original article: Ford Times August 1954 | text & photo: William L. Searle
THE LONG, sandy stretches of Cape Cod, and the excellent fishing off its shores—pollack, bluefish, and the mighty striped bass—are an enticement to the Massachusetts fisherman. But to the married fisherman with young children, a problem is posed. Consider my own case:
Being an enthusiastic saltwater angler, I was fortunate in marrying a girl who was equally so. But the arrival of two young members of the family created a touchy situation. My wife protested against baby sitting while I sallied forth as before, but alone, to enjoy week ends casting for stripers on the Cape.
The ultimate solution to our problem turned out to be our 1947 Ford V-8 Station Wagon, which we converted into a “beach buggy.” We weren’t the first to solve our weekend family fishing problem in this way. In fact we belong to a formal organization known as the Massachusetts Beach Buggy Association, which has about eight hundred members. Our code is to encourage safety on the Cape beaches, keeping them free of litter, and helping anyone in deep-sand difficulty.
Our own beach buggy had certain definite needs to fulfill. It must serve as a readily movable camp for sleeping, cooking, living. It must qualify as a refuge to the fisherman, his wife and children. It must transport not only the entire personnel, but all their gear and apparel. After much pencil-chewing, budget juggling and spare time carpentry, we now have in our ’47 Station Wagon the “Fishing Family Beach Buggy” supreme.
On opening the tail gate of the wagon, we find a cabinet built of plywood and finished to match the wood trim of the car. On the vertical face of this cabinet, or locker, are four cupboard doors which open to compartments for our two-burner Coleman gas cook stove, an ice box, food and swingaway can opener, and for cooking utensils and silver. In the middle section, between the compartments, rests a five-gallon water can with faucet. The lowered tail gate serves as a work shelf for the culinary “staff.”
For sleeping arrangements, we built a wooden frame extending back from the rear of the front seat. This accommodates my wife and our two children while I—because of fishing most of the dark hours—stretch out for cat naps across the front seat.
Thus does our family go fishing and week-ending from one end of Cape Cod to the other. Ours is a rolling camp that is readily interchangeable for use during the work-a-day week or weekend adventuring. Needless to say the children love it. So do their parents!
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