the name of the movie was "Stroker Ace"...I had a pet dog (boxer) that I named Stroker Ace after the movie.
As nice as the 1950s-60s station wagons were, either the little girl is gasping for clean air or is yelling to get the H$#@! out of the rear compartment. Hello, For surfers, the roll down windows of some station wagons were a perfect addition for those longboards to gently slide into the rear area with the rear seat flattened out. There were some station wagons with two people in the driver’s seat and one directly behind in the rear single seat. The longboards were level with the rear seatback and pushed all the way towards the front windshield, inside. Some of those longboards still stuck out of the open rear window, even shoved far forward. But, as we found out in our Flathead powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery, you take out the rear window so a couple of surfboards could slide in and as one goes down the street, an odd aroma begins to fill up the rear cave. The swirling exhaust is supposed to go straight back, but the design of the straight back shape or angular shape of the top and rear causes the exhaust to swirl up and around. Well, “around” means getting sucked back into the open rear window. In the case of our sedan delivery, the rear window, even with surfboards, needed extra T-shirts and towels stuffed around all of the longboards to keep the aroma of exhaust out of the cave. The wind comes over the top, slides down past the curve and joins the swirling exhaust to come back up and get sucked into the open window. As the modern station wagons needed some fancy options, one was a roll down rear window. That made loading simple as lower the window and drop a bag or suitcase inside without having to open the large lift up door. But, the designers did not do their wind tunnel tests to see what happens to the exhaust gasses and when an “outside of the industry” journalist did a test write up, it showed the gasses coming into the rear open window into the station wagon area. The gasses do not get shot directly out and back, but get caught up in the swirling winds due to the station wagon design and come right back into the open window. Not good… Jnaki We did get laughed at when we arrived at the Killer Dana Surf Spot in Dana Point. We were the only ones with surfboards stuck inside of the rear door window, which was inside in the spare tire area, safe from breakage. Plus, there were no rain channels to clip on surf rack clamps to put the longboards on top of the sedan delivery. The removable glass + rubber seal was easily removed and placed back in the opening when we left the sedan delivery. safe and secure. . . YRMV Note: Anytime a motor is involved, the exhaust is supposed to make the gasses leave and head outward. We found out that as we were in a 28 foot cabin cruiser with a single SBC motor for power, the dual exhaust was bubbling outward from the transom. But, if one sat in the decking area of the cabin cruiser, as the boat moves forward, the gases don’t always go straight out and leave the area. The square back of the boat design makes the exiting gasses shoot out and swirl around and come back up. As my wife’s dad was driving the boat, her mom and I were sitting in the enclosed cabin cruiser deck. Little did we know, but in a few minutes of moving out toward the open waters of the harbor, we were dozing off. Why? The gasses were now coming over the transom and circling around us to put us to sleep. Luckily, my wife came out of the cabin and shook us awake and we all moved to the front deck in front of the windows for direct fresh air. So, watch out, even on cabin cruiser boats. Square backs and exhausts do not always go together, although it is in the design of almost every powerboat. AND… station wagons !!!
The Jalopy Journal
