This is a Pontiac Safari; this basic vehicle was produced from model years 1977 to 1989, but the fact that its side says only Safari and it wears no other nameplate, such as Grand Safari, Bonneville Safari, or Parisienne Safari, indicates that it's from one of the final three years of production, 1987-89. By that point minivans had become quite popular for families that needed both passenger and cargo space. They were smaller and more efficient than older designs like this, while offering comparable interior space. Large wagons like this were fading away, but were kept in the lineup because they had long since earned back their tooling costs and any sales, even just a few thousand per year, were profitable.
But in the late 1970s, cars like this were everywhere. I used to get a ride to school sometimes from a classmate whose father had a version of this car in pale yellow, but without the fake wood adorning the sides. This car was also available at the time as a Chevrolet Caprice, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, or Buick Estate Wagon, and later I rode with another classmate who drove his mother's Buick version, white with the woodgrain sides and a plush red cloth interior, quite a classy ride.
The front fender of this car shows discoloration of the vinyl applique; it's possible the fender was replaced and this is from a different vehicle. The rear wheel opening also shows signs of some work, possibly body filler. But the wheel covers are nice and the dark blue looks good under all the dust; it wouldn't take too much effort to get this car cleaned up and looking sharp.
An overlooked nail in the coffin of the traditional station wagon are mandated child car seats. Minivans and SUVs have much higher centers of gravity and seating heights, so its less back breaking for parents to secure and free kids from their seats. Mandated car seats had many other unforeseen negatives - more roll-overs, poorer rear visibility resulting in parents backing up over their own kids, heavier vehicles causing more crash damage than low sitting economy sedans, worse gas mileage and more greenhouse gas production than econo sedans, and the need for 3 row SUVs because only 2 child seats fit in a row and front passenger seat use is discouraged. Few deaths from the regulations were prevented and may not outweigh increases from rollovers, poorer rear visibility, poorer visibility for other drivers from bigger, higher vehicles etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up we didn't have child seats. We didn't even wear seat belts. People just didn't think about that stuff as much then.
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