24 cars blue sky: Car Collector’s Corner: 1966 Rambler Station Wagon

Don Hogenson led a different life before he became a family man. He was a professional football player with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Then he embarked on a career as a professional wrestler.

That all changed when his family got bigger.

Enter this 1966 Rambler American station wagon.

At that point in his life, Don was a car salesman. In those days, you didn't use company demos for personal business. Don spotted this Rambler with a mere 114 miles on the clock. It was perfect for an upcoming vacation.

The car made sense for the trip until, as Don explained, "we were going on holidays and I couldn't take a demo, I bought it, parked it and a half hour later cops were there after a guy had an epileptic seizure. Lost my holidays that year, because I told them I wanted all new parts."

A year later the car was back to normal although Don admits that "the back corner has 4 pounds of lead on it."

After that, there were no more disasters with the little wagon. As Don related, " I drove it for twenty years pretty much anytime I didn't have a demo car. I hauled kids everywhere in it and my daughter used it as a wedding car."

There were a few skirmishes with the car though as Don recalled, "my kid and 2 other brats decided to break the windshield and I wore myself out trying to catch them as they ran around the car…disadvantages of a wagon."

Eventually, the little Rambler became less of a factor for the Hogenson family, and it wasn't driven for 15 years. Last year Don's son decided to take the family wagon back to its former glory.

The car was really solid mechanically as Don explained, "I had to redo the brakes because they were seized, needed a new windshield, motor wasn't touched."

The car was a fairly lengthy project, and Don tried to stay away from his beloved Rambler during that period. Don admits, that he cried when he saw it. That speaks volumes about his inner car guy and his attachment to the little wagon because Don is not an overtly emotional guy in person.

Now,the Rambler gets a daily workout. Don can be seen all over town behind the wheel of his 46-year-old car. He admits "that I'd sooner drive this than my 2004 Camry because of the sentimental value, but it will never see another winter."