How the Station Wagon Morphed Into
the ‘Sport Utility Vehicle’
Back when everybody traveled by train, ‘Station Wagon’ was just another derivative of ‘Depot Hack’. Basically they were taxis used to carry passengers and luggage from (railroad) stations. The term ‘station wagon’ generally replaced ‘depot hack” sometime between 1923 and 1929, when Ford produced a Model A wagon. By 1941, Chrysler introduced the Town & Country station wagon, which was based on a four-door sedan. It was originally introduced as being a more versatile car, not a station wagon.
By the post-war period this definition applied only to the classic, stretched wheelbase, rear-wheel drive vehicle, derived from a standard production automobile, with some form of rear tailgate.
I like station wagons. It’s not just that wagons are practical. Like many Boomers, one of these suburban road warriors loom large in my memory, crawling around in the back of a ‘59 Chevy Kingswood 9-passenger that had such a leaky tailgate I inhaled a year’s supply of carbon monoxide every time we went to the beach. That explains a lot, doesn’t it? There was really nothing else more practical for a family of six, and you could bring all your Stuff, and the dog. There was a sense of adventure about them; they were big, comfortable, reliable, with a ridiculous list of high-end options, and in many cases– fast. Most factories offered a performance motor in a wagon by just checking the box; 350-plus hp with names like ‘Interceptor’ or ‘Super Commando’. The fact that it handled like an ocean liner was irrelevant.
If your Dad had one of these, you didn’t mind borrowing it for a date when your car broke. It was faster than your car, and was, ah, more comfortable. I know this makes me a nerd, but I think station wagons look cool too, at least the ones from 50s and 60s. Some are becoming prized collectables. Its not just the real woodies, which, as everyone knows, have always been cool.
On this period, Greg Beato writes in The Smart Set that “at the height of the wagon craze, you could page through the Ford Treasury of Station Wagon Living, which advised, “The wagon is a workhouse for the do-it-yourself suburbanite…the wagon is a bedroom…the wagon is a kitchen…the wagon is a traveling nursery…the wagon is a rolling recreation device…the wagon is an entire mobile home…All these uses add up to something more than transportation, convenience or utility.”
By the late 70s’, conventional wagons were going through a die-off. The peak of the genre was the enormous ‘74 Olds Custom Cruiser and the last of the Chrysler Town & Country in 1978. The last really big Country Squire was in ‘85. The Jeep Wagoneer was way ahead of it’s time and took the station wagon to new levels when it became a cushy, optioned-out truck with “Quadratrac” automatic 4WD. If you still wanted AWD without the truckiness, AMC offered The Eagle. Imitation wood were prized. Sportier owners displayed yacht flags representing their initials on the door like Walt Griswold’s Family Truckster.
So what happened? Well, first the people that brought you “Earth Day” saw them as wretched excess, a dangerous 3-ton juggernaut belching tons of hydrocarbons. Then the “Oil Crisis” and emissions requirements dealt wagons a blow, then around the same time, Chrysler’s minivan swooped in for the kill. They were supposed to have the same room of the big wagons, and the sliding side doors were an improvement, but they were slow and the look became a poster for “uncool” vehicle. Imports got into the game too, producing their own station wagons, some even with 4WD, improving mileage but losing much of the room, comfort and power.
Even though General Motors made a bold comeback for the traditional car-platform station wagon with the ‘92-’96 Caprice, Buick Roadmaster and Olds Custom Cruiser, the Chevy Suburban was steadily evolving into what would become the new trend.
Yep, screw the gas, I want Big. Wagons didnt really “die”- they’ve always had a diehard following, and could be revived at any time. The Station Wagon was becoming a truck once again, a super-refined one. This is America. We like Big. We want Safe. Stopping the trend was like killing Godzilla by making him walk into power lines only to find it made him stronger. Then came the Denali, Escalade, Excursion and Navigator, awesome vehicles that were everything your Custom Cruiser was and more. Even Japan, who once were killing Detroit with small cars, were now producing Armadas and Sequoias, names that are metaphors for Big. We didn’t stop there either; a couple of desert wars brought us the Hummer, and now, the gargantuan Ford F650.
The station wagon going forward is going to be a mix of what consumers like most about the SUV, the minivan, and of course, the traditional station wagon. What we think of as traditional station wagons will still be with us for some time. In fact, if you take a typical SUV, apply the 50s-60s theme of ‘longer, lower, wider’, maybe what you will end up with is….
a 1996 Buick Roadmaster!