Station wagon
Either horse-drawn or automotive, the earliest use of the station wagon description would be considered to describe utility vehicles or light trucks.
[17][18] Folding rear seats designed to provide a larger space for cargo in place of passenger capacity, are also typical features for station wagons and hatchbacks.
[3] For 1969, Ford incorporated a design that allowed the rear glass to remain up or down when the door pivoted open on its side hinge, marketing the system, engineered by Donald N. Frey[22] as the "Three-Way Magic Doorgate".
The GM design, as used in a Pontiac Grand Safari, with a forward-facing third-row seat and the clamshell tailgate, was less popular with consumers and was described as the "least convenient of all wagon arrangements" with difficult passenger egress and problematic tailgate operation in comparison to the 1974 AMC Ambassador, Dodge Monaco, and Mercury Colony Park, full-size station wagons conducted by Popular Science magazine.
The AMC Hornet Sportabout was introduced for the 1972 model year and featured a "liftgate-style hatchback instead of swing-out or fold-down tailgate ... would set a precedent for liftgates in modern SUVs.
[28] Performance models of station wagons have included the 1970 Ford Falcon (XY) 'Grand Sport' pack,[29] the 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS-454 and the 1992 BMW M5 (E34).
[39][40] The first station wagons were built in around 1910 by independent manufacturers producing wooden custom bodies for the Ford Model T chassis.
The first postwar station wagon to be based on a passenger car chassis was the 1949 Plymouth Suburban, which used a two-door body style.
[41] Station wagons experienced the highest production levels in the United States from the 1950s through the 1970s as a result of the American Mid-20th century baby boom.
[55] GM eliminated the pillarless wagon from its lineup in 1959, while AMC and Ford exited the field beginning with their 1960 and 1961 vehicles, leaving Chrysler and Dodge with the body style through the 1964 model year.
Station wagons remained popular in Europe[57] and in locations where emissions and efficiency regulations did not distinguish between cars and light trucks.
European car manufacturers such as Audi, Volvo, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz continued to offer station wagons in their North American product ranges (marketed using the labels "Avant", "Touring", and "Estate" respectively).
[68][67] Unique simulated wood designs included trim on the body pillars of the compact-size Nash Rambler station wagons that went up the roof's drip rail and around on the spit liftgate.
The larger-sized Cross Country station wagon was available with bodyside wood trim that went unbroken up the C and D pillars to a thin strip on the roof above the side windows.
[85][86] The wagon embodied all the features and handling of the coupe, including the wheelbase, while only 2.5 in (64 mm) longer and increasing cargo capacity to 48.3 cu ft (1,368 L) with the rear seat down.
[87] The last two-door wagon available marketed in the United States, the Geo Storm was the 1991 and 1992 "Wagonback", featuring a long roof and a rear hatch in place of the sloping liftback versions.
Later, estates were produced by vehicle manufacturers and included the 1937 Commer (based on the Hillman Minx Magnificent) designed for "operators requiring reliable light transport units" and the chassis for the Supervan "multipurpose utility vehicle, primarily designed for estate transport ... seating accommodation for five persons and the driver ... being quickly convertible to carry anything from hunting equipment to farm produce.
Manufacturers often chose a specific model name to apply to all their estate cars as a marketing exercise - for example, Austin used the Countryman name, and Morris called it Traveller.
Rover and Austin produced 4×4 canvas-topped utility vehicles in the 1950s that were available in estate body styles sold as "Station Wagons".
Early advertising for the Land Rover version took the name literally, showing the vehicle collecting people and goods from a railway station.
Ford and Vauxhall produced factory-built estate variants of all three of their respective core models (small-, family- and large-size cars) by the 1970s.
The FD- and FE-Series Vauxhall Victors, built between 1966 and 1978, were large cars and featured estate models in the style of an American station wagon with front and rear bench seats and large-capacity petrol engines.
The Type 3's rear-engine layout was retained for the station wagon models, but the engine profile was flattened, resulting in a small car with interior room and trunk space in the front.
[citation needed] The first station wagon produced by a French manufacturer was the Citroën Traction Avant Familiale model introduced in 1935.
The Citroën ID also had a two-part tailgate and a hydropneumatic suspension that allowed a self-leveling ride height and automatic brake biasing regardless of the load carried.
Similarly to the United States, the decline of traditional Break and Familiale models in France was partly due to the introduction of the minivan in the form of the Renault Espace in 1984.
[100] In 1983, station wagons represented 15% of the passenger car market,[101] reflecting a trend throughout Europe of increasing popularity through the 1980s, with the vehicles becoming less cargo-oriented.
However, Japanese manufacturers did not build station wagons in large volumes until the 1980s when the body style, along with SUVs and minivans, boomed in popularity as leisure vehicles.
Several Japanese compact MPVs such as Subaru Exiga and Toyota Prius α take elements from older station wagons while being more in line with their corresponding category.
The first Australian-designed car was built in 1948, but locally designed station wagons did not appear until nine years later when the 1957 Holden FE was introduced.
