Cars that we Remember -- 1961 Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon

A Post from Ed --

For car guys and gals, the older we get it seems the more we think of the cars that we remember when we were children or young people.  Why, years later, do we continue to remember those vehicles, often recalling them with great fondness?  

Perhaps, in part,  because we associate them with people who made a difference in our lives?  Who knows.  But a recent memory on my part brought back a connection of over 60 years ago.  

The little Methodist Church in which I grew up in rural backwoods southern West Virginia would typically get a new pastor every four years or so.  When I was twelve years Reverend Harper T. Callison was appointed to our small church and I recall the day that he showed up with his very attractive red-headed wife and two small feisty, rambunctious  little red-headed girls, all piled in a black 1961 Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon.  

Since my parents were divorced and I had no contact with my father, Reverend Callison became somewhat of a father figure for me for the next four years -- from the age of 12 until age 16.  He often lent me books from his personal library and at age 15 I'm reading Bonhoeffer and Niebuhr.  Yes.

But it was the Rambler station wagon that I was fixated on.  After getting my driver's license at age 16 one Sunday after church, Pastor Callison asked me if I wanted to drive the "wagon" as he called it.  Practical, utilitarian vehicle that it was, nonetheless something endeared me to that Rambler and every time I see one restored at a car show I smile.

So......the rest of the story:  Pastor Callison passed away in the early 1980s but, yesterday, I was able to make contact with one of his "red-headed" little daughters who is now 62 years old.  She lives in Canton, Ohio, and in our e-mail exchange I casually mentioned that I still fondly remembered driving her dad's black Rambler Cross Country wagon back in the early 60s.  

Here's her comment on the wagon:

"Its always wonderful to hear that dad was so important to someone and made a difference in their life.  I, too. fondly remember that black Rambler station wagon -- probably because I was in the back the day my mother pulled out of a parking lot and the back tire flew off."

Ah, the cars of our lives.  The cars that we still remember!