What is it about your wagon

that you like best? The one thing that makes you excited to own this car? The other day I was out driving Lil Sis...just drivin, not even sure where I was going but at one point I looked over my left shoulder to check for traffic so I could pass the car ahead and there over my shoulder was the rest of this cute little wagon. It just gave me a thrill. I really like the look of this little Olds from the outside but for some reason it just makes me excited when I look at it from the inside...nutty huh?
With Fannie it's the grill, I love that grill. Don't get me wrong I really like the look of the rest of her but that grill....

So what is it about your car that gets you revved up?

 

To me, mine represents pure Americana. Representation of a bygone era. Not only the iconic full-size, body-on-frame, V8 wagon aspect but the fact that it's an orphan with Olds having been killed off. I was one of the last generation of kids that literally grew up in the family wagon so it's my own, personal time machine.

 

I've always thought GM did an excellent job of designing those A-body wagons. For one thing, they didn't rush it to production. The coupe and sedan A-bodies came out in model year '82. The wagons were not brought out until '84. The design is neat, simple and straight-forward. No complicated 'sky-roofs' or special wagon-only features. Just a slight slant of the back glass to give it some pizzazz. Wouldn't mind having a 6000 SE to keep my Way Back Machine company....


Now, what do I like the best about the Way Back Machine?

I think it's just the general feeling it gives me - takes me back to a simpler time. In 1981, when my wagon was built, I was married for 7 years, still no kids, and we had just bought our first house in Orange. Pretty happy times......

 

Freedom!
The ability to jump into her and move seemingly into another dimension by simply piloting her many miles away in only a few minutes.


That.... and the 8-track player.
Nothing like Queen cranked up while cruising the two-lane.

But mostly the freedom.
And the Cal Custom valve covers.
And the hula girl on the dash.



What was the question?

 

No window frames and purchased from the original owner.

 

Pure comfort. I'm 6'6" and (back then when I owned my CP) 380 lbs. With the 8-way power seat and seatback adjustment lever, I could set the seat exactly the way I wanted it for long-distance driving. After that, with the fact I really used the wagon, the fact I could convert the rear seat for a bigger cargo floor. The most interesting load I carried? A Ford 400 V8. You should've seen me trying to load and unload it; it required the use of my little floor jack on the rear axle to lift one side to allow the cherry picker and load in. Dented the s#!t out of the storage doors.

 

I have to agree with Silver's comment. Pure comfort!! It's the "Ford Ride" like you're on a cloud along with the comfortable seats for long hauls and the large cargo space in the "back-back" as the kids used to call it. I knew that this car would hold up well over the years, and it has. Not like my 1983 AMC Concord that literally fell apart in 5 years. 1988-1989 was the time just before Ford's self destruction of the Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car starting in 1991-1992 with plastic valve covers, underpowered engines, and cheap interiors.

The Mercedes E320 was bought used. I could have never afforded it new!! It was a very solid car and was close the size of the AMC we had owned before. Better gas mileage, easy hatchback access to the cargo space, and a safe car for the wife. Although enormously expensive to maintain properly as compared to an American car, it has held up very well and is still in service.

 

The Beateor..... Because I have only found one other and ironically it's in my city.

The Olds..... Because I am the second owner

The Buick..... It was FREE!

 

THIS is what I love about my wagon. Best trip car EVER!

 

We know how your wagon has been used for your family trips, and how it has been instrumental in bringing two families together. I think you win on this topic. I think that more than anyone else here, you are living the station wagon life that so many of us remember from our childhoods (in the days before minivans and SUVs ruled the road).

 

But what do you like about your wagon(s)?

 

I don't have the wagon that a lot of you on here have - I have a little VW Passat Wagon. Today I picked my kids up from school in it and we headed to the ocean for the weekend. It holds all our stuff, bikes, kids' toys and everything. It is so dependable. I drove it down to the beach as far as it would go and we joined other families in having a bbq and all the kids playing in the sand. What more can you ask for?

 

As for the Mercury, it's a nice-riding car IMHO. It also encourages me to drive like an old man.

I know mine doesn't have a trailer hitch, but I can add one in a pinch to tow small loads. I can stick luggage on the roof, tow something and haul seven or eight passengers at once in it. (Granted, I need to drive safely in such a situation! No cockiness!)

 

You all are probably tired of hearing about this since I've mentioned it many times before, but what I truly love about my wagon is the family connection.

My Grandfather purchased my wagon new. It's been in the family for 50 years. I know others have mentioned the time machine aspect and I agree 100% When I get behind the wheel of the Fury and turn on the AM radio it's like a time warp. I am cruising down the road in a car that has hauled four generations of Orthmanns around, listening to the same music come through the same speakers. It's in the feel of the pushbutton transmission that I touch and my Father touched and my Grandfather before him. The same one someday my sons will. It's in the smells. The smell of the interior, which is lived in, and the scent of the engine when it gets warm. It's in the sounds like the one of that annoying exhaust tick that you hear at idle that has been there as long as I can remember. These are all things that everyone else has experienced that I can share in.

I see old family photos with the car in it. There are so many stories, good and bad, that I have a tangible connection with. My car is life. It has been present in so many experiences in my family that our story can't be told without it.

Sure, it's functional. A wagon can do things no other car can. I love that. But ultimately what I love about it is way more than function or even fashion (though it is a beautiful thing) It's family.

How's that Fannie?

 

Very well said Mr. OrthmannJ!!!