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Next up in the 2008 Detroit Autorama Great 8 parade is this very vibrant, very slick 1955 Chrysler 2 Door Hard Top Wagon. Even though the car looks like it was designed this way, a ton of heavy duty work went into this one. The car has been shortened 8", chopped 2", the windshield laid by by 15 degrees, the dash was hand formed out of steel, custom floor pans throughout, custom wood deck in the back, and on and on. The motivation comes courtesy of a Hemi with a one off Hillborn injection system and power is delivered to a set of 24" Foose wheels out back. More »
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Seems the chairman of the #1 best automaker from the land of the rising sun, Ken Watanabe, liked our Maximum Wagon Day so much, he's creating a Lexus wagon from a next gen Prius. The amicable blokes over at the Trend which has to do with Motors are reporting Toyota will be bringing two dedicated hybrids to the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. More »
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We had loyal reader Citromike send in these great Citröen wagon shots yesterday, but I didn't have a chance to post them during our very first Maximum Wagon Day. So here ya go! We'll let Citromike take over the description: More »
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Yesterday saw the birth of the maybe first annual Maximum Wagon Day. Within the span of the day, the virtues and greatness of the extra capacity cars was the subject of our obsession. The day was a bittersweet exercise in appreciating an under appreciated segment. Should we really have to go out of our way to bring baby out of the corner? We say wagons for everyone. Unless you're crossing the Sahara or scaling the Rubicon trail, do you really need that ML420? Wouldn't you be happier in a car like the Intermeccanica Murena 429 GT, perhaps the greatest wagon every built? Abandon the PR spin of sport activity vehicles and crossover utilities and embrace the do-it-all perfection of the wagon as we take a spin down retrospective lane. More »
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Who needs a Subaru Outback or a Suzuki SX4 when you could have a... well... whatever these are. At least two of them seem to be variations of the Lada/AvtoVAZ 2100 series wagons set up for some serious on-roading (on-roading on Russian roads is equivalent to off-roading anywhere else). These unique wagons all appear to be stylish enough, in the Russian sense, to cruise the strada in St. Petersburg one day and then camp along the pristine shores of Lake Baikal the next. More »
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What would Maximum Wagon Day be without an homage to the wagon of death? Chariot of the Reaper? Driver of Demise? That's the hearse, of course, and, once again of course, there's no more Jalopnik a hearse than than the Jaguar E-Type version from the cult flick Harold & Maude (at left). However, the hearse business is, um, alive and well. These days, they don't call 'em hearses (except in URLs). More »
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What would Maximum Wagon Day be without a wagon battle? And nobody does track battles better than Best Motoring. This classic clip showcases two JDM wagons for the Japanese family that's really on-the-go; a Subaru Legacy GT-B and Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4 circa 1996. It's too bad they didn't include a Nissan Stagea, but even these two haulers are entertainment enough. Both have twin-turbos, AWD, a 5spd manual 'box, and more interior room than some Tokyo sleeping pods. Check out all that weight-transfer-induced oversteer on the slalom course, and enjoy the fierce 3-lap wagon battle action on the Tsukuba circuit. More »
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We were incredulous to find in our long an illustrious history, there has been nary a whisper of the Ghostbuster's iconic ambulance turned phantasm fighting mega wagon, the Ecto-1. Considering that, what better opportunity to feature it than on Maximum Wagon Day? Yes, running around the house as a kid pretending to be "going on calls" and mimicking the siren of the Ecto-1 may not have gone over well, but it sure was fun, and evidence of early onset car nerd. The original car is currently up for sale over at Hemmings for a cool $150 grand but that's a small price to pay to get everybody who ever sees asking "Who called you - the Ghostbusters?" More »
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If you were pursuing someone you'd probably want something sportier than an AMC Matador, unless the car you're chasing is actually an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser that's towing a boat. And thanks to the great handling and power of the Vista Cruiser, the Matador was evaded with explosive results. We're fairly sure that this is a clip from the show The Fall Guy, because other than that we're not having luck finding a TV show called Soldiers of Misfortune. Just watch out for that outhouse! [YouTube] More »
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The soon-to-be history Packard brand was already in the hands of the soon-to-be history Studebaker brand by the time the 1957 and 1958 "Packardbakers" were produced. Based on the Studebaker President, the Packard name was retained in the hopes of building a luxury Packard line in the future. Money was tight, so most of the styling is done rather cheaply and in a way that made them merely nice Studebakers. Given their lack of popularity, the models are quite rare. Among the most rare is the station wagon. More »
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Subaru wagons are Japan's gift to utilitarian wagon lovers everywhere. Once chided for their boxy styling and conservative power numbers, Subies have morphed into oddly bulbous, fire-breathing all-wheel-drive sleepers. But even back when they were boxy and slow, they were bulletproof. Seems a couple Connecticuter hoons wanted to test the mettle of this Subaru Loyale with a little bit of field jumping. (As is proper custom, this montage is accompanied by the NSFW lyrics of Adam Sandler's Piece of Shit Car) More »
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Everybody likes to belong, especially when you're in a cruelly outcast class of superior cargo carrying capacity and awesomeness. This is why the American Station Wagon Owners of America exists and also why you should check it out. Founded in 1966 and sporting over 500 members strong, ASWOA is the leading wagon based organization in the nation. Members rides range from Chrysler Newport wagons to Chevy caprice wagons and everything in between. Go check em out and have a happy Maximum Wagon Day. [ASWOA.com] More »
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There's nothing quite like an Aston Martin Lagonda. For a princely sum you could have the unique "folding paper" design, ginormous four-cam V8 and acres and acres of leather. But if that wasn't enough for you, there's truly nothing else like this Series 3 Lagonda Wagon/Shooting Brake. As if the original Lagonda doesn't appear long enough, the addition of the D and E pillars and the negative rake of the hatch area gives the feeling of football field length. More »
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This may actually be one of the most Jalopnik cars in existence and, as a shooting brake, it fits within our day's wagon theme. What makes it such a Jalopnik ride? Start with the fact that it's based on the Porsche 996 Carrera but upgraded to use natural gas, giving it 420 horsepower and 413 lb.-ft. of torque. Then realize that it's a wagon/shooting brake concept with room for four. Finally, remember that it is able to convert itself into a two-seater small truck. Porschaminowagon! Perfect for a Klan rally on Tatooine, as pictured above. More »
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We hope you're enjoying Maximum Wagon Day as much as we are. The Europeans continue to do it in style, this time with the new Peugeot 308 SW. We already love the overbite proportions of the 308 hatch and can appreciate the dimensions of a wagon version. The 308 SW also manages to take the functionality of an MPV with a third-row but manages to maintains the shorter greenhouse and strongly raked belt line of the other versions. The 308 SW can also be had with any of eight engines, including a 175 horsepower 1.6-liter inline-four gas engine and a 2.0-liter HDi diesel good for 126 horsepower and 260 lb.-ft. of torque. Press release and more pictures below. More »
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You have to be a certifiable maniac to dream this big. Take four, 425ci Buick engines, two drive axles, a custom Buick station wagon body and a truckload of ingenuity and what do you get? Tommy Ivo's "Riviera Wagon Master". By all accounts it was kinda slow, running the quarter in the 8's - on gasoline, did we say slow? We meant holy crap!. The vehicle had the distinction of being the first car specifically banned by the NHRA. After stripped of its race card, the car become drag racing's first exhibition car. It's on the list of things to see when we get around to the NHRA Hall of Fame where it rests today. How did the car drive on the strip? Why don't we just let a quote from Tommy Ivo do that work. More »
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What would Maximum Wagon Day be without a station wagon QOTD? We get into this debate all the time. Are station wagons cool? The Boomers associated the wagon with the bloated hulking masses their parents drove and thus moved away from them and into SUVs, which offer the same utility with a different look. But everything old is new. To younger generations, the SUV is the bloated hulking mass and the sportier European wagons are now the alternative for those that want convenience but wish to depart from the norm. We've even contrived to refer to wagons as crossovers, like the out-to-pasture Taurus X. Pity us. More »
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Yesterday was such a strange day for lovers of the wagon with breaking news both good and bad. While the coming of the 2009 Audi A4 Avant was met with pride over the multi-ringed automaker's embrace of the wagon, nary a tear was shed over our breaking the news of the death of the Ford Taurus X by 2010. Such a strange day providing news on both the low and high points of hot rear-end action is making us get all sentimental. So, in order to provide all of us the opportunity to geek out over the world's most underrated automotive form factor, we're announcing that today is Maximum Wagon Day here on Jalopnik. We'll start our wagongasm on the still creaky and strange internet of 2000, with the story of a site created by a thoughtful internet pioneer with a singular vision of bringing station wagons to the online world. It was a time when Google had just started selling keyword ads and such delightfully antiquated nuggets of verbiage such as "Click here to do a 'Yahoo!' search" still littered many-a-site. These old-school days found eBay auction items numbered with a mere nine digits — fer crissakes, they're up to 12 now. Nonetheless, with the requisite comic sans font and animated gifs, stationwagon.com was registered and off to the races. More »
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