I know rods & customs aren't supposed to be practical but I keep losing interest in projects due to my need to be practical. If I want to haul the wife and all the dogs off for a weekend somewhere a two door sedan or El Camino wasn't going to cut it. Same if I want to road trip and just crash in the car along the way. So I keep circling back to wagons. Pretty sure that will be my next project, if I decide to take another on. Doesn't seem financially practical these days. Anywho, looking for inspiration and enablement for my next terrible decision.
Great to hear from you Ron! My brother finally sold his, but he did take it on a few long trips. New owner repainted it....and put it up for sale after a little while. Maybe something to do with how impractical old cars are, even if they have long roofs
Wagons are the best! I bought my Country Squire because a car seat couldn’t fit in a Mustang and I wanted to keep doing car stuff after having kids. One weekend I drove the Country Squire to the track, made some 1/4 mile p***es, towed my buddy’s car back to the pits when it broke and then slept in the car with the seats folded down. It was a road trip car, a racecar, a tow truck and an RV all in the same day It has a 292 Yblock, AOD transmission and power disk brakes, right now I’m installing vintage air and then a posi 8.8 because I’m doing a drag and drive event this summer Here’s the video of last year’s road trip!
Shortly after joining the Hamb I drug the old Ranch Wagon out of the barn where it had sat for quite a while, I have been a long time Deuce nut but since the Wagon was completed we have put a lot on miles on the odometer. If you drive them sometimes you have breakdowns of accidents, I am in the process of repairing the damage I did in a accident but the car will be back on the road within the next couple of months. HRP And a short video done by a local reporter.
That's the type of use case I'm talking about. The chances of my wife kicking me to the curb are low, but never zero.
The best advice I can give about buying a wagon is to make sure all the wagon specific parts are there and in good condition. My Country Squire is basically the same as any other ‘54 Ford from the front doors forward, so front sheet metal, gl*** and trim are obtainable. From the front doors back everything is wagon specific, Gl***, tailgate, fuel tank, seats, sheet metal and even the rear axle is different from a coupe or sedan. I once p***ed on buying a wagon because someone had left a bag of fertilizer on the tailgate and rotted it out. The tailgate would be nearly impossible to find a replacement.
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