Longtime reader/contributor David Holzman asked yesterday if I could find him a ’64 Chevy wagon while hanging out in San Mateo. We aim to please, so here it is, unfortunately hiding in a garage. Sorry, David; that’s as good as it gets. But for anyone who grew up in the sixties or early seventies, the back end of this then-ubiquitous wagon will undoubtedly trigger memories of riding in one. And hearing that little 283 rev it heart out in first gear up to about seventy, when the two speed Powerglide finally shifted into high under full throttle. In a break from tradition, Chevy went with uncharacteristic rectangular tail lights on the wagons only for 1964. If it weren’t for that Chevy badge, you’d think for all the world this was a low-end Oldsmobile. Enjoy, David; and Happy New Year.
I believeth that license plate style is also from the circa 1964 period
Ahh, the memories.
My dad bought an end of model year 65 Belair wagon in July 65…..the cheapest wagon he could find within 150 miles of KC. 283, ‘glide, AM radio, that was it.
Took a trip to LA and back, towing a camping trailer the whole way in 1968. The only thing I remember is the drive across Arizona, New Mexico, and thru Amarillo, just like the Griswolds. An experience best forgotten.
It was on a car like this, an all black, probably MY66, that I first noticed the Chevy bow tie in a plastic medallion on the front hood. Besides being a very classy car, I was fascinated by the switch for the rear seat passengers which allowed them to raise/lower the tailgate window.)
Servus Paul,
Ich bedanke mich sehr für TTAC und CC et al. und wünche dir und Fam. Niedermeyer eine gütes rütsch und alles güte in 2010!
Gruss, RW
btw, IMHO, FoMoCo had one of their best model years, stylingwise, from bottom to top (models by brand), side to side (F/M/L), in 1969. If you are still in CA, and are taking requests, I’d be pleased to see how many 1969 FMC products you could find … (would love to see a ’69 Country Squire and ’69 XR7 convertible.)
RW, Herzlichen Dank, und Alles Beste.
PN
Yeah, that’s almost certainly the original plate from new. Cal and Ore are about the only states where that can happen…Cal from 1963 up, OR from 56 up. The 65 New Yorker, ditto.
We had a 64, ordered with third seat, PS, powerglide, no radio, dog dish hubcaps. Having just got my drivers license, I enjoyed getting it airborne over some railroad tracks not far from where we lived. An even more significant memory was going back to the selling Chevy dealer in Camden NJ where our 60 Rambler Rebel SW tradein had its odometer turned back from 80K plus to less than 40K. That always colored my opinion of the family who owned the dealership and were a big deal in one of the nearby towns, supposedly always doing things for the community.
Wow! You guys are so lucky to see things like this. Anything of this age is probably in a museum around here. Salt is a bitch!
My uncle had this same car in the same colors. Except it was an Impala (or whatever the wagon equivalent was…Kingswood??) It was a 327 PG with ps and factory air. I borrowed it to take an old refrigerator to my dorm in college. Would love to find a nice 64 Impala SS coupe sometime. The pic does show one unfortunate 60s Chevy drawback: the cheap stamped aluminum “chrome” trim. It only looked good in the sales brochures. It got pretty beat-up looking in a hurry.
Your right, Paul, this is a very un-Chevy looking Chevrolet. It does look like a de-contented Oldsmobile or Buick.
Sitting in the third row of a station wagon and facing the rear, never agreed with my vestibular system. It is probably the reason why Americans do not by wagons.
I was 16 in 1964, and I had a drivers license. From that time, I never again rode in the back of a wagon.
My family had a ’63 Impala station wagon – gold – 327 – Powerglide – wire wheel covers (with spinners). The first car we had with factory air – it could barely cool the passenger compartment. My favorite was the reverb for the radio – a spring-reverb – boooing!
It was a “true” Impala with 3 lights on each side in the back (red-white-red).
My first car in ’74. I was in the Army and bought the wagon from another GI for $100.00 cash. He used it “for fishing and only on the weekends.” The “owner” never did give me the title. Kept saying he’d get around to it. Maybe he never had it, who knows? In those days it was probably easier to drive a renegade auto; I lived off base and the Bel Air already had a “base sticker” so I could drive on and off without any problems. Never had insurance on the car, either. I couldn’t afford a car and insurance. I was only a PFC.
As I remember, it had “three on the tree” and mostly ran with a (small) cracked block. Good enough for me, but it was the kind of car you didn’t want to be in back of, especially at a stop light. When I received orders to Germany I just left it with a friend–no money down. In truth I was glad to be rid of it. It was what you did, in those days. Never saw the car or the friend, again.
Thanks for sharing. I like old stories like this, of times when people bought basic – and surprisingly reliable – transportation for a C-note or less.
My brother had one of these in the early 70s . 6cyl/powerglide.
Lovely. Thanks Paul, and happy NY! I’ve never ridden in one, but for me, probably due to the age and stage I was at when these came out, ’64 is the ultimate Chevy year for me. Although I am acutely sensitive to all things Chevy from that year, it never occurred to me that those square taillights were an anomaly. And to me, in the form of that Chevy, the oblong reached its zenith. My inner child swears that thing belongs in MoMA.
I drove more than one 62-64 big chevy, and could never understand the driving position on these cars. Seat really low, steering column really high. Once the car got old and the seat springs were a bit worn, it got worse. In the early 70s there were a lot of little old ladies driving these cars, and i remember many of them who were not very tall peering out through the space between the dash and the steering wheel rim.
One college roommate had a 62 2 door sedan (either a Biscayne or a Bel Air). 6 cyl Powerglide. Between the high steering column and the power steering that was 6 full turns of the wheel from lock to lock, that car was more like steering a ship than anything else I ever drove.
As miserable as they were to drive, though, they were certainly attractive. Few cars were as nicely styled as the 62-64 Impala, particularly the 2 door hardtops and convertibles.
My grandmother’s second husband had a 1977 Malibu Classic sedan that had that same driving position more than 10 years later. My grandmother (who is about 5’2″) put one of those sausage shaped pillows behind her back and still had issues with visibility.
We had the exact same car from 1964 until 1969, even had a white roof but the body was “Daytona Blue”. It had a 283 with a ‘glide, and power steering and that’s it, it was even a radio delete car.
It was purchased at Jerry’s Govans Chevrolet in Baltimore, a place that Paul will remember, “5600 York Road at Bellona, the best place to become a Chevrolet Ownah“!
How could I forget that jingle; it must be deeply ingrained in a whole lot of Baltimorons (sp?)
I am interested in the history of Jerry’s Govans Chevrolet. Can you contact Frank at 1-800-899-3228 or by e-mail at annying259@hotmail.com
My Uncle John had a ’63 BelAir 2 door hardtop, royal blue with the blue and white vinyl interior, and the speaker in the middle of the back seat. Still one of the most handsome cars of the entire decade. For short period of time I owned a ’63 Pontiac Strato-Chief in the mid ’70’s (in Canada the Pontiac was just a re-skinned Chevrolet) with the 250 I6 and a 3 speed on the tree. The worst handling car I ever owned; you needed a tugboat to assist with parking, parallel or angle, take your pick.
Come to think of it I had a ’63 Impala coupe w/ powerglide (my only slushbox car) sept-dec 72 until I left Tufts for Berkeley. A colleague of my father’s gave it to me. It had about 90k and the differential was going. Nonetheless, it did fine for me around town for those 3 months. I enjoyed it.
One time, I started it up on a cold day, you could see the exhaust (there was nothing wrong with the car) and some female fellow student walking by did the coughing thing, like how dare you pollute my air. I was taking organic chem at the time and told her the stuff coming out of the tailpipe was organic hydrocarbons, and she shouldn’t get upset.
Hey, aren’t those super sport hubcaps?
Actually they are.Could not find original hub for them. Wierd seeing my car a blog. Still have it.
As an older “Baltimoron”, the Jerry’s jingle is still familiar. I think he finally died last year, after starring in his own ads all these years, looking like El Cid fighting his last battle.