Our First Station Wagon

If you’re like me, cars played a big part of your “growing up years.”

One of my earliest childhood memories was car related and goes back to when I was just three years old. My parents were trading in their 1955 Ford Victoria for a brand new 1960 Dodge Dart Pioneer wagon. Our family was growing and Mom and Dad surmised that with child number four on the way, fitting the four of us plus themselves comfortably into that Ford sedan, was no longer possible.

My earliest memory involves peering over the front seat as a mechanic with slightly greasy fingers showed my Mom how to operate our new Dodge’s push button transmission. As we pulled away from Nanuet Dodge, on that rainy November evening in 1959, I spotted, our ’55 Ford over in the corner of the lot minus its license plates, looking forlorn and abandoned.

The Dodge was our first family station wagon and was by all accounts, a pretty basic, no frills wagon. The exterior was light blue with a white roof. The interior was dark gray and the upholstery was white and black vinyl. There was no carpet, but instead heavy duty rubber. There were two things that I distinctly remember about that car. One was a red bowtie type badge in the center of the steering wheel that indicated that this car was equipped with power steering. The other was the radio dial that had a red ball as a tuning indicator instead of the usual red bar.

That Dodge was with us for seven years and really earned its keep. It also became in a way, a member of the family. It took us to Cape Cod in the summer, hauling not only 6 kids, a dog, my parents and our luggage, but also a 15 foot boat and trailer on that four and a half hour trek. It also took us to visit our grandparents during the Thanksgiving and Easter holidays and was the vehicle chosen to bring home two more new members of the family from the hospital after their birth.

Our trustworthy Dodge was also there in the spring of 1964 when we picked up our first family dog, a playful beagle puppy we named Princess. Two years later it was the Dodge that transported Princess on her final ride to the veterinarian after she was hit by a car. In the fall of 1967 that same Dodge would help us bring a new puppy home.

By the fall of 1967, our faithful wagon was starting to show its age both physically and mechanically and my Dad didn’t feel as secure as he once did about us arriving to our appointed destinations.

So, almost eight years to the day it left Nanuet Dodge, our reliable friend left our driveway for the last time. My Dad had sold it for $350.00 to a house painter who appreciated its cavernous interior. The Dodge was replaced with another Chrysler product, a brand new 1968 Plymouth Custom Suburban station wagon.

I saw the Dodge one more time several years later in a junkyard atop several other cars. It was truly a sad sight and a less then befitting ending for such a loyal friend