#Station wagons

[vintagecamping]

Lookin for some beachfront camping.

Oregon Coast

1967

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[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1964 Pontiac Bonneville Safari

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From the car files: the 1957 Buick Century Caballero station wagon.

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Bobcat sighting. Late ‘70s Mercury Bobcat, spotted in the bushes.

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Studebaker-Packard Corp. 1956

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

In celebration of me just picking up a Toyota Altezza Gita/Lexus IS300 Sportcross what are some of your favourite wagons or shooting brakes

yOOOOOO!!!!

Okay now I have to ask, is it actually an imported Toyota or did you add that just for potential clarification?

I should give context for folx out there (apparently folx is a 'more friendly' spelling to some? oh the wild wonders of language): y'all know how Lexus is a brand Toyota founded to move upmarket? Yeah, they didn't need to do that at home because Japan is much better protected from too-good-for-Toyotas-itis: I mean, if the emperor can drive (well, be driven in) Toyotas I am pretty sure you can afford to be seen in one. As a result, until 2005 Japan got Lexus models but not the Lexus brand, receiving them with Toyota branding instead (and different model names too, since the two letter acronyms were a Lexus thing).

To get to your question, though:

SEDANS I LIKE THE WAGON VERSION OF TOO

Toyota Altezza Gita/Lexus IS300 Sportcross (:D)

Indeed, I love your car! The JZ (for the folx: a six cylinder inline engine series widely regarded to be Toyota's best, capable of truly monstrous power with the right hands fiddling under the hood), the sporty, timeless styling, Toyota reliability and Lexus build quality, how no matter the market they refused to use a normal word for wagon, the chrome taillights so iconic they spawned an entire trend in 2000s car styling (especially aftermarket - hell, they still call them Altezza taillights!)... and that gauge cluster oh my GAWD

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Wagon

I don't think the street equivalent of one of the most legendary rally cars (and certainly, with the Subaru Impreza WRX STI, part of the most legendary rally war) needs any introduction. I just wanted to make sure you knew that between '05 and '07 the closest thing to a rally car a dealer would sell you also came in wagon form. In Japan only, of course. Because if Japan can't keep a cool thing to themselves, they'll make a cooler version to keep to themselves. Always.

Morris Mini Traveller/Austin Mini Countryman/Mini Clubman Estate

How do Mini fans do it, man

Who doesn't love the Mini? Who doesn't love the wagon's funky rear doors?

And who doesn't hate the time they tried to modernize its front end for the 70s? Me.

Like come on guys. You need to find within yourselves the intellectual honesty to admit that this fucks.

I rest my case. Let's move on.

Citroën DS Break/Familiale/Safari/Estate/Station Wagon

How do Citroën fans do it, man

Yes, the steering wheel had a single spoke - and by the way, that's it straight. It was angled like that so that, in a crash, it would guide your your body to the right - because there weren't seatbelts yet in 1955. Yeah. This is a 1955 design. The French are always been and likely always will be hellbent on being weird - and the Citroën DS is a distillation of the good that can come from that. It had pillarless windows! variable height suspension so effective you could only tell you had a flat by sound - and could change that flat by just having the suspension lift it for you! It had rear fenders held on by one bolt! Hell, in 1967, it got directional lights that turned with the wheels!!!!

IN 1967!!!! Few cars have them right now today!!!

Oh, and also, most interesting to us right now, it has the greatest vibe gap between sedan and wagon I have ever seen. Allow me to illustrate (and slightly exacerbate by cherry picking examples).

You get out of this with suit and tie and a watch you change the time of with felt tweezers.

You get out of this with a lab coat, plane goggles, a propeller tophat and a concoction that violates a semester's worth of laws of physics. And, potentially, seven of the biggest freaks the planet could muster, because yes, this could seat up to eight, thanks to a front bench, a middle bench, and trunk seats. "You mean a third row?" HAHA. NO.

Honorable mentions:

Mazda 6, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Corolla KE70, Audi RS4, BMW E30, Fiat 500 Giardinetta, most '60s yankee landyachts that got a wagon, and all the ones that escape me at this moment

WAGONS I LIKE MORE THAN THE SEDAN VERSION

Audi RS6 (second generation)

Here's what happened (presumably): Audi had bought Lamborghini. Great! Now Lamborghinis could use Audi interior bits, a very welcome change because Lamborghini were not exactly the interior controls GOATs. (To stick to a representative example and not be here all day, when set to Fahrenheit the Diablo's digital climate controls changed the temperature by two degree increments except between 63F and 64F and 72F and 73F. And at the extremes it said LOF and HIF because the F did not go away. So yeah.) But this also gave Audi access to Lamborghini parts - and, a couple years in, one of the engineers told the others "Jo [German for "Yo"], there's gotta be something cool we can do with Lamborghini parts!" And the other was like "Maybe we can make the new RS6 [Audian for Real Sporty version of the A6 executive sedan] with a Lambo V10! That'd be a fast fucking sedan." And the first one replied "And a fast fucking wagon too!" And their eyes locked, lighting up with villainous thrill.

I mean, I could wax lyrical about the all wheel drive and super expensy carbon ceramic brakes and the flared fenders et al but if this garbage 5 second clip does not convince you that this busts ass how could I.

Toyota Corolla E110

Well that's quite the jump. How could I possibly be interested in a car like this? If cars were meals this would be a plate of warm water. There is only one way to possibly get excited about a car this boring: personal significance. And sure enough, my Yaris-pursuing father was instead upsold a Corolla exactly like this, discounted to empty the lot in preparation for its facelift - and one day he used it to drive my momma to a hospital, they got out of it in two, and some tribulations later they got back in it in three - third being a hot-off-the-press me. This, then, was the car that was in the driveway through my stumbling infancy - and never hinted at letting us down. We then traded it for an Opel that gave us loads of trouble, the recipient traded it for an Audi that gave him loads of trouble, and on the Corolla kept getting passed on right to wherever it rests today, never letting anyone down - loyalty likely rewarded by a crusher turning it to mush. And I want another shot at doing this car right.

Okay, actually, there's another way to get excited about such a car: find out about the inevitable sick-ass Japan-only version. In this case Toyota figured they'd fit the Sprinter Carib (because Corolla wasn't near a silly enough name for the Japanese market) with a 20V 4A-GE Blacktop and a 6 speed manual, or in less technical terms "one of the greatest non-turbo powertrains of its size to ever graze a production car". Presumably just for the sake of keeping it Japan-only for the sake of annoying me personally.

Well, joke's on them, because my idea goes even harder: replicating the powertrain the hatchback version competed in World Rally Championship with - 4WD and all.

This but wagon, essentially. And then bin it in a tree in 15 seconds like I always do on the rally sim.

Honorable mentions:

1970 Dodge Coronet SW, Nissan Stagea, Volvo 940/960 wagon (which I talked about in another post!), and again all the others that I forgot.

The shooting brakes are gonna need their separate post because otherwise it hits the image limit :/

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[youare-number6]

Atomic Powered Cars with Wood Paneling

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1955 Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon

[justahillbillyfromouterspace]

50 buick roadmaster estate wagon

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1963 Pontiac Bonneville Safari

1st Annual Venice Classic

Ride far and wide

[safari65]

Nor Cal Sunday

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

Station Wagons

[stone-cold-groove]

From the car files: an illustration from the 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 station wagon brochure.