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Actually, the old full frame, big block station wagons were used for towing travel trailers in teh '60s and '70s.
As well as other things...
We did that with our wagons. We had a small trailer and staked hay up about eight bales over the height of the sides. I think we could get 35 bales into that trailer. It did not bog down the wagons at all.
Had a 1973 Chevy Kingswood wagon with the neat "clamshell" tailgate. Back then, the standard was for a wagon to be able to haul an 8 foot piece of plywood with the tail gate closed. The same standard applied to long bed trucks and full size vans too. Whenever I see big SUVs today who can't haul 4x8 sheets or much of anything else, I laugh at how totally impractical they are and the people driving them don't even know it. Shows my age!
Yep, I have one of those behemoth wagons...
1972 Chevy Kingswood Estate (Caprice) wagon - I agree, they have tons of space!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlrl
was the Kingswood the equivalent of a Caprice wagon, or was there an actual Caprice wagon nameplate?
The Caprice wagon was called Kingswood Estate from 69-72. Yeah, as someone mentioned, from 1971-72 (and I think even in 69-70), Chevy used some additional names for their wagons... the Biscayne wagon was called Brookwood, the Bel-Air wagon was called Townsman, the Impala wagon was called Kingswood and the top level Caprice wagon was called Kingswood Estate and had woodgrain (which is the model I have).
However, starting in 1973, the wagons were simply the models, the Bel-Air wagon was simply Bel-Air, the Impala wagon was simply Impala, and the Caprice wagon was Caprice Estate.
My parents drove us around in a 1972 Pontiac Catalina Station wagon, complete with a power rear window, third row seating, and wood-panel sticker on the side. I don't think we ever towed a trailer with it, but the luggage rack on the roof which we used on vacations sure cut down the mpg. That thing lasted until 1988 or so.
I would love to have a Pontiac version, there are actually a couple on the station wagon site for sale. One guy is restoring a '71 Grand Safari.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens
Is this a math story problem?
My answer is: If you drive a 1970s Chevy wagon with a 350 or 400 (forget which - a big v-8 anyway).
lol, yeah, they had different ones in addition to those, mine has a 402, but a 454 was also optional.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrapperL
The Kingswood would be the Impala equivalent while the Kingswood Estate would be the Caprice or top of the line. Few understand the station wagon monikers. My dad drove the Townsman which was the cheapy but in 1960 he drove a Brookwood which was the cheapy. Never did we own a Nomad although I've always thought they were the king of station wagons.
I agree... wagons had a lot of names that changed around back then, I think Chevy did the most with the name changing on the wagons. Many people have no clue. lol. They used that Nomad name all over the place, the 2-door wagon, then on the Impala 4dr wagon, then on the Chevelle wagons in the later 60s-early 70s. lol.
Yeah nobody ever towed a 7000lb trailer before they invented the F350.
It seems to be a modern American phenomenon to think one needs a large pickup to tow trailers.
Well, actually, while they towed a 7000 lb trailer reasonably well, they didn't really have the brakes to repeatedly stop them, and were getting to max capacity for hills. I'd rather tow with something that has capcity in reserve for hills (both up AND down) and isn't working so hard to tow with.
I've towed with one of those old wagons (a 455 powered Pontiac Safari) and I much prefer my current Diesel 3500 to tow the trailer with:
A few months ago I helped a friend out at his fathers house (had passed away a couple of years ago) moving some stuff around. The house has been sitting vacant and my friend really had not gone thru anything since his passing. There are a couple of barns on the property. I got out there and my friend was like "you've got to see this" , so we walk out to one of the barns and sitting in the corner is an early 70's Chrysler wagon. I don't know what year exactly other than it's got hidden headlights and the wood grain paneling all around. The car was just covered in dust and sitting on flats. We opened the door up and I looked on the odometer and it only had 37k miles on it. The car is just in great condition. My buddy didn't even know his dad had purchased it.
Never did we own a Nomad although I've always thought they were the king of station wagons.
Depends on the year. The '55-'57 were extremely cool, but I don't know how practical a full-size two-door wagon would be. They were the top of the line Chevy wagon line from '58-'61, but when they brought the nameplate back for '68-'72 it was used on the bottom-end Chevelle wagons.
There's quite a difference between what you can pull, and what you can safely and reasonably tow.
An Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser - with the 455 cid engine & 4 bbl car, lashed to a TH400 tranny - had more than enough power to pull 7,000 lbs. Or 10,000 lbs, for that matter. That drive-train had just as much (or more) power and torque than what's in a lot of trucks today.
But you have to be able to stop. And you have to have the suspension to handle it the load.
^ trailers have breaks too so that is kind of moot.
Yes some were very powerful but they had low tow ratings.
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