Station wagon

A station wagon (US and Australian usage) or estate car (UK usage) is a normal sedan car with an extended rear cargo area. 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 taxiss). 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.

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 standard 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.

The vast majority of today's station wagons have an upward-swinging, full-width full-height rear door supported on gas struts, but historically many different designs have been used:

The Studebaker station wagon of the 1964 model year had a section of the roof open, as well as a rear tail gate which folded down. This allowed it to carry tall objects that wouldn't fit otherwise.
Chevrolet station wagons of the early 1970s had a rear window that would slide upwards into the roof as the tailgate dropped down. This was referred to as a "clamshell" arrangement.
In the 1980s, GM's and Ford's full-size wagon models had a window that moved up and down in the rear tailgate by an electric motor; it could be operated from the drivers seat, as well as by the key in the rear door. This rear door was made to open downwards like a regular tailgate (if the window was also down), or like a regular door, outward from the curb side (whether the window was up or down.)

Station wagons enjoyed their greatest popularity and highest production levels in the United States during the 1950's and 1960's. Before that time, they were considered commercial vehicles. In the 1970's, the fuel crisis of 1973 and the instituting of strict emissions controls in the U.S. in 1972 caused the full size station wagon to lose much of its appeal to U.S. consumers. The introduction of the minivan in 1983 was the final event which pushed station wagons out of mainstream consumption. After struggling sales, the last full-size wagons (Chevrolet Caprice & Buick Roadmaster) in U.S. production were discontinued in 1996. Since then, small wagons (such as Subaru's "Outback" line) have enjoyed an increase in popularity in the U.S., as safer, sportier and (in most cases) much less expensive alternatives to SUVs and minivans.

In Europe, Australia and South Africa, these vehicles remain popular and in volume production, although minivans (MPVs) and the like have had some impact.

Station wagons are lower in profile than a minivan or SUV and thus have less air resistance when driving on the highway.

In the early days, many station wagons were aftermarket conversions and had their new bodywork built with a wooden frame, sometimes with wooden panels, sometimes steel. These vehicles are called woodies and these days are highly collectable. Vestiges of this style survived for a long while on the American market (but never elsewhere) in the form of attached, non-structural wood-grained panels attached to the sides of some station wagons. Originally, these were real wood but more often they are artificial 'fake wood'. The appeal of these is such that even now there are aftermarket suppliers of them for such modern vehicles as the Chrysler PT Cruiser.

Station wagons were the originators of fold down seats to accommodate passengers or cargo.

In the United Kingdom, a very specific type, rare these days, is known as a shooting brake. These are modifications of luxury coupés with an estate car - like back fitted. They generally remain with two side doors. The purpose of them, historically, is obvious from the name; they were vehicles for the well-off shooter and hunter, giving space to carry shotguns and other equipment. They have rarely been made by the factory and are generally aftermarket conversions; some are still made. Up through the early 1960s many of them were built as woodies, making them some of the most exclusive and luxurious woodies ever built.

Station wagon

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