My parents never owned a station wagon. We always had vans when I was a kid. But I found out recently that my grandpa on my dad's side owned several wagons in the '70s and possibly '80s. Sadly I can only find pictures of one, a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice wagon: This first photo is from a road trip to my great-aunt's house. My dad is walking next to the wagon and my grandpa is unloading it. My aunt with her bike. In the background you can see the wagon. Posing next to the wagon and their tent trailer. Circa 1975. Another shot with the tent trailer. Man, that must've been cramped! While Suburbans aren't technically station wagons, I find them pretty awesome. Here's my grandpa on my mom's side driving through some hefty snow in his second 'burban. He owned 4, his first being an Apache. I have other photos of the '73 Caprice, as well as someone's 1972 Kingswood Estate (Not sure whose it was, or I'd probably post it here) covered in snow. Including a photo of my uncle smooching his girlfriend on the hood... LOL
Great pictures. I like that blue 73 Caprice. Looks like the neighbors were into Mopars. Next door I spy a 67 Belvedere II in the driveway, and parked on the street in front f the next house down with the trunk open is a 70 Road Runner. Its hard to tell for sure but I think that maybe that red car in the driveway across the street could be a Duster.
Nice pictures. Seems like my family only took pictures of each other in groups for holidays. Photos weren't a big thing back then to them. I can't remember any wagons in the family. Now I need to do some album hunting. It always amazes me how many campers were dressed in their Sunday best while out in the boonies. I was more like the little blonde boy in my diaper. My wife finally made me stop wearing those in public campgrounds.
Absolutely love the '73 Caprice wagon! Judging by your comments and the photos, I'm guessing I'm just a couple years younger than your dad, lol. I grew up with a '76 Caprice and we too did a lot of camping in those days. Darned if I can find any of those photos, tho. Great pics a and thanks for sharing!
And there it is, proof that the 73 Caprice came in another colour other than beige! That 73 would have been exactly what I would have been looking for if it actually existed today, and I recon that it is also the first blue one I have seen come up in any thread on this forum since I have been watching so far as well. How long ago do you think this was taken? I would love to see more of this car and also the 72 you mentioned, and thanks for sharing.
My uncle, who had the pictures I posted of the '73, said most of these photos were taken around 74 and 75. The photos with the camper were taken in 75 for sure. I've only found 2 photos of the '72 Kingswood, sadly. The caption on this photo said 1977 on it. Here's the Kingswood covered in snow.
Don't quote me on this, but that picture may have been from a church camp. I don't know if you've ever been to one, but some of them have pretty strict dress code policies. I've heard of people getting kicked off the grounds for wearing the wrong thing. Sad, if you ask me.
Hey, no problem! I also love that '73 Caprice. If I could find one today (And had tons of cash laying around ) I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'm sure Dad would love it as well. Wish I could find pictures of the other station wagons my Grandpa owned.
Now that is what I call a luggage rack. You would never really ever see this in Australia in the 70's as luggage was generally just piled up in the back. Neither Holden, Ford or Chrysler ever offered the third row in any of their full sized wagons that would come up and out of the floor (the only ones I ever saw were aftermarket permanent or fixed ones) so it was just normal to pack a car like that. The only thing you really ever saw on the luggage rack was the spare wheel because the spare was lying flat in a recesses behind that back seat, and hard to get to on the side of the road, because the back was full of luggage! Also luggage (or roof) racks were not as common as you might have thought back then either.
