Had a '63 4x4 Carryall when I was in the Army. A PO wrecked it and had it repaired in Mexico. We called it the Bondo Buggy for obvious reasons. Sold it to a room mate that had the same last name so we transferred it from father to son to save on transfer fees and no smog check. Luckily the statue of limitations is long gone on that.
Hello, When my wife and I got married, we had gone camping several times. Each time outdoors, we slept in the back of our 65 El Camino. We always had a free space to unroll the air mattresses and roll out our giant sleeping bag. Actually it was two matching sleeping bags zipped into one, but was easier to roll up each bag separately for storage and tie downs. After many outdoor sleepovers, we came to the decision that waking up “wet” was no longer in the cards. Most of our camping trips were at barren beach areas and the night time mist and fog usually crept up and covered everything, including 2 twenty somethings deep under cover. If I stuck out my head for a night time view of the stars, it was wet in a few minutes. Whether it was the salt air rolling in or just the general mist, the moisture was daunting. My wife was always under the covers to prevent the moisture from a dreaded “hair” attack. So, we decided to look into a station wagon. Jnaki But, our liking of old hot rods and having a daily driver that is different than the blobs from the factory played a big part of our decision. Our friend had a two door new Chevy sedan. It was not your obvious 55-57 or even a 58 Chevy sedan. What was there was almost unrecognizable. But, he and his wife were happy with the large heavy looking, driving lane hog. We looked for a woody station wagon, being involved in coastal activities and found several that fit our budget. But, due to circumstances, not taking a load of cash to the for sale woody and it being a Saturday, when banks were closed back then, a nice 283 powered 46 Ford Woody was gone. So, we ended up with a 327 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery that at first, looked finished. But after a long road trip home, it definitely was a project that needed tons of safety upgrades, including total front suspension work. So, for the next 5 or so months, work progressed until it couldn’t. The friend who has been doing all of our mechanical updates and suspension daily drivers since 1958 moved his business to the big OC close by to our house. Now, he took over and the 327 powered sedan delivery became a great daily driver and it had A/C to boot. My wife always had first choice to drive the sedan delivery and not her own 62 Corvair. Eventually, the Corvair was given to her uncle, that was happy it started up and drove. He was not picky. The Suburban we also looked at was very nicely done and we almost bought it. But, upon measuring it top to bottom, it would not fit in the small apartment garage. Even if we put on some low profile tires. We did not want it to sit outside in the salt air attack every day and night, so goodbye nice, large Suburban. Note: The next time we saw a nice Suburban was when our son was staying at the local house down the street for a short while during a time when my wife and I were away for a day. The owner had a 1962 model of Suburban as their family daily driver. The husband put in tons of extra seat belts as the kids piled into the back area for seating. YRMV In the years following, that family went through a series of newer Suburbans for their family vehicle, but always had a ton of seatbelts for additional passengers. They were Suburban owners for life... Recently, we drove by the old neighborhood. Out in front of their house was another newish Suburban sitting nicely in the driveway. But, we knew they could park the Suburban inside of their remodeled garage and ADU new construction above. A larger garage door was in the cards for that family, as well as a new larger opening and huge cross beam.
Little known fact about licensing suburbans, two states, Maine and New York required suburban license plates. New York was from the twenties until about mid fifties. The New York plate had "SU" or "SUB" vertically on the left side of the plate and then the numbers. The Maine suburban plate simply had a circle, not a letter "O'' or a zero, just a circle on the side. Woodies were considered suburban so I found a "SUB" plate and had it restored for my '46 Station Wagon.
The Jalopy Journal
