WHAT is WRONG with us??

Im sitting here at work reading over everyones little problems they have with their old cars, and they along with myself dont see them as problems, just "little memories" or " learning experiences" But here we are, Babying machinery, that in most instances should have been part of the heap YEARS ago . We worry ourselves sick, loose our hair, cause ulcers and cold sores over these things, and most of us cant stop with just one. I myself have 7 pains in the (_i_) and my friends think im crazy. One friend says, " You have more trouble with cars" and i tell him, "I have more cars than anyone you or i know, so its concentrated." He says, " you are always fixing things that i wouldnt worry about" and theres my point... normal people, use it, throw it away and get a new one. for whatever reason, we enjoy the punis... ugh Challenge:banghead3: of keeping these things going, wagon or not, just so the Mini-Cooper people can look down their noses at us, and gawk at the gas station and say " dayum, how much does that take to fill up?"

Or is it the little inner giggle we get while at a stop light, to our right are two gas savers, filled to the brim with 4 passengers each, lined up beside our one road hog, filled with only the driver.

 

Work at 2am? I pity you. I am going to bed. zzzzzzzz

I am on vacation this week and have done nothing but clean cars and yard work. The traveling vacation is in June when we go to South Carolina to visit relatives. Some out of town relatives are coming in tomorrow though, as we are having grandpa a big party on Thursday.

 

here 10p-630a Sun-thurs every week, and every other friday night.... oh well. that way i get stuff done during the day when all you suckers are at work.

 

When I first got my station wagon, all my friends were trying to get me to sell it off and put more towards a later model car. I was stubborn and was determined to give it a chance. It quickly started to grow on me. I still have a laundry list of things I plan to do to it. You are right. Normal people would not bother trying to keep an old car on the road. They would just rather get a new one, or at least a newer one, that requires less work. As for working the over-night shift, been there, done that, and given the right opportunity, I might consider doing it again. Perhaps I'm a little masochistic.

 

In thinking about Jase's post it brings me back to the same feelings I always have when people ask me "why a station wagon??" They ask with a look on their face like they may have just stepped in doggy doo. I never really answer with feeling...I just say "If you don't know, I can't explain it to you." Let me repost what I wrote in another thread...maybe it will expose part of what you ask.....

Wagons of our American past represent the history of America, the history of the American family and the history of Detroit. There will never be another era so loved and missed. That's what I love about this Forum. It's about the wagons....but it's more than that....it's about the times that these wagons were built and who they were built for and why they were built and how they were built. I cannot even come CLOSE to explaining how I miss those times, those people and those cars. The people here on this forum are close knit because they share all of these feelings and memories. Even the younger people here that love wagons have feelings for those times gone by. When I drive a beautiful old survivor wagon down the road I'm making a statement. The statement is that I am proud to be a member of those times that share this car's history.

And another one I posted way back....

Hey...the Station Wagon wagon, to me, is THE all American car. It brought families together, took them on journeys, took them camping and pulled whatever necessary. There is no other substitute for a wagon. Most older ones came with awesome horsepower and solid frames. Want to pull your camper? No problem. Need a dozen sheets of 4 X 8 plywood? Load 'er up. Want to go cross country with the kids? Climb in. Need a place to sleep on the road? Flip down the seats & roll out the mattress. Want to blow off a bothersome kid in his "hot" car? Bury your foot in that 440, 455, 460 or whatever and say goodbye. Ride, visibility, power, utility and beauty. I love these bygone beauties and if someone wants to scoff or flip me the bird I just smile with the realization and satisfaction that they are stupid and I'm not.

SO..."What's wrong with us?" In looking back at the values of the individual, the family, the work ethic and the craftsmanship; the better question might be....."What's right with us?"

 

There were four kids in my family. My parents had wagons until both my brother and sister were out on their own.

1954 Bel Aire wagon
1959 Chevy Parkwood
1966 Bel Aire with air conditioning.

I had a
1969 VW bus
1973 Pinto Squire
1973 Gran Torino with the third seat

and now have the 82 Cougar. I loaned my truck to my son for a year and needed an adequate replacement. Since trucks were so expensive even for well overused trucks I found the wagon. It's made many a Home Depot run and filled to the roof several times. This car will haul the goods while keeping them dry at the same time. My only limitation is towing capacity being a unitbody with an 88 hp six. My intention was to use it and junk it. That was six years ago. I can't let it go although for the right price I could. I've been yearning for a Vista Cruiser for years.

SilverFox has it right. Many of us have those fond memories of cross country trips, camping and weekend outings to the beach or the mountains in our family wagon. They are in fact part of the automotive history from the late 40's to the late 80's.

I think that's what this forum is all about.

 

Jase, while we're busy fixing them, stroking on the buffing compound and wax, and shining up the real chrome that they'll never have, we're not contributing to emissions.

We can camp in them and stretch out in them, serve a family of 6 for all three meals, for 3 days (as long as the cooler works), and store the canoe on the roof.

We can pack the kids up and visit the country they'll need to love and nurture and defend. Pretty hard to do that with a virtual screendriver of what some photographer took 15 years ago.

I think we're on the right side of the reasons. We can leave the concrete jungle and rediscover road travel instead of the rat race to WallyMart and back, while they have to stay near an electrical plug to recharge it, if they remembered to plug it in.

 

They're just so darn---here's the word - "practical".
I intended to drive the crap out of the first fairmont.
Ended up buying another.

 

Succeeded with the first one, too. Cleaned out the crap from the second one. Now what?

 

Drive around and piss people off.

Ahh, edit:
Drive around real slow etc....
With Low Rider on the tunes:

 

The No Payments wagons.

 

The question I have, is whats wrong with them?

Here is how I look at it. Since I was a little guy, I always had this "thing" to find out how stuff works, to my folks displeasure, by pulling things apart. Then I got older, I got into wood shop, and then in high school autos & electronics classes.

After high school, I went to Wyoming Tech....worked on Volvos and other European cars from 1998 - 2004 as a profession.

Working on cars, its blead into other parts of my life. I don't mind putting things together or mending them when its broken. I put a 6 foot fence up in my back yard so my German Shep would have a place to run with out people bothering him. I also have put in both garage door openers in my folks house over the last few years. Most folks would pay someone to do this.

The average car owner is lucky enough to full their own fuel tank. They would be mistified if you tried to explained how their car works. Cars are slowly becoming smarter then the owner that drives them.

Why did I get into station wagons? It was 1983, I was 4 years old when I saw this....so, yea, wagons and Volvos.....my own starting point.

 

Or is it the little inner giggle we get while at a stop light, to our right are two gas savers, filled to the brim with 4 passengers each, lined up beside our one road hog, filled with only the driver.[/QUOTE]

 

FWN, We are better off for knowing how to build and do stuff. It's a lost art. It's what got us here, from the caves. Paradise includes ingenuity and we're lucky enough to know how to keep the flame burning. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima Great post. Cuts through to the nubbins.

 

Seeing that movie at 4 years old probably scarred you for life........
So your 4-year mind says that if Jason Robards can survive a nuclear holocaust in a station wagon, ........I WANT ONE OF THOSE?

It's perfectly understandable that that is the message you got out of that movie. ( You shouldn't have seen it in the first place......)

Marshall