For a single year in 1956, the Ford Parklane squared off against the Chevrolet Nomad in the sport-luxury station wagon market.
As we can see above in this two-page spread from Life magazine in June of 1956, the Ford Motor Company was as aggressive as any automaker in pursuing the red-hot station wagon market of the fifties. Included in the ad are the most deluxe wagons offered by Ford and Mercury that year, including a new two-door flagship wagon at lower right, the Parklane.
Though Ford never made any official admission, it’s a safe bet the Parklane was a response, at least in part, to the sensational Chevrolet Nomad introduced in February of 1955. (See our feature on the Nomad here.) Dearborn was not about to leave any segment of the lucrative wagon market uncontested. But while the Nomad boasted an exclusive body design first seen on a Motorama show car, Ford took a more conservative approach with its luxury-sport wagon. The Parklane shared its body shell with the standard two-door post Ranch Wagon and Custom Ranch Wagon.
The Parklane’s exterior trim adopted the theme of the top-of-the-line Fairlanes, with an extra dab of stainless steel applied over the B pillar to achieve a hardtop-like effect. Meanwhile, the interior was upholstered more like a Crown Victoria coupe, with contrasting two-tone vinyl seat coverings that created a bucket-seat look. “You’ve never seen such luxury in a station wagon before!” the brochure exclaimed.
Fine loop carpeting was featured throughout, including the rear cargo area, which was dressed out with elegant bright-metal rub strips. Like the Ranch Wagon, the Parklane was available only in a six-passenger configuration with a fold-down rear seat—there was no third-seat option. A vinyl tonneau cover snapped in place over the cargo deck when it was not in use.
With all these premium features, the Parklane was priced at $2428 at introduction, $248 more than the base Ranch Wagon, and a few bucks less than the 8-passenger, four-door Country Squire. And with its Ranch Wagon origins, the Parklane enjoyed a price and cost advantage over the $2,608 Nomad, outselling the Nomad by nearly two-to-one. More than 15,000 units were sold, but the Parklane was on the market for just one year.
For ‘1957, Ford’s two-door luxury wagon was renamed the Del Rio, where it sold in equally solid numbers through 1959. The Parklane name was then refashioned Park Lane, two words, and used by Mercury on its full-sized passenger cars from 1958 to 1960 and from 1964 through 1968.
Top and bottom photos courtesy of Mecum Auctions
Among the most lovely Ford products built in the 1950s.
A more affordable but still rare alternative to the Nomad that everyone worships today. I love it.
I’m not sure that the Nomad itself was “lucrative”. All of the bodies were produced in only one Fisher Body plant (along with Pontiac Safari in Cleveland, Ohio) and then shipped to final assembly plants all over the country. Meanwhile all other body styles were fabricated in Fisher facilities adjacent to the final assembly plants. In other words, it was an expensive process and led to the Nomad’s price being above that of even convertibles. Nevertheless, the Nomads of ’55, ’56, and ’57 are highly prized even today while the Parklane is simply a curiosity at best.
No, it says the wagon market was lucrative.
sure is spiffy
I believe, the ’56 Parklane was only available in three color combos, during its short run….tan and white, two tone blue and two tone green.
Yes. Original colors were Pine Ridge/Meadowmist Green, Bermuda/Diamond Blue, and Buckskin Tan/Colonial White. However, with the spring colors the original greens were replaced with Spring Mist/Berkshire Green. Also, there are a number of other colors out there and it’s not clear how: factory specials, dealer repaints, or what. There seems to be an unusual number of red/white cars and I wouldn’t know what that was about. So for this piece, I left the colors issue alone. It might make a story of its own at some point. Thanks for your comments.