The 1959 Chevrolet was a polarizing design. A radical departure from its predecessor, which in turn was an even more radical departure from the ’57. The Impala two-door hardtop has its fans and it is clearly the version with the most eyeball appeal. The El Camino was a bit awkward in its original ’59 incarnation. The station wagon, like this Brookwood, is an even more kit-bashed together amalgam of shapes, planes, and angles. One thing it does have going for it is its modern-day rarity, you won’t see one every day. But here’s one that has been discovered, it’s located in Princeton, Minnesota and is available here on craigslist for a “must sell” price of $5,950. Thanks to Roger for this tip!

At the heart of a ’59 Chevy is its tail. Yes, that sounds weird but it is its tail feathers that set the ’59 apart and grab everyone’s attention. And this one has some real issues to contend with out back. The rust-through is substantial; it’s hard to tell if it’s repairable but it looks, at first blush, like it’s going to need a donor gate. As can be seen in one of the images, the seller has the taillight bezels and lenses, so that’s a help but it’s doubtful that your local “pick-ur-part” will have the tailgate.

While this Chevy is in Minnesota, and the rusty rocker panels, lower doors, and previously mentioned tailgate short-comings pay tribute to that locale, the rest of the car appears as if it has been sitting in the Arizona desert sun for many years. It’s baked! The extensive amount of trim, however, appears to be in place. That’s important as some of it may be unique to a station wagon body style and not easily sourced. The challenge with this body will be in what you don’t see, it’s behind the sheet metal where the problems fester. But all is not lost, check out the snazzy chrome-reverse wheels!

The interior is not exactly tush-friendly as we’re talking springs in the hind-side here. The door card condition should really be of concern too. Sure, they’re easy to replace but they look they came off of the USN Nautilus and that means water intrusion. If the outsides of the door skins are starting to show rust, then the insides are probably a lot worse. The floors aren’t looking too hot either. The dash gauges all seem to be in place, including what looks like the original radio, but there is some missing dash trim.

Under the expansive hood is a “powerpack” 283 CI V8 engine with 230 gross HP. At least that is what’s claimed as the non-powerpack version would be 185 HP. It’s hard to say for sure from the image presented. The seller states that the engine turns over and with yet another take on “ran when parked”, this Chevy “was running fifteen years ago”. There’s a ringing endorsement! The 283 is one of those almost indestructible engines, but the fact that it’s not seized is still good news. Even a complete rebuild is not that difficult or expensive to accomplish. The deciding factor, however, may be somewhat related to what this engine is wrapped in. An item of interest is the transmission, it is a three-speed manual with optional overdrive.

This Brookwood is looking more like a “Brokewood”, it has quite a few challenges. It is a neat find because it’s just not that common but there are lots of unknowns with the body, the underside integrity, and of course, the non-running engine. The seller suggests that it would make “a cool surfer wagon”, true but at what cost in time, material, and sweat? There are several options here, what would you do, complete restore, custom surf wagon, hot-rod, resto-mod or forget it?