History When did Wagons become Cool Customs?

I think the real question is when did somebody realize that you didn't have to drive a coupe to be cool? Ain't the shoes that makes the man

 

Says the man with tiny feet. J/k

 

Wish! It sucks finding size 15 shoes

 

Surfer's had woody wagons as cool for the beach an in songs.
Dad in 1955 got a deal on a new car,he was looking for a work wagon. Dealer had unsold stock of 55's models,as 56's were about to come out,so hot to make a sale. Dad was asking for lowend model wagon with standard shift n 6 cyl. But only thing they had was a V8 autom. Nomad wagon , sold Dad that at same cost as cheep model.
As a teen I loved the look of that wagon,I thought it was the best car Dad had ever got. I took my drivers test in that wagon.
Turned out 265 V8 had oil leaks an smoked from the start,Dad took it back 4 times,they tried to fix,but it kept doing it,tell on the 5 return,Dealer put a new V8 in it,so it became 1955 Nomad 283 V8,that didn't leak or smoke. Plus had some power,would almost keep up with Grandads 55 Ford.
From that time I've loved wagons,and {#1 was my 28 hot rod an #2 Henry J'} my 3rd car I owned by 1964 was a used 57 Ford wagon.
I still love wagons,I now own my #18th wagon. Dodge Magnum. My very first Dodge,mostly Ford's an Merc's before.

 

For me, wagons became cool late summer of 1968 sitting in the back seat of our family hauler, a ’64 Dodge wagon in a K-Mart parking lot in Lexington, KY. I’d just scored a Revell Miss Deal funny car model and could no longer follow Mom and my 2 sisters around the store back to school shopping. It was imperative I had to open the kit and check it out. About that time a bright orange ’55 Nomad came thumping through the lot, big tires, Cragar’s with full length headers hanging down. Vivid sensory experience still, from the flashy paint (orange became my favorite color for months) exhaust note reverbing against the skin of the old Dodge and the sweet exhaust smell of Sunoco 260.

Had never looked at wagons as hot rod material until then…

 

64 EH Holden that i've used as a daily for 13 years. Brought it to Texas when we moved back from Australia, people love it.

 

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I love my wagons ( 54 was sold though )

 

1960 country sedan

 

Me likey.


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Saw this at a car show two weeks ago and was really digging on it.

 

That is or was Larry's wagon and is a true road warrior. He used to share his roadtrip photos here. From Texas to Vegas and all the stops in between. Usedto see it at all the local shows.

 

Hello,

We have always had Chevy sedans from the 1950s to 1963 in our teenage years. But, the 57 Fords always had a great look to them. From the 2 door sedans to the station wagons, with the right combination, it could have been very competitive and made a good base for a custom car or wagon. This 1957 Ford station wagon reminded me of the days of drag racing against 57 fords with those McCullogh/Paxton superchargers.

The 1957 fords had the look, but just weren’t as popular as the 57 Chevy models for the general public. both had fins, both had good powerful motors, both had good styling cues, but the Chevy was more popular and the sales showed it. (As least in our cruising grounds of Bixby Knolls.) Even though the 57 Fords had superchargers, the Chevy sedans/station wagons won out in the end.


This Ford station wagon had the style, it was just not that popular in those early days. This one has some style points like the shaved rear door handles to make it look like a 2 door wagon. The real Ford two door wagon had that awful add-on post creation that made it a two door wagon or sedan delivery, but there was no rhyme or reason for the odd looking style post.

That may have been the turning point for not being a cool custom. But the 4 door station wagon had all of the cues, it just was not that popular.

As far as two door Ford wagons are concerned, @Rocket's Hot Rod Garage did it best !!!

Throughout our teen and twenty something years, we wished we could have those American Racing 5 spoke wheels. We also liked the custom look about the 50s cars and station wagons. One early approach to your 4 door station wagon is the slope of the rear door/side panel window posts. It looks perfect, similar to the look of the two door version of the wagon, but better in design and application. The 4 door just had it designed into the swept back look. So, removing the rear door handle makes this station wagon style have its own cool look.

Jnaki

But, for as much as the current crop of custom station wagons became a pallet of cool looks and touches, the base design was created back in those 1950s. Our dad had a 57 Buick 2 door Roadmaster. Our grandfather had a 1958 Buick 4 door sedan with gobs of chrome. So, the station wagon versions of those set the pace for the modern looks of a big land yacht cruising down the road, with some custom touches to make them stand out. Plus, those big station wagons have it over the modern, big, FBI SUVs for carrying extra people and a family load of stuff.

1958 Buick wagon with Skylark Wire Wheels

It takes a little bit of reworking to make any big family cruiser into a cool custom daily driver.

 

can't answer that, but i quit watching "the mod squad" when they drove the '50 merc woody off a cliff!

 

Not exactly a “wagon”, but Tony Lafon’s ‘57 sedan delivery (which was parked at one of my neighbors this Labor Day weekend) is a CL Custom:

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I grew up ridding in my Dad's '52 Ford sedan delivery & '56 Chevy sedan delivery, later on a '63 Chevy wagon.

At that time each one was dad's work and family car, to a kid it was just transportation and later on I was driving dad's Chevy wagon hauling band equipment on the weekends, that''s when I discovered their value, but I doubt they were considered cool at that time.

Then one day some ingenious baby boomer inherited a wagon and had a cool set of wheel's laying around and many of us grew up riding in the back seat, the old Monkey see, Monkey do.

And they were plentiful and cheap, today they are desirable and getting had to find and the sure ain't cheap anymore.

I had several people question why I was building a station wagon , first it belonged to Brenda's grandmother and there was a sentimental attachment & it was the car she learned how to drive, it was also sitting in the barn so I didn't have to go out and buy a project and lastly I had recently joined the hamb, I was inspired by all the cool cars being built and I thought the wagon would be the ideal project to learn and hone my skills.

While I was building the wagon I started noticing I wasn't the Lone Ranger, there were others out there building wagon's and they were gaining in popularity, Wagon's are not everyone's cup of tea but I am sure glad I stuck with it, it was the most time consuming project I ever built. HRP

 

From BAT.

 

What's not to like! Haul the parts and sleep in the back.

 

Yep, Larry Davidson’s kool 60 wagon as mentioned above as well as Claricia Spears Nomad on the cover of @travisfromkansas calendar for 2022.

 

You are correct, the late Henry Dana campaigned a couple of cool wagons back in the 60's. HRP

 

What a beauty

 

I saw this car at Lead Aint Dead and fell in love with it. It has so many custom touches that you really have to be up close to notice. Love this wagon!

 

Since April 1956

 

Rambler wagons are so cool. My Dad had a '61 American 2door wagon for a bit. I'm sad he sold it, would've made a great sleeper.