As faithful listeners of NPR’s Car Talkwell know, anyone looking for a safe ride for their teenager’s first car was almost always pointed towards a used Volvo. They had a great reputation for safety and reliability… and they just looked reassuring sitting there in your driveway. This 1986 Volvo 240DL, seen over the summer in Tonawanda, still looks pretty spiffy. Too bad no one w
When this 1960 Rambler American Superwas introduced, the folks at American Motors told us“With low first price, top economy and highest resale value, the Rambler American is the top value U.S.-built station wagon buy.”I imagine that its biggest drawback was the fact that it was only available as a two-door, although its price ($2,020 for the base Deluxe wagon) probably helped persuade
Station wagons are starting to catch on with collectors these days. I’ve alwaysliked ‘em, but the market for the ever-popular (and pricey) two-door hardtops and convertibles has gotten a lot of buyers to broaden their scope. But Gowanda’s Steven Botsford isn’t necessarily one of them. He’s been collecting these other body styles for a while now, and told me he was att
I can’t imagine anyone coming across this 1977 VW Station Wagon and not smiling. If you were around back in the day, surely you have a story about one, or at least knew someone who had one. My “fondest” bus memory is of my friend Jim’s ’67, and the time it stalled just ahead of the Williamsville toll plaza on the Thruway, with three of us pushing it into the toll boot
The station wagon played a large part in the suburbanization of America, and this 1966 Dodge Coronet 440 is a fine example of one of the vehicles which kids from coast-to-coast can remember rambling around in the back of in the days before stringent auto safety regulations took the fun out of a Sunday drive in the country. The 440 was the top-of-the-line Coronet wagon, and could be had with powert
Our week of the 1970s continues with this work-in-progress 1972 Dodge Coronet Custom station wagon. The Custom sat in the middle of the Coronet wagon lineup for 1972, in between the base Coronet and the pricier, wood-grained Coronet Crestwood (all Coronet wagons came standard with a 318CIDV8). The Coronet was a mid-sized line, but its wagons were Dodge’s smallest that were domestically-produ
Is it just me, or is this 1995 Ford Escort LX wearing the bygone colors of the NFTA? When was the last time you saw an Escort wagon still on the road? Almost 116,000 of them were produced — where did they all go? Saw this one a few weeks ago while bicycling through UB’s Amherst campus.Jim Corbran, RRofWNYGot a RealRide you'd like to see featured here? Drop us a line atrealrides@buffnew
THE SHAPE OF THINGS, 2018-STYLE — Porsche’s new Panamera Sport Turismo by Jim Corbran From time-to-time I’ve been known to harp about how so many cars/SUVs/crossovers/whatevers all seem to look alike from a block away. And that’s because, well, because they pretty much do.But every once in a while something comes along which really catches my eye, and it happened again thi
WHITHER THE STATION WAGON? by Jim Corbran, Automotive Columnist People who’ve been reading my automotive rantings over the years are by now pretty much used to my favorite peeve: Whatever happened to the station wagon? This thought came to mind once again during a recently-completed driving vacation to Pigeon Forge, Tenessee. My Better Half and I packed a week’s worth of clothing, elec