1958 Chrysler New Yorker Town and Country wagon
'Are we there yet?"
When thoughts turn to vehicles of the 1950s and '60s what generally come to mind are be-chromed and be-finned sedans and convertibles, muscle cars and pony cars, but another type that defined the time - particularly for many who actually grew up in it - was the station wagon.
Countless thousands of miles were rolled up by hockey and soccer moms and dads of the day and on family vacation treks with cranky kids and camping gear vying for space in the cavernous rear compartments of the era's station wagons.
Developed from "depot hacks" that picked up passengers at railway stations, the motorized version began to become part of North American family life in the postwar years. By 1950, they could claim 3 per cent of industry sales, but that would grow to 17 per cent by decade's end as they found favour with newly suburbanized families, across a price spectrum from middle-class modest to high-class hedonistic.
A photo gallery of Dick Woodside's collection of station wagons
Dick Woodside and family made their own move to the suburbs of Mississauga in 1991 and this was followed by his acquisition of a classy 1958 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country, and no less than nine other wagons from the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '90s.
Woodside says his automotive interest developed in his earliest years. "I always played with Dinky Toys. And from the age of three or four could name every car I could see."
And while parental influence can't be blamed, it was of unwitting assistance in his high school years when he became involved in rallying, at the wheel of the family's 1972 Datsun 510.
It was purchased by his father with fuel economy rather than competition in mind, but Woodside used the 510 for rallying. "You know. Follow the instructions. Get lost. Drive through the woods sideways. It was a great rally car. Little did he know," says Woodside
Woodside went on to law school, was called the bar in 1985 and has since pursued a career in corporate and commercial law. The first car he treated himself too was a 1986 Maserati Biturbo Spyder.
His first collector car, a 1961 Cadillac convertible, might seem a bit off-camber after Datsuns and Biturbo Maseratis, but Woodside was already familiar with the model.
"I had a Dinky Toy '61 Cadillac. It didn't survive my youth very well, but I've still got it," he says. Along with a grown-up's collection of full-size, some might say positively zaftig, American cars.
"It's the unique styling of unusual cars that appeals to me, not going fast," he says, in explanation of why he's collected American heavyweights that include: the 1958 Chrysler, a 1958 Packard Hardtop, four 1961 Cadillacs, a 1965 Chrysler Newport four-door hardtop, 1967 Pontiac Catalina wagon, 1968 Chrysler Newport Town & Country wagon, 1968 Imperial Crown Convertible and a 1968 Imperial Crown Coupe.
Moving up a decade, there's a 1972 Cadillac Eldorado wagon, 1975 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon, 1976 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon, two 1977 Chrysler Town & Country wagons and a 1978 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon. Plus a 1980 Chevrolet Caprice and three mid-90s Buick Roadmaster Estates.
Woodside says he likes wagons in particular because of their rarity. "Their survival rate is very low. They tended to be used up and thrown away."
His first wagon was the 1968 Newport Town & Country, purchased from the son of the original owner. The 1972 Eldorado is a rarity as Cadillac didn't build station wagons. His is one of possibly just three converted by American Sunroof Corp. that year.
The 1975 Olds Cutlass is interesting with its clamshell tailgate, in which the rear glass slides into the roof and the lower portion into the floor.
The purchase of a pair of 1977 Chrysler wagons is illustrative of where keen enthusiasm can lead. The first was purchased with just 16,000 original miles on its odometer, and Woodside felt its low mileage should be maintained. "But it drives so nicely I decided I needed a high-mileage car I could drive around."
The 1958 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country is the elder statesman in this collection and, according to Woodside, "just has so many things going for it." Including a tenuous, possible, maybe, might have been connection to legendary actress Judy Garland.
Woodside's beautifully restored '58 is linked directly to two other famous names, however, New Yorker and Town & Country. New Yorker was first seen on a sub-series of the Imperial in 1938, becoming a unique line in '39 and surviving until 1996, for many years as Chrysler's flagship.
Town & Country was first used on Chrysler's "Woodie" wagons, sedans and convertibles, built with distinctive wooden panelled bodywork, from 1941 to 1950. The name was then used on a variety of models, including 1980s-era K-cars before it was mercifully dropped. It was reintroduced in 1990 for Chrysler's top minivan model.
Woodside's nine-passenger Town & Country would have been priced at a heady-for-1958 $5,083 (U.S.) - a Plymouth Belvedere wagon commanded just $2,973. And he figures the options - twin air conditioners, station-seeking radio, power windows and seats, power steering and brakes and a roof rack - would have added at least another $1,000.
Not surprisingly, few were made in the recession year of 1958, just 428 nine-passenger models and 735 six-passenger types.
The New Yorker had been extensively restyled in 1957 and its annual refresh for 1958 included quad headlights and, inside, the rear-facing third seat. This was also the last year for the 392-cubic-inch Hemi engine, which made 345 hp and delivered it via a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic operated by push-buttons.
Fuel economy? "I've never worked it out," says Woodside.
The car spent its early years in the Palm Springs area where Judy Garland lived and owned a Town & Country. Woodside discovered this when his car was used in a movie made about the actress in Toronto a few years ago, and the question was asked, "Do you think it was hers?"
Given the optioned-up car's sky-high price tag, Woodside says, it was obviously purchased by someone with plenty of money. "I don't know how I'd find out something like that. But it would be nifty if it had been."
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