Ford Station Wagons

[68stangcjfb]

When I was a kid, my father had a 1972 Gran Torino Squire station wagon just like this one. 351 Cleveland 2v c6. 

[98SVT - was 06GT]

My high school car was a 59 wagon 292 3 speed and Hurst shifter. Lots of Wednesday night runs at Irwindale. I broke 2nd gear 3 times. Then I found an old Borg Warner whose gears were about 1/4" wider and it never broke again.

[mark p]

Altho "I" drifted off-course for a few of our family daily drivers... have had wagons/vans/SUVs since '84 -I did have an '86 and later a '96 Taurus wagon.
Then I remembered that our Company Founder was a STRICT Ford guy... nothing but Ford Trucks (to this day) and Ford/Mercury company vehicles - many of them wagons. I remember in the 70's a line of Country Squires and Colony Parks (cars were handed down from Officers to Sales guys to multi-use fleet cars until they were used up).
I found these pix in the company archives.




(I assume that all of those wagons are Fords or Mercs)

[ChicagoChris]

Back when we 'made' things in America.

[pbf777]

     Sorry, no pictures, but our family as I was growing up had a '56 Mercury wagon, a red/red, nine passenger, with the 292 and three-on-the-tree.  My dad replaced the 292 with a like unit, but we never had anyone haul off the take-out; so maybe a decade later I dug a deep hole in the back yard, and here it became a challenge to see how deep I could go, this resulting in my having to carve out foot holds in the wall to climb out, when I finally tired I pushed it in, and covered it up.  At sometime in the future, some bulldozer driver is going to be in for a surprise!     

     Later we acquired a '60 Ford wagon, green & white with green six passenger interior, which my dad installed a 289 4V with a 4-spd.  The only problem was with the shifter sticking thru the floor the bench seat wouldn't fit, so for a while we had a concrete block to sit on, this didn't work well for me as as light as I was, when I would attempt to push the clutch in, all that happened was that the concrete block (and my arse) slid back!     

     Scott.

[Side-Oilers]

My high school car was a 59 wagon 292 3 speed and Hurst shifter. Lots of Wednesday night runs at Irwindale. I broke 2nd gear 3 times. Then I found an old Borg Warner whose gears were about 1/4" wider and it never broke again.

What were the ETs?

[kjspeed]

My folks owned a 1970 Country Sedan that looked just like this one. That is the car that I took my driver's test in. During a blizzard in Central NY. Doing a three point turn on a back street in Fulton with snowbanks on either side was challenging!

Fast forward a couple years and as I was leaving the McDonald's where I worked I wanted to show off for a buddy. I backed the car up, put her in neutral while it was still rolling backwards, nailed the gas and dropped it in drive. I laid down about 6" of rubber before the u-joint broke. A lady customer, trying to be helpful, looked under the car and said - "The same thing happened to me. All you need to do is get a coat hanger and tie it up!" Umm, no lady. That ain't gonna work this time. Fortunately the McDonald's was only about 200 yards from the K-Mart Automotive where dad had just gotten the u-joints replaced, so me and my friend pushed it over there. Dad gave them hell for using low quality cheap u-joints and had them replace it for free. The mechanic told him that he had only seen that happen before with drag racers. When dad came home with the car he asked me if I had been drag racing. No, technically I wasn't drag racing! I never did tell him what really happened although I think he had a pretty good idea. Fun times!

She served our family well until she rusted out. We were on our way back from a camping trip a few years later towing a pop-up camper when all of a sudden we heard a terrible scraping sound. The trailer hitch had rusted loose from under the bumper and was only held on by the two forward bolts through the (rusty) frame. We were still 50 miles from home so my dad dug out a length of nylon rope from the camper, jacked the tongue of the trailer back up and proceeded to lash the hitch to the luggage rack. We made it home no problem.

One other memory; after purchasing the car (new) my parents took it back several times for a weird "humming" noise that occurred at speed. The dealer never could figure it out. Dad finally figured out that it was the hollow tubes of the luggage rack that was making the noise. So one Saturday I helped him take it apart, plug the end of each tube with duct-seal compound and fill them up with sand. Worked like a charm!

[Rodster-500]

This post is one of the most coolest reads/pictures!!! Thank you!

Stationwagon Awesome Auto Club

[mark p]

Back when we 'made' things in America.

We're still at it... the Company has now been in business for 75 years (name changed in the mid-60's)... but no more Ford "wagons" (one Explorer and one XL-XT Transit tho)

[98SVT - was 06GT]

My high school car was a 59 wagon 292 3 speed and Hurst shifter. Lots of Wednesday night runs at Irwindale. I broke 2nd gear 3 times. Then I found an old Borg Warner whose gears were about 1/4" wider and it never broke again.

What were the ETs?

Best I ever got was 16.2. Couldn't break into the 15s. About 80-85 mph.

[69mach351w]

@kjspeed

Such a cool story

K-Mart Automotive was busting back in the day!!  We had one here locally, 6 bays and a huge front office/waiting room. Even had a "Hernia-set" for a TV in the waiting room

The building is still there and has been since it closed some 20+/- years ago. Me and late Dad-in-Law done a lot of our business there. Tires, batteries.

The Good 'ol days for sure.

[TOBKOB]

My high school car was a 59 wagon 292 3 speed and Hurst shifter. Lots of Wednesday night runs at Irwindale. I broke 2nd gear 3 times. Then I found an old Borg Warner whose gears were about 1/4" wider and it never broke again.

Just curious, what ET did the 30/31 coupe next to you turn???   

TOB

[6s341]

This used to be in the stable...351 Cleveland, 4 barrel, shaker hood, etc.

[557]

This used to be in the stable...351 Cleveland, 4 barrel, shaker hood, etc.

.  That thing is yummy....

[JD]

This used to be in the stable...351 Cleveland, 4 barrel, shaker hood, etc.

That thing is yummy.... 8)

Ditto!!