Does anyone know what that red 2 door 66 wagon on Horsepower tv IS? Is that a 65 with 66 front sheetmetal or a custom piece? Its been driven me nuts
Dennis

You mean this one?

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=4007431&a=31224248&p=67991184&f=0

Photo taken this past weekend at the Peachstate regional ACES show. I got to take a real good look at the "Front Runner" Vintage AC setup...sweet!

It's a home brewed wagon made from a 4 door wagon
Can't remember the man's name that built it but he sure did an excelent job on it.
It belongs to Chuck Hanson now.

yeah thats the one! they did a sweet job on it whoever did it.Thanks guys Dennis

The car was built by a friend of mine. He is very talented and has built a number of really nice cars, most of which are '64s.
The '66 started as a 4 door wagon which was converted to a 2 door using El Camino quarters and a '64 or '65 2 door wagon donor.
Chuck's got it looking good with the dark center Americans!!!!

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=4007431&a=31224248&p=67991184&f=0

flame me if you must, but i think it is ugly. now i am sure the craftsmanship is excellent, but it does not look 'normal'.

"Different strokes for different folks"

I think it's pretty cool looking myself

I think they should've never stopped making them. 2-door wagons are grocery getters with a serious cool factor built in. Just one gearhead's opinion.

SKIP :D

I think the car looks right.I wish they built em because i'd be searchin for one right now :D

Originally posted by purple66bu:
I think the car looks right.I don't think so. If it looked right, I would go for it too. Adding extra glass, because of the width of the back door, was necessary. But instead of re-fabricating one complete window, the result makes it look modified. Looks cheap. Sorry! It would be better to have a single "light". I'm sure the quality is good, but it does not look "natural" - it looks fitted in because of the extra space.
I'm not trying to make any friends smile.gif but ... this would look better:
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/jtjohnston/chuck.jpg

i see what you mean that would look better.Guess i just like seeing the wagon 2 doored.

Originally posted by jtjohnston:
I don't think so. If it looked right, I would go for it too. Adding extra glass, because of the width of the back door, was necessary. But instead of re-fabricating one complete window, the result makes it look modified. Looks cheap. Sorry! It would be better to have a single "light". I'm sure the quality is good, but it does not look "natural" - it looks fitted in because of the extra space.
I'm not trying to make any friends smile.gif but ... this would look better:
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/jtjohnston/chuck.jpg <<

Let me jump in here:
As the owner of a real 64 2 dr wagon I'll say that the one window look gives the car a home made appearance.
I've actually seen this done to a 65 with apparently excessive rust in divider strips so they put in a one piece glass or plastic side window. Or maybe they thought it would look better too.
From a previous posting I took it that the side windows and trim are what the donor 2 dr wagon provided. Can't get more authentic than that.
Also, anyone else agree these 2 dr wagons should have been Nomad level cars vs strippers?
Chevy had all the fancy bits they needed from the Custom El Camino-or is it El Camino Custom?- and the Super Sport. The only piece I can think of that would be different would be the 64's upper trim ending differently then the hardtop's "hook".

Yeah, I found it odd that the 2 doors were "base cars" as well. Though we have to remember that GM/Chevy is in the business of selling cars, and while the Nomad has gain a devoted following years after their construction, in their day from a business standpoint they were a relative failure. Wasn't there LESS than 10,000 Nomads sold in each of the years 55-56-57? I remember reading that the Nomad was THE most expensive product Chevy sold, excluding the Corvette. If you're gonna spend THAT kind of money, you've got a lot of options on what kind of car to choose. Station wagons were the mini vans of the day, and cool factor didn't figure in as much as convenience, capacity, and comfort. Face it, it was normally the 2nd car that Mom drove. Dad never set his butt in it unless he was headed to the hardware store, or taking the tribe on vacation. Bottom line...2-door Nomads didn't sell well, Chevy revised the product making them 4-door, started pushing the luxury Impala, then stopped making Nomads altogether about a decade later.

I think the return of the 2 door concept was an extension of the experiment of bringing out the Chevelle (remember this ressurected the el Camino too) which was intended to appeal to the younger buyer. Buyers who didn't necessarily have a lot of money. Maybe they thought the el Camino, and cheap 2-door wagons would make a great replacement for all those Woodies delivering surfboards and young folk to the beach. Turns out the el Camino caught on, and a lot of people don't know Chevy even MADE a 2-door wagon during those 1st 2 years of Chevelle production.

Regardless, yeah it would've been cool if they'd of stuck with a high-line 2-door Nomad wagon. Instead we've some very cool surviving 300 series 2-doors. Some would say sparse...some would say uncluttered with styling excesses. I like 'em what ever year. As for the window(s)...I like the way the factory made 'em. Doesn't it slide to allow ventilation for the back seat? The one-piece has a nice clean appearance...but it does look custom. When I did a photoshop transformation of a '72 Wagon to a 2-door Nomad style, I tried the windows both ways and ended up preferring the divided window. As I said before...just one gearhead's opinion.

Skip ;)

Skip, I can't dispute anything you said.
The 2 doors were made in a time when just about every model line had a wagon available.
Maybe the 2 doors were just looked at as being short a couple doors by the general public.
I guess Ford didn't fare any better with Falcon 2 dr wagons either.
The Nomads popularity is helped a lot by them being 55-57 Chevys don't you think?
Hard to find anyone that doesn't like them.
I myself would take a 2 door wagon 55 Chevy over a Nomad. I like the lines better.
Anyway I wouldn't alter the rear wheelwells on a Chevelle going after a Nomad look.
When I get around to a restoration on my wagon I will probably use all my El C and SS pieces to make my own "Custom Wagon" to parallel what Chevy did with the Custom El Camino.
I'm not to keen on "SS" wagons though.

Yeah, I'm with you. Take a 300 series 2-door and kinda Malibu it out with all the pretty trim, luxury/comfort doohickies, upgraded upholstery, carpet (didn't they come with just rubber floor mats?). But only if you were starting with a pretty thrashed example. Considering how few were built in the first place and as rare as these little strippers have become, it would be a shame to molest one that's in decent shape.

Man I wish I could figure out how to post a picture of that '72 I photo altered. It actually came out pretty good. I could probably e-mail it to you if you're interested in seeing it.

SKIP graemlins/thumbsup.gif