There was only a short period of time in the late 70s I can recall when we didn’t have a station wagon. My dad derived great utility from them. With a V8 engine, we could comfortably tow a pop-up camper trailer across the country on summer vacations. With the high rear roof and the fold-down rear seat, there was far more cargo capacity than a sedan, and he used it for hauling all manner of things - anything from plywood/drywall sheets for home improvement projects, to landscaping materials, to massive loads of firewood. At the same time, to him a station wagon seemed a bit more urban than a pickup truck - something he felt comfortable using to commute to his job or take us all out to a nice dinner. He always bought used cars, and the lower prices made it feasible for him to swap them out every five years or so - but it was always with another station wagon.
Mom’s car varied over the years, but it was generally a mid-size V6 sedan of some sort. My brother was given one of these when he went off to college, and some years later when I went to college, I was given its successor.
In my earliest years, we had a Chevy Nova. Don’t know the year but something early 70s. In 1979, when I was six, we got a Ford Thunderbird and that was the family car through my memorable childhood.
The first car I remember was a 1949 Pontiac Chieftain four door sedan. In 1959, we got a brand new Dodge Sierra station wagon. Then in 1967, we got a Chevrolet Caprice station wagon, followed by a 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon, which was our family car until I left for college in 1975.
We had a 1968 Galaxie 500 hardtop, gold with black vinyl top and black interior. My two sisters bickered in the back seat and I would sit in the front, between my parents, directly in front of the huge ashtray – which was in constant use. The lap belt for “my” position in the middle had been lost (??) and I would use the driver’s shoulder belt, which was a separate belt suspended from the ceiling which we passed behind my dad’s back. Monaural AM radio only. The car had seat covers that slowly turned from black to dark purple, as these things do, so when my dad sold the car after 10 years / 100000 miles the original seats underneath looked new.
Voted 4 door sedan. We had A Olds Vista Cruiser. Had little sky windows in the roof.We got a Ford sedan when I was in high school.
I had forgotten the Olds is actually a station wagon. We never carried a bunch of kids in it. AFAIK I only rode securely seat belted on the bench seat. The back was for carrying bags of groceries or luggage on trips.
My dad drove a vw bug for several years and then a vw square back.
Those would have been considered mid-sized sedans, and maybe even compact cars.
A full-size sedan would have been the size of the Ford Galaxie/Chevrolet Impala, a mid-size sedan the size of the Ford Fairlane/Chevy II, and a compact car the size of the Ford Falcon/Chevrolet Corvair (although I have seen the Falcon and Corvair described as subcompacts - such were the perceptions of the time).
I grew up with full-size four-door body-on-frame sedans, with the smallest V8 that could be ordered. Enormous luggage compartments that could take all of the items when moving to a college dormitory.
Interesting how times have changed. The cars that are closest to those full-size sedans are now some of the larger electric vehicles from newer manufacturers. It will be interesting to see if the pendulum ever swings back and people go away from trucks and back to large full-size sedans again.
My father changed cars every couple of years, the two that have stuck in my mind are the SEAT 1430
and the SEAT 131 (in orange! those were the 70s. The horror! The horror!)
two cars that should never have been used to travel from Madrid to Bavaria (and back) but nonetheless were. Repeatedly. Those were three long days.
I voted other, not sure those were really cars.
My mother had a 50s VW Beetle, but the long trips were never made with that one. But they said they went to Germany too with that one before I was born! The sound was groovy, and it did not even have a radio!
In 1982 plus or minus a year, my parents got their first car, a nice burgundy 2-door Chrysler Plymouth Reliant. It was a good car, but after only a few years, my father ignored a warning light and AFAIK ended up destroying the engine.
My parents then leased to buy a beige Ford Tempo L, a classic lemon of the 1980s. For five years, we had nothing but trouble with that car. In the end, my father was driving it and something happened like the wheelbase coming loose! (That is at least what I think I remember happening).
My parents’ next car, bought used in 1991, was a light brown Buick Electra, I think from 1984, with a faux leather back of the cab and dark brown seats. I loved that car. It was a big V8, almost a limousine. Shortly after, they additionally bought a slightly newer green Oldsmobile Delta. My father drove the former and my mother the latter. Those cars served us quite well. They sometimes needed repairs but were a far cry from the Tempo.
When these wore out, my parents bought a used Mercedes. It was quite cheap and had likely been stolen at some point as the VIN number was removed or scratched out. They drove it for a number of years, and then bought a light green Hyundai Elantra, the most basic model they could get without bells and whistles. My father still drives it but it’s coming along. As I learned to drive in my mid-late 30s, this is the only one of these cars that I have driven, when I was last in Canada.
My dad bought a new ‘52 Nash that turned out to be a serious lemon. Nash replaced the car for him and Dad bought a new Nash or Rambler every two or three years until they went out of business.
We took many road trips in those cars, sleeping on the fold-down seats that turned into a full sized bed. My first car was a ‘63 Rambler that I bought for $300 in 1967; the fold-down seats were a big plus in my hippie days.
I voted full-size sedan but I think the Ramblers may have been considered ‘compact’ cars??
At various times we had either a full-sized sedan or station wagon. As the kids got older and went off to college they went to a mid-sized sedan and eventually a compact. But until I was in high school we always had either a big sedan or a big station wagon.
My dad went through a lot of vehicles, but the one I remember getting transported around in the most was a big old station wagon. I always got stuck in the rear-facing seat in the back, which I hated. Always either trying to avoid, or making uncomfortable eye contact with the driver behind us at red lights. Once a city bus came up really fast behind us when we were stopped and I was sure I was going to get crushed.
When we were a family of 5, we had a red VW Bug probably a mid-60smodel. We would pack that thing for our weekends and even weeks at the cabin. Sometimes we even brought the dog and cat.
When my surprise sister came along, my dad bought a giant red station wagon. Custom Suburban sticks in my head, but not sure. It would have been an early 70s model. It looked like an ambulance.
First car was a 1954 Ford. It was the color of tomato soup. It got pretty well destroyed driving down the Alcan Highway in 1959 and my dad traded it in on a 1957 Fairlane 500 (white/blue). It had problems and that was traded for a 1960 Rambler Super (white/pink) which I drove all through high school. In 1965, when I left for college, my mother traded in the old Rambler for a 1965 Rambler American (white), since I had pretty much destroyed the old Rambler. During that time, my father decided he needed his own car and bought a 1962 Chrysler Newport (white) from a friend of his, most definitely the coolest car we ever had.
In Japan, dad had a Triumph Herald convertible. I only have a vague memory of it. Not sure when, but before the Galaxie 500 he had a gold Oldsmobile sedan. A few years after my parents divorced, dad bought a Toyota Corona Mark II wagon to replace the Ford, and a couple of years later a Toyta Hilux with a really cool Moss Para-Camper (a large tent that folded into the tonneau covers). I lived with mom, and she had a '72? Toyota Celica GT.
The sound was groovy, and it did not even have a radio!
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