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It’s exhilarating, freeing, and incredibly fun. And I agree with the previous post that was much better than the smoke-filled truck.
Keep in mind that traffic was not like it is today. I was young, but it doesn’t seem like there were as many cars or that they went as fast as they do now. Still, very unsafe and now illegal but a wonderful childhood memory that I will never forget.
I was riding in the back of the station wagon when we crashed into something. I went flying over the tops of the seats and ended up in the front. I thought it was awesome at the time, but it’s no wonder it’s illegal.
It seriously depended on the vehicle. Dads old pre-smog-control beat up pickup fumigated you heavily every time you stopped at a red-light. Then back off in a cloud of oil smoke.
Mom’s RoadMaster station wagon was better but sitting in the back could get pretty bad in stop and go traffic. I never liked riding the the rear facing seats.
Riding in the back of my Uncles massive 70’s suburban was a party for us kids and if no other adults were around sometimes he’d have us sit in a line in the middle of the back and he’d swerve from side to side in a parking lot which slid us from side to side and was GREAT FUN!
When I was a kid, my friend and I sat on the open tailgate of his dad’s Chevy wagon on a Saturday run to the dump, with our sneakers scraping the road. Good times.
Riding in the back of the wagon was awesome until your brother farted. My mom wouldn’t roll down the windows because she didn’t want the fart to travel to the front of the car.
Those are two completely different experiences. The back of a station wagon is like the third row in a mini van or SUV, you just get to sit backwards or sideways in some of them.
It was fun. We didn’t realize the danger. Lost a schoolmate that was sitting on the tailgate. The driver was transporting students from one side of the school to the other. Slo mo. The truck went over a speed bump. A small bounce of the suspension. The classmate lost his seating and his head smacked the pavement. It was the end of him. Sad loss of a good person. Don’t do it.
I was a kid, so I loved it. You had your own space with your friends. I am the youngest, so I always had the worst spot to sit. The back was, ah, I get to stretch out.
Fucking Heaven! We used to pile 10 kids in the back with our Little League coaches driving and head down to San Diego Stadium to go to “bat day” with the Padres! Imagine giving full size baseball bats to everyone attending! Never see that again!
Bumpy, and could be dangerous. I was in the back open area of a station wagon that got rear-ended. Hard impact. Threw me around like a rag doll. I was OK, but the impacting car was totalled, and there was blood.
Awesome, especially on long trips. We would go visit family three provinces over every other year. 50 hour drive. We had a pickup truck with a cap, rug on the floor, one bench car seat along the cab window. We five kids would play or sleep in the back while our parents were in the front.
My parents had the station wagon with the fold out rear seats. Except they faced sideways. So I had to turn my head to look out the back of the wagon. Which is mostly fine. Except when it was grocery shopping day. Then they’d leave the other seat down so they could pile groceries in. I was just tall enough that with the other seat down, the metal rim would rub on my kneecaps. Plus when you’re buying groceries for a family of 6, that’s a lot of groceries and you end up getting buried to the point that some of the groceries have to come out before I could get out.
And there wasn’t any speakers back there, so you were kinda removed from being able clearly hear the music and far enough away that any communications with the parents involved a bit of a yell.
And this was a time before electronic devices. So I’d just shut down mentally and stare out the window.
station wagon when small was OK could rest stair at people in car behind ..PU truck was fun for short distance going slow . But not on highway.. was cols uncomfortable.
Back in the early 1960s, we had a station wagon with a slanted back window. On long rides home at night, I’d bring a pillow and blanket. I’d lie on my back with my head under the window and watch the stars go by as I drifted off to sleep. It was wonderful.
Bouncing around in the back of a pickup truck over country roads was invigorating and sometimes terrifying. It was an adrenaline rush. Sort of like sailing in rough seas. When you got where you were going, you felt a wonderful sense of relief.
It was a blast riding in the back of my dad’s pickup through the mountains of Virginia. When I got older he told me he let us do it so he could drink beer and not worry about us telling our mom about it.
There were so many of us, a station wagon was necessary. My parents in the front, my oldest brother and sister in the back seat, and me and the two youngest boys in what we called the back-back. Dad had installed a rumble seat facing backwards which technically all three of us could fit, but mostly I just chilled on the floor playing with a toy or whatever. I was probably 5 or 6. Getting tossed around a bit didn’t bother me in the slightest. I guess it would have been bad if we’d ever gotten in an accident, but we never did.
I had a lot of cousins and we were all often at my grandparent’s house together. I have really fond memories of us all jumping in the back of my grandpa’s truck and going for a truck ride. They lived out in the country there were a ton of old nearly abandoned roads that would take you to oil wells with their towering rusty derricks from the first oil boom in our area at the turn of the century. There was always something interesting to see.
Where I live, I see people riding in the back of trucks and I think it’s legal here 😬 it seemed weird at first but I also see horses and fast golf carts here so who knows
When I was in 6th-8th grade one of our classmates had to be driven both ways to school which was too far for him to walk (congenital heart defect). His father was the Pastor of the local Dutch Reformed Church. Pastor had a Bel Air station wagon and at least nine of us fit in the car along with the pastor and our friend.
Best memory was when one of the gang mentioned his upcoming bar mitzvah and on that note the pastor asked to see his part (parcha, written in Hebrew), and sight read/sang it.
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That’s actually illegal
Thrilling. Fresh(er) air than having to have your parents smoke in your face.
Back-facing or front-facing, in the wagon?
Almost every day for me.
An absolute blast!
It was awesome.
Bumpy!
It’s exhilarating, freeing, and incredibly fun. And I agree with the previous post that was much better than the smoke-filled truck.
Keep in mind that traffic was not like it is today. I was young, but it doesn’t seem like there were as many cars or that they went as fast as they do now. Still, very unsafe and now illegal but a wonderful childhood memory that I will never forget.
It was only fun if the family dog was also there !
Vomit-inducing for me!
I was riding in the back of the station wagon when we crashed into something. I went flying over the tops of the seats and ended up in the front. I thought it was awesome at the time, but it’s no wonder it’s illegal.
We used to sit on the sides and one time I might have been 7 or 8 and I almost fell off. After that I sat in the bed. But you just felt free to
It seriously depended on the vehicle. Dads old pre-smog-control beat up pickup fumigated you heavily every time you stopped at a red-light. Then back off in a cloud of oil smoke.
Mom’s RoadMaster station wagon was better but sitting in the back could get pretty bad in stop and go traffic. I never liked riding the the rear facing seats.
Riding in the back of my Uncles massive 70’s suburban was a party for us kids and if no other adults were around sometimes he’d have us sit in a line in the middle of the back and he’d swerve from side to side in a parking lot which slid us from side to side and was GREAT FUN!
When I was a kid, my friend and I sat on the open tailgate of his dad’s Chevy wagon on a Saturday run to the dump, with our sneakers scraping the road. Good times.
Riding in the back of the wagon was awesome until your brother farted. My mom wouldn’t roll down the windows because she didn’t want the fart to travel to the front of the car.
Like you were in your own little world..that seat in the very back of the station wagon..facing the cars behind you..was the coolest 😎
Those are two completely different experiences. The back of a station wagon is like the third row in a mini van or SUV, you just get to sit backwards or sideways in some of them.
Slide all over the place, bounce all over the place, giggle.
You hadn’t lived until you were in the jump seats of a Subaru brat holding onto the pistol grips
It was fun. We didn’t realize the danger. Lost a schoolmate that was sitting on the tailgate. The driver was transporting students from one side of the school to the other. Slo mo. The truck went over a speed bump. A small bounce of the suspension. The classmate lost his seating and his head smacked the pavement. It was the end of him. Sad loss of a good person. Don’t do it.
I was a kid, so I loved it. You had your own space with your friends. I am the youngest, so I always had the worst spot to sit. The back was, ah, I get to stretch out.
Fucking Heaven! We used to pile 10 kids in the back with our Little League coaches driving and head down to San Diego Stadium to go to “bat day” with the Padres! Imagine giving full size baseball bats to everyone attending! Never see that again!
Fun riding in The back of a pickup truck. Never felt scared.
As a teen girl, it was a mess: the hairdo didn’t survive. The truck stopped and everyone laughed at my hair: it was blown backwards. Hated it.
Sleeping in the foot well in the rear of a wagon saved my best friends life when we were kids during a very bad accident.
It was ok
Uncomfortable.
Fucking awesone!
Bumpy, and could be dangerous. I was in the back open area of a station wagon that got rear-ended. Hard impact. Threw me around like a rag doll. I was OK, but the impacting car was totalled, and there was blood.
Awesome, especially on long trips. We would go visit family three provinces over every other year. 50 hour drive. We had a pickup truck with a cap, rug on the floor, one bench car seat along the cab window. We five kids would play or sleep in the back while our parents were in the front.
My parents had the station wagon with the fold out rear seats. Except they faced sideways. So I had to turn my head to look out the back of the wagon. Which is mostly fine. Except when it was grocery shopping day. Then they’d leave the other seat down so they could pile groceries in. I was just tall enough that with the other seat down, the metal rim would rub on my kneecaps. Plus when you’re buying groceries for a family of 6, that’s a lot of groceries and you end up getting buried to the point that some of the groceries have to come out before I could get out.
And there wasn’t any speakers back there, so you were kinda removed from being able clearly hear the music and far enough away that any communications with the parents involved a bit of a yell.
And this was a time before electronic devices. So I’d just shut down mentally and stare out the window.
i miss cousin cathy. she flew out like a rag doll
Very fun!
station wagon when small was OK could rest stair at people in car behind ..PU truck was fun for short distance going slow . But not on highway.. was cols uncomfortable.
It was fun to throw old pop bottles are the road signs as you passed them going 60.
Safer than riding on the PTO shaft of a Massey Ferguson 135.
It was better than sitting in the cab in between creepy uncles
So much fun! You could play games. They even came out with magnet board games, like checkers, so the the pieces wouldn’t fly everywhere.
whaddya mean “was,” I just saw a bunch of college kids riding in the back of a truck this past Friday.
Back in the early 1960s, we had a station wagon with a slanted back window. On long rides home at night, I’d bring a pillow and blanket. I’d lie on my back with my head under the window and watch the stars go by as I drifted off to sleep. It was wonderful.
Bouncing around in the back of a pickup truck over country roads was invigorating and sometimes terrifying. It was an adrenaline rush. Sort of like sailing in rough seas. When you got where you were going, you felt a wonderful sense of relief.
Fell asleep to Dark Side of the Moon laying down back there probably a dozen times, sleeping my way through road trips age 6-10.
Glorious!
It was a blast riding in the back of my dad’s pickup through the mountains of Virginia. When I got older he told me he let us do it so he could drink beer and not worry about us telling our mom about it.
AWESOME!
Fun!
The bed of the pickup is the best. It’s windy, sure, but the view of the branches racing overhead while you lie on your back is just killer.
My dad had a station wagon. I remember sitting in the way back on the floor when he drove over railroad tracks. Hit my head on the ceiling!
After gramps hit the speed bump at 65 mph while I was in the back of the pickup I lost all memory of that time.
There were so many of us, a station wagon was necessary. My parents in the front, my oldest brother and sister in the back seat, and me and the two youngest boys in what we called the back-back. Dad had installed a rumble seat facing backwards which technically all three of us could fit, but mostly I just chilled on the floor playing with a toy or whatever. I was probably 5 or 6. Getting tossed around a bit didn’t bother me in the slightest. I guess it would have been bad if we’d ever gotten in an accident, but we never did.
We had a maroon buick station wagon with back facing seats in the very back. Deathtrap! But cool I guess
I had a lot of cousins and we were all often at my grandparent’s house together. I have really fond memories of us all jumping in the back of my grandpa’s truck and going for a truck ride. They lived out in the country there were a ton of old nearly abandoned roads that would take you to oil wells with their towering rusty derricks from the first oil boom in our area at the turn of the century. There was always something interesting to see.
Where I live, I see people riding in the back of trucks and I think it’s legal here 😬 it seemed weird at first but I also see horses and fast golf carts here so who knows
When I was in 6th-8th grade one of our classmates had to be driven both ways to school which was too far for him to walk (congenital heart defect). His father was the Pastor of the local Dutch Reformed Church. Pastor had a Bel Air station wagon and at least nine of us fit in the car along with the pastor and our friend.
Best memory was when one of the gang mentioned his upcoming bar mitzvah and on that note the pastor asked to see his part (parcha, written in Hebrew), and sight read/sang it.