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Station Wagon Books & Reference Material

Books just about station wagons are very rare.   However, on 03/15/1998, a book exclusively about station wagons was published. It is written by Ron Kolwalke, automotive books editor for Krause Publications.

Ron described his book to me this way: 'It's hard for me to explain what Station Wagon "the book" is all about in just a few words. In writing this book I've tried to capture the nostalgia of the wagon as a vacation mule, as well as a sense of loss of the family-oriented vehicle that helped shape America in the 1940's to 1970's.'

'The book has history going back to the 1920's. It has sections on wagons used in drag racing, wagons used by the railroad, and tons of funny stories from owners of wagons or from people who have childhood memories of their parents' wagons.'

The book is called Station Wagon: A Tribute to America's Workaholic on Wheels. Click here or on the picture on the left for Amazon.com's description. Buy it!

Novels

There's actually a novel in which a station wagon plays a role...it's called 'Death By Station Wagon'. Check it out here...

Automotive Books & Literature

Looking for any sort of automobile literature? Go to Walter Miller's home page. He describes it best - "Over two million pieces of Original literature in stock. World's largest selection of Original US and foreign automobile and truck sales brochures, repair manuals, owner's manuals, parts books, and showroom items."
 
Billed as the 'World's largest Internet source' of automotive literature, go to McLellan's Automotive History website to access over a million items of automotive literature of all kinds and on all subjects.  You can also post your own 'wanted', 'trade', and 'for sale' ads for automotive literature on this site at no cost.
 
Other on-line sources for automotive literature are at:
- Autoliterature.com
- Automotiveliterature.com
- Classic Motorbooks - 'The Transportation Enthusiast Bookstore'.  Need we say more?
 
A source in the UK (although they ship worldwide) is AUTOinPRINT.  Also in the UK is Chaters Books.

Bishko Automobile Books says it has the "largest selection of Mopar literature in the US", although they carry literature for just about anything.

Or try Crank 'En Hope Publications in Blairsville, PA 15717 (call 412-459-8853).
 
Other general sources for books (that have varied automotive literature):
- Amazon.com - the original Web bookseller
- Barnes & Noble - the big guys...they've got a lot of stuff....
- Advanced Book Exchange
- Bibliofind - the "world's largest inventory of books for sale"
- Alibris - "where you'll find the world's largest selection of out-of-print books"

Reference/Museums

Need to find out something automotive?  Contact the National Automotive Museum in Reno, Nevada. It has tech books, owners manuals, photos, etc. etc. from 1895 to the present day.  They have a hit rate on requests of 95%.  You can also call them at 775-333-9300; their processing fee is only $15.
 
Here is the strangest, most fascinating station wagon book I have ever found - Amerikanische Station Wagons + Woodies, a book in German about American station wagons from 1938 to 1960 (ISBN 3-921796-24-5; printed in Germany). It has a lot of information, mostly re-prints of ads (ads in English, but with German text). Very interesting.....buy it!
 
Need some information to help you with a particular facet of your automotive restoration project?  Try contacting the National Automobile Museum's Library in Reno, Nevada USA.  For a fee the researchers will look for any information you need in their extensive collection of technical books, photos, sales literature, shop/owners manuals, etc. etc.  You can get a research request for by calling 702-333-9300 in the USA.
 
Have a Mercedes station wagon (or any other Mercedes) that you need information on?  Try the Daimler-Benz Classic Archive, which has a huge collection of historical information on the Mercedes-Benz line of automobiles.  Mercedes makes this information available free of charge to anyone who submits a written request  Contact the Mercedes-Benz Museum at Mercedesstrasse 137, 70327 Stuttgart, Germany (phone 0049-711-17-22578 or fax 0049-711-17-51173).  For more information, see page 26 of the July, 1998 issue of Classic Auto Restorer magazine.
 
Did you know there is a automotive museum that features station wagons?   Try the Mitchell Corporation Automobile Museum in Owosso, Michigan USA.   Evidently the Mitchell Corporation was a major producer of station wagon bodies during the 1950's and 1960's (they owned the Ionia trade name).  The museum is not open to the public, but clubs and groups can arrange for tours by calling Bill Nichols at 517-725-2171.  More information about this museum is on page 21 of the July 23, 1998 issue of Old Cars Weekly.

Books Wanted!
While your at it, I'm looking for other books that have station wagon history. There aren't that many; but here are two I have not found yet:
.....'The Station Wagon, its saga and development' by Bruce Briggs
.....'Great American Woodies and Wagons' by Donald J. Narus
 
Please send me an e-mail if you can help. Thank you.
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