After two kids, car options narrow fast. Parents start fantasizing about a ride with a third row, and once the little ones successfully make the case for buying a dog, ample trunk space is necessary for a full family outing. Once a fourth nonadult passenger comes along, sedans are definitely out, along with pickups, coupes, and anything compact or midsize. Minivans, SUVs, and a few large crossovers are the only options left. It wasn’t always this way.
Consider the deficiencies of today’s offerings. For many, minivans have the stench of the suburbs: soccer cleats and hockey equipment strewn in the footwells, maybe a doctor’s-office lollipop long stuck to a cloth seat. Their current design, meant to maximize fuel efficiency, makes them look wimpy, a little too smooth, too meek. And for all these sacrifices, most new models manage only 22 miles per gallon.
Crossovers have started to compete with minivans in recent years by offering mildly sporty looks with similar fuel efficiency and lighter cultural baggage. A full-size crossover such as the Chevrolet Traverse might work, but the whiff of minivan and tight back seats may turn some off.
Which leads to where so many families end up: the SUV. Though the mid-2000s, excesses have been tempered by regulation and fuel prices—nearly 100,000 Hummer H2s (12 mpg) were sold in the U.S. from 2003-05—the big boys are still mainstays. Much to climate activists’ chagrin, these vehicles are gaining popularity. Their market share increased from 46.1% in 2019 to 53.5% in 2022, even as American family size continues to shrink. They’re so popular that automakers use excess profits from their sales to fund money-losing electric vehicles.
SUVs suck down gasoline but can tow whatever you need. They sit high up, making their drivers feel like kings of the road, while fitting all manner of kids, pets, luggage, and sports equipment. But alas, the price tag is grim: The most basic two-wheel-drive Chevy Suburban costs about $60,000, excluding taxes, title, and other add-ons you pay before you can drive off the dealer’s lot.
All this leads to the question: What did those people of yore, the ones who built and populated this great country, use to lug around their large broods? Station wagons.
They reached their zenith in the 1970s, pouring off of assembly lines in Detroit and Flint. Their names now seem wholesome and novel: the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, the Chevrolet Lakewood, the Ford Country Squire (with its iconic wood paneling). Some models had a rear-facing third row of seats, great for backing in at a drive-in movie theater. They were generally only slightly smaller than today’s Suburban.
Most important, they were cheap. The 1968 eight-passenger Vista Cruiser and 1968 10-passenger Country Squire retailed for about $30,000 in today’s dollars. That might buy you a new Toyota Camry today. A top luxury option in 1969, the Chrysler Town & Country, cost about $39,000 in today’s dollars.
Many of these were downsized to improve fuel economy—ironic considering that the largest, most gas-guzzling vehicles today are the ones propping up the market. But rising fuel prices had automakers in a panic, and by the time those fears subsided, minivans had taken over the market for family vehicles. Today’s wagon offerings are foreign—Subaru, Volvo, Audi—and none exemplify the three-rows-and-a-trunk ideal.
Toyota is making the Land Cruiser again, though as an SUV, not a station wagon. I’d prefer the real thing. Resurrect the Country Squire in all its glory. Wood paneling is poised for a comeback.
Mark Naida is editor of Michigan Enjoyer.
