58 REMINISCE.COM * JULY 2018
Motoring
MemoriesBACK IN TIME
L
iving in Missouri near the center of the
country put my family in the position
to travel conveniently either east
or west and, every summer, my dad,
Ernie, loved to take us on road trips.
With its push-button transmission and rear
facing back seat, our 1959 DeSoto station
wagon was deluxe travel in those days. It easily
accommodated our big family—our parents,
my three sisters, my brother and me. And Dad
equipped the wagon with extras, such as a bug
screen and roof luggage rack.
He loved DeSotos. Our previous family car
had been a 1953 DeSoto four-door sedan.
For our first vacation with the new wagon,
we drove west into the Colorado mountains.
The novelty of snow in the middle of summer
prompted all of us to jump out of the car and
make snowballs, which we launched directly
at our father.
The next year found us heading east. On
Cape Cod in Massachusetts, it took two cabins
to accommodate all of us. We spent some extra
nights in Corbin, Kentucky, as we waited for
repairs to the push-button transmission.
I have fond memories of both of these trips.
It turned out that 1959 was the last year
DeSoto made a station wagon, and only about
700 of them rolled off the assembly line that
year. Chrysler discontinued all DeSotos with
the 1961 model year.
At least ours lives on in the beautiful slides
we took on Dad’s Kodak Pony camera. •The perfect vehicle for big
families who liked to roam.
Share your motoring memories:
REMINISCE.COM/SUBMIT-A-STORYEAST OR WEST,
OUR DeSOTO WAS BEST
BY NANCY WARD VAN GULICK
RAYMORE, MO1