AN OLD SUV?

@100ford2003 True. With the back window down you had the added pleasure of exhaust fumes entering the vehicle. I guess I didn't realize this was a benefit.

Posted by: @100ford2003

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Sadly, IMO, most if not every SUV lacks a retractable rear window. 👎

Steve 

The only real benefit of todays SUV's and all modern day cars, is that we can drive with the windows up year round and never have to have traffic noise, exhaust fumes, and blasts of air swirling inside the car.  Being able to drive any car without these bygone day issues, makes driving much more enjoyable.  

My wife has a Tahoe, that if I'm lucky it will get 20mpg on highway and it is the 5.3l.  For me I will stick with my Tesla and Challenger.  Even my Challenger gets 28mpg on the highway.  The Tesla is my daily and the Challenger get driven once approximately every 3 weeks.  I am keeping the miles down as that there were only 102 White 5.7l Shakers made in the world in 2019.  So I consider it a rare find and since they don't make them any longer, maybe I will make my money back when I do decide to sell.

These vehicles are way too big for me, and I'd be willing to bet I can carry everything we could possibly need on a long trip in a hatchback, all while having fun driving...in fact we've done so a dozen times.

I love a small car that's bigger on the inside than out. I hope to keep mine forever (2015 Honda Fit).

And really an SUV is just an oversized hatch on stilts. With worse fuel economy and handling.

Posted by: @bob-jackman

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@100ford2003 True. With the back window down you had the added pleasure of exhaust fumes entering the vehicle. I guess I didn't realize this was a benefit.

Could that explain why I am the way I am today cuz I had a '61 Country Sedan ?

Living in SoCal with no AC I don't remember any exhaust fumes in car as all windows were down. 

I have to agree that modern SUVs have many advantages (mileage, AWD, safety, build quality, etc.) over the old traditional station wagons but I love those old family haulers so much despite this fact.  I think my love for them is mostly based in nostalgia and how they were the symbol of family.  I also love how they look much more than current offerings, which IMHO look generic by comparison.

@jack-dodds

@geoff-jowett 

Oh man Geoff, did you ever nail it better than myself or anyone could have tried to explain it.  Your photo of the modern day SUV'S says it all. 

You've seen one, you've seen them all. 

I rest my case on the beauty of those great old Station Wagons.  THANKS!

I love 1950's cars - my favorite era - but "similarity"  occurred back then too.   For instance, 1952-'54 FoMoCo cars were awfully close.  How about Chrysler's Foward Look?   By 1959, everybody  had fins.    And then there's this:

Posted by: @chris

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I love 1950's cars - my favorite era - but "similarity"  occurred back then too.   For instance, 1952-'54 FoMoCo cars were awfully close.  How about Chrysler's Foward Look?   By 1959, everybody  had fins.    And then there's this:

-- attachment is not available --

And why not the '60s? All the GM muscle cars for the most part look the same as most are built on the same platform. Same goes for Ford and Chrysler too.

@100ford2003 Thanks, I bought it for my wife in 1974, by 1978 she dented EVERY body panel on the car including the hood. '78 I took over driving the car until '80, I didn't put any new dents but every month there was something that I had to fix.  The basic drive train was great[360] but little pain in the butt things[oil presser sending unit, water pump, broke wire in the distributor, etc.]. And 14 mpg was tough with the gas crisis.

@brush 

What a shame about all the dents. I hope your wife never got hurt when those mishaps happened.

Steve