that appear with this week’s column. I took the photos from a grainy video of family movies from the 1960s, so the images are quite blurry. And dear to my heart.

My Uncle Eric spent weeks last winter piecing together fragments of footage from mostly unlabeled rolls of Super 8 film that he has kept in boxes that have been moved around the country with him over the years.

Now that he was retired, he had time to open the boxes. The video he made with our relatives from 1958 to the mid-1960s is a treasure. The hairstyles! The beautiful sheath dresses! Everyone drinks and smokes! So much dancing – my grandma does the twist!

And the cars – almost all station wagons. Except for Uncle E’s 1957 navy blue Chevy with white trim, which is parked in the driveway in the background.

The footage showed several scenes of family members driving away from family gatherings over Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Children and adults pile into the station wagons, which were filmed as they disappear into the distance. Everyone waves. I’m the little girl with long brown hair in the backseat.

Can anyone identify the two cars in my family photos? The white one is a Ford, and the darker one is a Pontiac, I think. Year of construction unknown.

Watching this family film made me think of station wagons, which at the time were the main mode of transportation for families with more than a few kids to cart around. Nowadays you don’t see many of them on the road anymore. Blame the advent of the minivan in the 1980s for that.

I’ve owned a few minivans. But my first car was a blue 1968 Pontiac Catalina station wagon, so I like that way of traveling. Because there was so much space, my friends always wanted me to ride. We pooled our dollars for gas money and off we went.

More cart memories: Family story about a 1949 Ford Woodie station wagon in the desert

Enough about me. This column is mainly about Andy Kluender’s station wagon memories. Unable to find any photos of these family station wagons of yesteryear, he dug up one circa 1970 of his father’s Studebaker wagon.

Kluender’s first car was a Mercury station wagon.

“Most station wagons were quite worn out by the time they were traded or sold, meaning they were affordable first cars,” the man from Bedford explained. “Mine was a 1966 Mercury Colony Park, complete with a chrome roof rack and simulated wood grain panels on the side. I brought it home in 1979 for $100.

It was exactly the right car for him. “One of my first jobs was delivering Sunday newspapers to customers in rural areas. Frankly, most of the money I made went straight into the gas tank, as the 390 cubic inch V8 could only squeeze 12 to 25 miles out of a gallon of gas.

Two years later he sold the car. “I discovered that the frame rails over both rear wheels were mostly rusted. The guy who bought it wanted a big old car for a demolition derby.

Kluender couldn’t muster the courage to attend the event. “I’m sure the old girl folded like an accordion after the first hit from behind.”

Like me, Kluender grew up taking family vacations in a station wagon. “Without air conditioning, my father preferred to drive at night because it was cooler. He folded down the backseat, made a bed for us kids and didn’t have to hear, “Are we there yet?”

“I remember waking up at night and seeing my father’s face in profile, illuminated by the dashboard lights as we sped down the highway. I had no idea where we were going, but I knew we were making good time.

Two station wagons from his youth stand out in his memories: a 1966 Studebaker Wagonaire and a 1969 Volkswagen Squareback.

Probably long gone and rusted, these wagons would be highly prized today. Even my ’68 Pontiac would be worth something.

“Station wagons are now fetching a lot of money in the collector car market,” Kluender said, “since so many of us have great memories of them and so few have survived.”

Do you have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact My Favorite Ride reporter Laura Lane at [email protected] or 812-318-5967.

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