Long before SUV’s and minivans were the family haulers of choice here in the USA, there was the station wagon. These family haulers ruled the roads, and also served for many dads as the family truck, hauling whatever he needed strapped to roof, or hanging out the rear gate. Indeed many family road trips were taken in these icons of the American road.

While the Chevy Nomad may be the most widely recognized and sought after wagon from this era, it had it’s share of competition. One of the lesser known and rare to see is the Studebaker Commander Parkview. Equipped with a V8 and bench seats, this icon of a bygone era could easily haul the whole family and gear to whatever destination mom and dad had in mind.

We recently came across this 1956 model on eBay, in what we’d consider very good condition. The car has just recently had much of the interior restored. The seller claims it doesn’t leak or smoke and runs well.

The yellow and black exterior is very reminiscent of car’s from this time period as well. The seller says the car came from Colorado originally, has very little rust with the exception of some in the floor boards. This was a low option car, equipped with vinyl bench seats, a 259 cubic inch V8, automatic transmission and that’s about it. There are no power brakes or power steering, and definitely no power windows.

Located in Naples, Florida, we could see loading the kids up and heading to the beach every weekend in this car just the way it is. Of course restoring it or even resto modding it into a cool family hauler or beach wagon would also be a lot of fun. The buy it now price is set at $12,000. What would you do with an old wagon like this one?