Once upon a time in the 1970s, most moms hauled their kids around, not in silver silvermist combover pseudo-lux conveyances, but in large, ornate and oftentimes wood-sided station wagons. V8, rear wheel driven, glorious station wagons. The 1971-76 GM ‘clamshell’ station wagons were the biggest around when they debuted in Autumn 1970. So called due…

For decades, folks stepping up to a Pontiac from a Chevrolet meant getting a genuinely nicer vehicle.  Unlike in later decades, from the 1940s through most of the 1970s, the differences went beyond the grille, taillights and trim. For example, the 1972 Pontiac Catalina. The most basic full-size 1972 Pontiac you could get, but it…