Station wagon

A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area.

Related Topics:
United States - Australia - United Kingdom - Car body style - Sedan - Car

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The first station wagons were a product of the age of train travel. They were originally called 'depot hacks' because they worked around train depots as hacks (short for hackney carriage, an old name for taxis). They also came to be known as 'carryalls' and 'suburbans'. The name 'station wagon' is a derivative of 'depot hack'; it was a wagon that carried people and luggage from the train station to various local destinations.

Related Topics:
Train - Hackney carriage - Taxi

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Most station wagons are modified sedan-type car bodies, having the passenger area extended to the rear window (over the normal trunk area of the vehicle). Unlike a hatchback car, which otherwise meets this description, a station wagon is the full height of the passenger cabin all the way to the back; the rear glass is not sloped too far from vertical. A station wagon is distinguished from a minivan (MPV) or SUV by still being a car, sharing its forward bodywork with other cars in a manufacturer's range.

Related Topics:
Hatchback - Minivan - MPV - SUV

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Station wagons were originally considered commercial vehicles and were built on truck platforms. They became more consumer-oriented and enjoyed their greatest popularity and highest production levels in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. This was also the period of greatest variation in bodystyles, with pillared two and four door and hardtop (no "B" pillar) four door wagons offered during the 1950s and the early 1960s.

Related Topics:
1950s - 1960s

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Mercury, a division of the Ford Motor Company produced a two door hardtop wagon from 1957 to 1960. Production only reached 2,300 units for 1957.

Related Topics:
Mercury - Ford - 1957 - 1960

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Traditionally, full sized American station wagons were usually configured for 6 (three passengers front / three passengers rear seat) or 9 seats, which added a passenger seat in the rear cargo area that faced either forward or rearward. In Ford and Mercury brand wagons built after 1964, the configuration was changed to two seats facing each other, which according to the manufacturer accommodated four people.

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European manufacturers often built three-door station wagons in the post-war period for the compact class, and not five-door models, a practice that continued at Ford with its Escort Mk III in the early 1980s. Usually, by that time, manufacturers created five-door models.

Related Topics:
Europe - Escort - 1980s

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Japanese manufacturers did not value station wagons highly until very recently. For many years, models sold as well appointed station wagons in export markets were sold as utilitarian "van" models in the home market. This explains why station wagons were not updated for consecutive generations in a model's life in Japan: for instance, while a sedan might have a model life of four years, the wagon was expected to serve eight?the 1979 Toyota Corolla Wagon is an example (it was built until 1987). The Nissan Avenir is an example of a model that began its life as a utility vehicle, and became a well equipped passenger car in the 1990s.

Related Topics:
Japan - 1979 - Toyota Corolla - 1987 - Nissan Avenir - 1990s

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Australian station wagons, such as the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore, are usually built on a longer wheelbase compared to their sedan counterparts, though they share the same door skins. This leads to a slightly unusual appearance with the rear door not reaching all the way to the rear wheel arch.

Related Topics:
Ford Falcon - Holden Commodore - Wheelbase

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Newer models are usually built on smaller platforms and accommodate four or five passengers. Because of size and safety concerns, seating is no longer permitted in the rear of new passenger car-based station wagons.

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