Lukens Lake: 1956

Here is a web adress,http://www.cars-on-line.com/stationwagon.html. You will see A 1955 pontiac chieftain wagon for sale. They have A pic of the rear and it looks the same as this one.

[The 1956 wagon would look the same in back. - Dave]

It could also be a 1956 Pontiac. The wagon rear ends were the same for 1955 and 1956.

The Pontiac is a 1955, GM used the same basic design on Pontiacs and Chevys.

[Or it could be a '56. - Dave]

The Henry J is a '51. In 1952 the taillights went on to the fins.

[The other way you can tell it's a '51 is that there's no trunk lid. - Dave]

I vote for the Pontiac being a '55. I've got a print of my twin brother and I up on top of the family's '55 Pontiac wagon washing it (we were 8 years old, and not heavy enough to dent '50's sheet metal). What I can see of the back end in the photo, the taillights, rear trunk hinges, and bumper look identical. The photo though is mostly a side view so not all details are available. Our car had a two tone dark green, light green paint job.

Andrew Russell
San Diego

Look how quickly these autos lost their finish, all except the Pontiac wagon look much too rough for their six or seven years of use.

Editing my own reply. I meant to say the first Ford is a 1950 model since it has the turned-down trunk lock piece above the license plate.

[You are correct. Thanks for the info. Now, who can tell if the station wagon is a 1955 or 56 Pontiac? The red-and-white color scheme is shown in the 1956 sales brochure. - Dave]

I'm pretty sure that the first Ford is a '49. We had one when I was a kid, and the trunk lock mechanism piece above the license plate was straight and did not turn down at each end like the one in the picture. The '50 Fords had the "turned down" piece.

Good job everyone. From left to right are: 1950 Ford, 1950 Buick Roadmaster, 1951 Ford, Kaiser-Frazer "Henry J" (1951 model, most of which had no trunk lids), 1955 or 1956 Pontiac wagon (which both used the same rear fenders as the 1955 Chevrolet wagon, with different taillights).

I see a Henry J! (and a couple of '50/51 Fords, a Buick and a Pontiac)

The car I learned to drive on was my dad's old blue 49 Ford with a column shift 3 speed. The body was absolutely cherry. My dad sold it for 50 bucks decades ago.

The car with fuel stain by the gas cap (next to the Pontiac) is '51 (or so) Kaiser-Frazier Henry J. You can almost make out the script above the license plate.

The fourth car from the left seems to be a Kaiser or a Henry J, probably the latter which was also sold by Sears--think they called it the Allstate. The one on the right looks like a '56 Chevy wagon.

L to R: 49/50 Ford; 49/50-51 Buick, 49/50 Ford, don't know, a Muntz Jet maybe?, Pontiac Wagon, early 50s (used Chevy tail lights with chrome insert)