Wagons

A station wagon (American usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used), estate car (or just estate, British usage) or a break (French usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan, but with an extended rear cargo area. more...

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Most station wagons are modified sedan-type car bodies, having the main interior area extended to the near-vertical rear window over what would otherwise be the enclosed area of the sedan version. A hatchback car, although meeting a similar description, would not enjoy the full height of the passenger cabin all the way to the back; the rear glass of a hatchback being sloped further from vertical, and the hatch tending not to reach fully to the rear bumper, as it commonly would in a station wagon. Station wagons also have side windows over the cargo area, whereas some hatchbacks have thick "C" pillars and no cargo area windows. Two exceptions to this rule include Rambler station wagons (1952–1962) on which the roof line subtly dipped down over the cargo area, and GM's Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser (1964–1972) and Buick Sportwagon (1964–1970) on which the rear roof section was slightly elevated and combined with four skylights; the "sportwagon" name has been popularised again in recent years by some manufacturers.

A station wagon is distinguished from a minivan (multi-purpose vehicle) or sport utility vehicle by still being a car, sharing its forward bodywork with other cars in a manufacturer's range. The popularity of the minivan in the 1980s and early 1990s is credited with the decline of the traditional station wagon.

History

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.

Prior to mid 1930s, hardwoods were used by most automotive makes in framing the passenger compartments of their passenger vehicles. In automobiles, the framing was sheathed in steel which was then covered in colored lacquers for protection. Eventually, all steel bodies were adopted because of their strength, cost and durability.

Early station wagons, however, evolved from trucks and were viewed as Commercial Vehicles, not consumer automobiles. The framing of the early station wagons were left unsheathed because of the commercial nature of the vehicles. Early station wagons were fixed roof vehicles, but lacked the glass that would enclose the passenger compartment. In lieu of glass, side curtains of canvas could be unrolled. More rigid curtains could be snapped in place to protect passengers from the elements outside.

In 1922 Essex introduced the first affordable enclosed automobile, which shifted the auto industry away from open vehicles towards meeting consumer demand for enclosed automobiles. Station Wagons too, began to be enclosed, especially in higher price categories from up market automobile companies. Windows in these early enclosed models were either retractable, or sliding in nature.

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