Frivolous Friday: Station Wagon Nostalgia
There has been a lot of Top Gun quoting around the office here lately. “You can be my wingman anytime.” “That’s right, Iceman. I am dangerous.” “Because I was inverted…” It’s at epidemic proportions, really. But I’m not complaining. As a child of the ‘80s, Top Gun quotes are near and dear to my heart. So you’ll have to forgive me for getting all nostalgic again, but that movie brings back yet another car-related memory from my youth. This time, it’s station wagon-related.
It was a Friday night in May 1986, the opening weekend for a film called Top Gun. I was 13. I graduated from junior high that night, and after the ceremony and banquet, my friends and I somehow managed to get last-minute parental permission to go to the local cinema to catch the 9pm showing of the movie. We were chaperoned there, all piled in the way-back of a real '80s station wagon just like the Country Squire in the pic up there.
I don’t actually remember much about the movie (like most kids my age, I would later watch it 1 grillion times on cable and memorize the whole thing), but I do remember getting driven back in the way-back of the station wagon again with a ton of boys and girls all bunched up together, sans seatbelts, and the Pretty in Pink soundtrack playing on the tape deck. We were all quiet, post-theater, listening to the music, happy to be out late together and done with junior high. I was wearing a very '80s flouncy formal dress (my first) and white pumps, and I remember thinking "THIS is the best memory I will ever have." I’m surprised to say that it’s still up there in the top 10 of great memories. It felt like a John Hughes film in real life. And it wouldn’t have happened quite the same way if it hadn’t been for that station wagon (and our chaperone’s blatant disregard for our safety, but that’s a topic for another blog post.)
Got any suitable-for-work station wagon-esque stories to share?
Posted by Bryn May 2, 2008 12:59 pm
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Categories: Rants and Raves
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Well, this one time I was driving with my girlfriend in my parents' '95 Corolla wagon, and I told her about how I had been in a four-G inverted dive with a MiG 28.
My girlfriend said, "So you're the one."
"Yes ma'am" was my reply.
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I guess you could say with respect to that ol' station wagon, you haven't lost that loving feeling. =Ž
Maverick: Excuse me, miss.
Goose: Hey, hey, hey. I'll take care of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQtGZKdW0Xc
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hahaha. you guys rule. every day should be a Top Gun quote day.
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Who can forget the Peugeot 504 and 505 station wagons of the '80s and early '90s in West Africa? They were by far the most popular stationwagons.......they were also known for reliability and strength. And I guess they were affordable because they were assembled in Nigeria! Hence, they were often used for commercial purposes: used to transport passenger for 2 or 3 hour trips for a fee (originally, one pound).
Hence the nickname "one pound, one pound" meant 504 station wagon in Ghana. (The 505 wasn't used as often for commercial use because it was more modern, more expensive and more prestigious.)
Of course, the term "station wagon" was never used, but rather "caravan". I really wonder where the term "caravan" comes from, as the British say "estate car" instead.
And, lastly, nobody uses the correct French pronounciation of Peugeot; we all say something like "peejoe"! If you don't say Peugeot and nobody will know what you're talking about!
Check out the 505 Station Wagon here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_505
Here is a 504: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_504
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ewilfong
- May 4, 2008 12:06 pm
(#5 Total: 8)
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You picked the perfect car for your blog photo. That faux-wood cruiser dotted the landscape of my childhood like no other car, except for the fact that we DIDN'T HAVE ONE! What were my parents thinking? We had to settle for a 77 Olds Cutlass Supreme, though my folks added an 81 Subaru GL wagon to our family fleet later on. The GL was a great little car, but it was seriously deficient at hauling an entire birthday party's worth of kids around. Of course, we had jumped on the "no seatbelt, no ride" bandwagon by that point anyway, so a Country Squire would have done us no good. So sad.
Oh, and if you insist, I'll have what Suby's having. Hemlock, is it?
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Blackadder: In England a Caravan is a trailer home or a camper. Caravan is derived from the Persian word Karvan for a group of travelers and/or animals travelling from spot to spot. We had a lot of french cars as a kid including a 504 station wagon and it were pretty reliable but also pretty underpowered and slow. A group of us living in NYC in the late 80s bought a station wagon just like the one pictured for about $500 to use for weekend trips to our summer rentals. It was very reliable and could carry 9 of us with all our gear with the optional third bench seat. We beat the snot out of it and I have to say it was surprisingly reliable and trouble free. Handling, however, was terrible with those skinny tires and super wide body!
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I watched ET at the drive-in laying on the roof of our station wagon. My mom had to get out and explain the opening sequence to me because I didn't really get what had happened.
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We didn't have a pool, so we would go to the Town Pool, a huge, public pool run by the local township. The best part was the snack bar! Afterward, though, we'd try to get into the car, which had been baking outdoors all day. The plastic seats were hotter than the sun, and somehow our towels never covered up both the back and the bottoms sufficiently to prevent us from getting scorched.
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