Station Wagons in the Equipment Yard

When I was a kid, it seemed that whenever my family went anywhere of any distance, we went in the station wagon. (If it wasn't far, we always walked or biked--something I want Desert Boy to do.) A station wagon wasn't the most popular car around, but it wasn't a real oddity, either. Nowadays, I hardly ever see station wagons. But not to fear, a quick visit to the ranch's equipment yard reveals some that have withstood the desert environment.

First we'll take a look at this blue Jeep Wagoneer. It looks like it can take a family anywhere with its boxy design and studly tires. 

The missing driver's door is just a minor inconvenience. My mom has great stories of her family's station wagon with holes in the floor so they could see the street going by underneath their feet. 

This Chevelle wagon doesn't look too bad. In addition to being able to carry a lot of people when it was running, it now has the great attraction of being able to hold  a lot of junk...hiccup...equipment in its retirement. The equipment yard isn't just a place to store old vehicles. It's also a place to store old hoses, engines, record players, boxes of unknown junk, bicycle carcasses, TVs, and heaven knows what else. I am always amazed. I am also a little careful when I look into these old vehicles. Some of them have packrat nests and I never know for sure what animal may scurry around in its new home, upset at being interrupted.

The front of the Chevelle doesn't look too great. That means it's time to scout the equipment yard some more and see if we can come up with a more colorful, more unusual station wagon. After all, one of the fun things about wandering the equipment yard is trying to find the weird things, the vehicles that no one makes anymore. The vehicles you wonder why they made in the first place.

And here's one of those weird vehicles, a GMC station wagon. Have you spotted what's so weird about it? Here's a clue if you haven't: a station wagon is supposed to carry a lot of people, right? So why would you make a station wagon with only three doors, two in the front and one in the back? If you want to get in the middle seat you have to climb over another seat! I have a feeling this model wasn't a top seller. If you missed earlier equipment yard posts, click the label "equipment yard" to catch up on the other fun vehicles hanging out down there.