WagonFest SoCal 2024 was beautiful. To walk out onto the top floor of the Petersen Museum’s parking garage and into a sea of unique wagons parked side by side was wonderful. Attending on behalf of Volvo — one of the last remaining wagon makers in the U.S. — I spent four hours walking around, talking to owners and checking out each wagon. And I enjoyed every minute of it.
Here are a few of the great wagons I was able to get close to a WagonFest SoCal 2024.
Volvo brought more than a few of its classic wagons out of the vault for WagonFest. One of the cleanest was this ‘99 V70 Cross Country. According to Volvo, this V70 XC was purchased brand new by the owner in Oakland, California. It was placed in storage in 2009. The owners estate had a sale and Volvo purchased the wagon from the family in 2017. The owner hardly drove it as it has just 18,400 miles and looks almost brand new.
Every Mercedes AMG wagon has been good, but the W212 generation seems as if it was designed by God himself. Mercedes’ 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 puts out a massive 603 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque in this application. This got paired with a nine-speed automatic transmission and Mercedes’ 4matic all wheel drive system tuned by AMG. The result was supercar like performance from a family hauler: independent testing has shown these things can hit 60 mph in three seconds and have a claimed top speed of 180 mph.
This owner’s Alltrack was clean and lightly modified. Despite being a poor mans Audi Allroad, this Alltrack had it’s suspension slightly lowered making it more of a cool, clean wagon for the street than one that could tackle a light trail.
Here’s something you don’t see often, a second gen Subaru GL Turbo wagon. This owner has theirs fitted with a small lift, bigger off road tires, yellow driving lights and a roof rack. Everything about it just works and I want it.
This was probably the cleanest W124 wagon I’ve ever seen. The original owner — who looked like someone’s grandfather of course — said it was purchased brand new in 1994 from Fletcher Jones Mercedes. Despite having 144,000 miles on it, it was immaculate. Not a tear or rip on the seating, not a crack on the dash. Even the carpeting looked new. It was amazing.
I suspect this is a regular Lancer Wagon with the facia and hood of an Evo grafted onto it. I could be wrong though.
This Audi 5000 CS Wagon was a bit rough — fading paint, torn seats, etc — but great nonetheless. A reminder that the 5000 CS Wagon was an ideal wagon specs wise: turbocharged engine, all wheel drive, all in a handsome form factor.
I was really surprised that there weren’t more Taycan Cross Turismos there. But, even in L.A., I’d suspect the market for a six-figure electric German station wagon is pretty small.
I had to show some love for one of two X-Type Estates in attendance. The X-Type may not have been that good, but I gotta give credit to Jaguar for bringing this thing to North America.
This one a particular gem. This owner took his Regal TourX — a vehicle that Buick thought would do battle with the Subaru Outback — and turned it into what it really is: an Opel Insignia Sports Tourer. I talked with the owner at length about what it took to to turn the TourX into an Opel. It was a lot. Aside from a bit of transmission trouble, he loves it and says he plans to keep as long as he can.
Sadly, Pontiac never actually made a factory Tempest GTO Wagon. But up close, you’d swear this thing was factory made. That’s how great the quality was.
Another Jaguar peculiarity that no one bought, this is probably one of the few times any of you will actually see an XF Sportbrake outside of Jaguar press photos. Its alleged that only 250 were ever sold in the U.S.
While there were two TSX Sport Wagons at WagonFest, this one was the better of the two because it was completely stock. Covered in burgundy with beige interior, it was wonderfully clean, so much so that I could see this thing going for a nice chunk of change if it were listed on Bring A Trailer.
Honda still makes relatively reliable and simple cars, but not this simple. This example is a 1990 Civic Wagon. Clean, and completely stock, right down to its factory steel wheels. It was so period-correct that the owner even had a Club across the steering wheel.
Just look at it. Need I say more?
This one honestly confused the hell out of me when I first saw it. It’s obviously a Camry, but it’s....different. Turns out it’s a JDM Camry Gracia Wagon. The XV20, or 4th gen Camry was called the Camry Gracia in Japan for some reason. Gracia is Spanish for grace of course. I just don’t quiet know what that has to do with a Camry... Anyway, this thing is cool.
This, unbeknownst to many attending, was probably the most rare and unique wagon at WagonFest. What you see here is known as the Castilian. This was a custom job done by a company called Traditional Coachworks out of Chatsworth, California. The Castilian started life as a 1976 Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham sedan. Traditional then constructed a roof made out of fiberglass that raked rearward and then finished it off with an almost-fastback rear tailgate. It looks fantastic in person.
It’s a massive car too: nearly 19 and a half feet long with an 11 foot wheelbase. Power came from an equally massive 8.1-liter V8. It’s said 11 of these Castilian wagons were ever made. And they were owned by legends like Sammy Davis Jr. and Elvis.