WHEN it comes to cool surf wagons, it’s hard to beat one of these old Studebaker Wagonair models with the unique sliding rear roof. The idea behind it was that it gave you more space to carry things in the rear of the wagon like tall fridges or plants perhaps and on the flip side it gave rear seat passengers an open-top motoring experience. Cool concept no?

Back in the day the Studebaker must’ve been one of the quicker wagons getting around, featuring a 4.2-litre or 4.9-litre V8 under the bonnet with a three-speed column-shift auto trans. It’s never going to blow the tyres off but as a cool cruiser to take down to the beach on a Sunday, the Wagonair is a cool taste of life in the sixties.

Richard Salter is a Studebaker aficionado and bought his ’63 Wagonair last year as a project car with minimal rust. The interior trim was all in great condition so all that was left to do was give it a lick of paint and some new carpets and she was ready for the road.

We’ll be honest, we didn’t really know what the Wagonair was when we saw it, we just knew it was cool so we got Richard to explain why he likes his Wagonair so much and to fill us in on the history of these cars.