Station wagon why called

Shooting brake has a more interesting etymology. It's not. It's more a reference to things like formal, ritual fox slaughter, as "shooting" refers to a car to carry shooting parties. As in groups of upper class folks with rifles, out for a jaunty day of killing things.

Accessed 12 Nov. More Definitions for station wagon. See the full definition for station wagon in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for station wagon. Nglish: Translation of station wagon for Spanish Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of station wagon. Even if almost nobody uses the W-word.

Toyota begs to differ. Among the oldest of car designs, station wagons originally were designed to take passengers and their luggage to and from the train station, hence the name. But for lovers of station wagons, was a very dark year. That was when Chrysler introduced the minivan, and the slow decline of the wagon commenced. Honda and Toyota killed their mid-size wagons in the mids, around the same time GM halted production of the Buick Roadmaster and Chevy Caprice full-size wagons.

Now, vehicles that look and feel an awful lot like station wagons are back. Like the Venza and guys with mullet hairdos, all have been accused of putting the business in the front and the party in the back. Of course, not all carmakers, nor all drivers, shun the wagon. However, there were some bright spots for big wagons - the V8 became available in the Ford Country Squire - the biggest cubic inch motor ever installed in a wagon.

The down side was that because of ill-designed emission controls, it only made slightly more than horsepower. Really, the '70's were best left forgotten Manufacturers eschewed continual styling changes and large cars lost ground while Chrysler eliminated them entirely, Chevrolet and Ford 'downsized' their full-size cars in the late 's.

I'm sure in the future there will be many varying opinions on this George Orwell wrote about it, long-time station wagon owners fear it. While officially introduced in , the model year of the Chrysler minivan put a stake into the heart of the wagon market like nothing else before it. Instantly popular, it became the vehicle of choice for family transport. It was said that in some ways the minivan became popular because people were trying to escape the 'mom-mobile' image of the station wagons they grew up with.

The '80's also marked the era of the front-wheel drive car. Chrysler switched over almost entirely to FWD, for example, and rear-wheel drive automobiles became a much smaller section of the market. So there was a first - a station wagon and a minivan built off the same chassis. A large variety of wagons were available in almost every imported car line. You could get a compact Honda Civic station wagon, for example, or a luxurious Nissan Maxima.

And don't forget the tough little Subaru wagons. High-end German manufacturers also chimed in with the Mercedes and Audi wagons but no, no Porsche wagon. All-wheel drive became an interesting option on station wagons during the 's. Ford continued to hold a candle for station wagons It went on to become one of the most popular station wagons ever. The '90's - struggling to hold on or, the year the Roadmaster died.

As a final, shining beacon, GM introduced the last restyle of its full-size, rear-wheel wagons in with the Chevrolet Caprice. In , the Buick version Roadmaster was introduced - the final chapter in the story of full-size wagons that goes all the way back to the 's.

The Oldsmobile version Custom Cruiser disappeared after the model year, while the Caprice and the Roadmaster finished things out by lasting through the model year. Why were they dropped? To make room for producing more trucks While the Ford Taurus wagon continued to sell well, the full-size Country Squire was axed at the end of the model year.