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the station wagon thread got me remembering..........
hillbille
Member Posts: 14,461 ✭✭✭✭
on just about any long trip, usually to visit family, dad allways stopped every 3 hours or so, most at roadside diners for cup coffee and p break, but we hardly ever passed those old roadside picknick shelters, most had an outhouse you could smell when you got out of the car and an old hand pump well for drinking water, and a picknick table, the ones in West Virginia would allways be painted green, and except for the smell usually kept up fairly well clean and no trash. I can remember me and my brother would race to the well just to be the first to pump water...........
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to start with we never went anywhere much that didnt include ending up at a relatives house. my dad carried his own percolator and a small gas stove. when he wanted a break we would stop at one of the "roadside parks", he would make coffee and drink a couple of cup then back in the car and off we would go. we never stopped at a restaurant or motel.
We had a Station Wagon, it was a Pontiac Grand Safari. It had the back seat that would fold down and when up you were looking out of the back like a trunk monkey. I think it was a 1972 or 73 model with a 455. Great rig for long trips. We would go see the grand parents in Mississippi and drive from Atlanta the whole way. I 40 was still under construction. My Dad loved BBQ and we would always stop at the Golden Rule BBQ joint outside Birmingham AL.
Great memories.
It was just like this one:
These were the largest Pontiac's ever built and weighed 5300 pounds.
Not many of those road side parks left. They used to be found along the main two lane highways. I passed a local spot last week that used to be one and it's all grown up, no table. Shame really, but interstates and rest areas took their place.
We would take the west Virginia turnpike to Ohio back in the '60's and '50's. North of Charleston we got on another road that had the stops called "waysides".
Stop to eat fried chicken and cold biscuits.
I miss those road trips.
I believe so. I drove it a few times and it was a beast. That 455 was a pre- 1975 motor so it was not de-tuned too bad.
We kept that car for a long time as a 3rd vehicle. I was a Boy Scout and Dad was an Ast Scoutmaster then scout master. That wagon hauled a lot of scouts and crap all over the Appalachian mountains.
My Dad sold it in 1977 and got a GMC 3/4 ton 3+3 long bed truck it was a 4x4 too. I think it was a 1975 or 77 and it had a 454 in it. He got it used but it didn't have many miles on it and was maybe a year old when he got it. He said the guy he got it from couldn't park it because it was so friking long.
He kept it until 1998 and sold it to some guy who was going to restore it and use it to haul his race car. He offered it to me but I didn't want that thing it was huge and as long as a bus. I think it may have had a 100k on the clock when he sold it. Like all those old square body trucks it had some rust but it ran fine.
He only used it for hauling stuff and Scout outings. He used to loan it to all the neighbors around who needed to haul stuff. .
My buddy's parents used to have a SW that had a fold down tailgate. We used to ride on it and drag our feet on the street.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Used to throw the 3 kids in the back end and drive from Illinois to Florida straight thru😮
We lived on an island near Seattle and drove a little Honda hatchback. My parents lived by Spokane so we drove over there frequently, and would arrive 250 miles later all frazzled and tense from the buzzy little 4-banger and the jiggly twitchy ride.
I realized there must be a better way, so went hunting and found a 1973 Chrysler New Yorker. It had a massive 440 ci. engine and cushy road sofa suspension. Going up over Snoqualmie Pass was no more "stay in the right lane with the throttle pegged" nonsense. I owned the left lane and 70mph was merely a nudge on the throttle. God smiled down on us as we converted dinosaurs to altitude.
Our maiden voyage, kids were running back and forth on the backseat, there was almost enough room for a soccer match. And we arrived rested, refreshed, and amazed that America used to understand what driving the open road really meant.