We never owned a wagon, so I have only an occasional memory of riding way back there when a friend’s mother drove us home from school. And that was in an FB Holden, so (shrugs)… As a child, it always seemed something special though. Although I asked, Dad always bought sedans, fearing the attention of thieves having his samples and order books on display rather than hidden away securely. Considering where we lived, less temptation may have been wise.
This will not be an exhaustive showing of all wagon kits, just some of the ones I have. There are such ‘memorable’ subjects as Pacer and Pinto wagons – but not in my collection. No malice aforethought, it just hasn’t happened, and probably never will. There are too many other interesting kits to build. Likewise, with some of the earlier ‘depot hack’ style bodies on the T and the wooden box on the A Fords; I just don’t find those appealing. I can paint and detail a straight-sided wooden box, and I love wood; when it comes to automotive subjects though, I prefer curves in metal. Plus, we never got the old woody wagons officially, so wood on a wagon here is more inclined to elicit a “Huh?” rather than a “Wow!”.
Maybe not this many curves though…
There are various resin aftermarket bodies as ‘conversion kits’ to rebody your common-as-dirt hardtop or sedan kit into a standout wagon. And there are some beautiful models out there. Some resin casters may offer a complete kit, if the base parts are out of production. Beautiful but expensive; figure twice the price of plastic, easily. With these bodies it’s very much a case of buyer beware, as quality can vary enormously between flawless (from some casters) to well-nigh unbuildable (some others). Price is no guide to quality. Not something you should buy without seeing the body beforehand or having a trusted recommendation. It’s not a branch of the hobby I get into much. But it’s there.
Anyway, here’s a look through some of my wagon models. And some other kinda-related ‘cousins’.
Here’s your typical prewar wooden box-style wagon. This Ford shows a bit of curvature in the woodwork at the rear, but otherwise, it’s pretty perpendicular.
Much the same postwar. Same body, different fenders and grille.
Excuse me; I just couldn’t leave it alone. Flow-through fenderlines were becoming a thing, so I adapted some for the Ford box and added Jaguar Mark IX side trim. That’s just me being me. Normal service will now resume.
Ford really got into curves for ’49. This is a Mercury; supposedly the bodies were the same, but the doors are obviously different and probably the cowls as well. While wooden side panels remain, the structure behind the scenes was all metal. As we know, metal took over, and (fake) wood became optional – if that.
Over the following years, wagons remained fairly upright two- or four-door practical boxes. Until Chevrolet threw this stylish aberration onto the market. 1955 Nomad:
Wood-free zone.
Throughout the fifties wagons became longer, lower and wider – and to a degree less practical. By 1960 a Plymouth wagon looked like this:
Take away the fins, and a Ford wagon would have had similar proportions. GM stylists were doing funky things with side glass: throwing an extra pillar in behind the doors, but otherwise much the same.
By the mid-sixties, this was the typical shape we all know, seen here on a 65 Chevelle, in a period Holden colour. Yawn?
And here’s a ’66:
But the wagon became less and less popular. Was the Dodge Magnum the final flowering of the Great American Wagon? Revell celebrated it with a model kit, including that wild door/roof opening. Okay, I’ll admit I messed with the design a bit, to make it more cohesive around the windows and upmarket-looking. Sort of Chrysler meets Audi;
Moving across to Europe, we have this Volvo 850. Ultra-practical. Boxy but good;
And now to Japan. Here’s a 1993-8 Accord wagon. More stylish, less practical;
The Honda Odyssey started off as an almost-minivan but the rest-of-world version morphed into wagon proportions in later iterations, so I’ve included that. Call it a wagon by association;
We’ve seen my Nissan Stagea recently. Here it is again. Classic wagon proportions;
Think Subaru, and you think WRX. Also available in wagon form, in the early years. I always liked the oddball styling of these, but not enough to buy one;
There was also a wagon version of the bigger Subaru. Not just in jacked up form as the Outback; in Japan there were performance versions of the Legacy too. This is the GT-B E tune II;
I’ll leave you with one last Honda, an Odyssey modified as only the Japanese tuners would do!
Next time? I think I’ll pick a year. How does 1970 sound?
See you then!
? Where’s The Stig ? . =8-) .
I really, _REALLY_ kike that Holden station wagon, are there no kits of it ? .
I loved my various station wagons but tended to use them as rolling storage sheds so no more wagons for me .
-Nate
Ah, you’re missing him, Nate? He came along after I built most of these. He’d be kind of interested in the tan Plymouth – after all, it’s got a blown Hemi – but so far as I know he hasn’t discovered that yet!
There never used to be kits of any Aussie cars (too small of a market, have to import the plastic, etc) but DDA have recently started producing plastic kits of Aussie classics. No FB wagon yet, though there might be one in resin. For some reason the later EK (same body, simpler side trim) seems more popular.
Cool I have a number of wagons in my collection
Not always easy to find, but fun to build.
Wonderful work as always. I really like the 2 Plymouth wagons, and the 2nd, pink one in particular.
Were those a commonly available kit? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that kit if so.
Thanks Jeff. The Plymouth wagons were a Johan kit, last seen in the late seventies.
Love these!
Thanks! Have a bonus finny Mopar… 🙂
I saw some interesting pictures of an Australian Simca P60 wagon 1/43 diecast. https://www.facebook.com/groups/foire.miniatures/posts/2458216064361277/
And these 4-door Aronde wagon was only sold in Australia.
I mean Simca Aronde P60 to be more specific. ^_^; And there’s more photos of a real Aronde 4-door wagon at https://www.simcaworld.net/aronde/stationwagon/indexstationwagon.php
Yes, I remember these Simca wagons from when I was a kid. Naturally it never occurred to me back then that they were anything special. Nowadays I’m amazed that we developed our own wagon body. Still, maybe I shouldn’t be: Ford was also doing local wagon bodies on the Mark 2 Zephyr, and Holden was doing entire cars from scratch. It was called industry. Not a word you hear much of these days…
More really beautiful work, Peter. I, for one, hope you do find that Pacer or Pinto wagon kit. Thinking of you not getting the wood-look sided wagons in your part of the world took some reflection on my part!
I like what you did with the Magnum. I have always wondered what one might look like if taken slightly upmarket. (Nothing wrong with the standard-issue Magnum, for the record.)
Thanks Joseph. I will say I do like faking wood with paint. Many manufacturers these days provide wood-look decals, though I prefer to do it with paint. If I was to build another Magnum (not likely) that’d be the route I’d take.
I don’t recall ever seeing a woody wagon as a kid. The first wagon I remember seeing was the FE Holden (below), along with Standard Vanguards, and smaller Hillmans and Simcas. That’s not to say there wasn’t the odd woody wagon getting around, just that the likes of Ford, GM and Chrysler didn’t offer them here. And I can understand that; we’re a pretty pragmatic bunch and I can’t imagine many Aussies would choose a maintenance-intensive wooden body.
Ford Australia tried selling a Falcon wagon with fake wood (called Squire, obviously) in the early sixties, but they were a very rare sight. Most Aussies back then went for the middle trim level Deluxe; a Futura or (later) Fairmont was an uncommon choice back then.
I had a FB sedan in almost those colours, brushed on gawd knows how many owners ago, we had numerous Holden wagons as family cars every time the models changed none particularly interesting just Holdens,
I branched out and bought wagons from various manufacturers and still have a Superminx wagon, models are easier to keep.
Back in the eighties a young relative who lived out in the sticks bought up every FB and EK, whatever body style, within about a thirty mile radius. Last time we visited he had about a dozen, one of which ran. Just old bangers nobody else wanted. Plenty of spares…
Great builds!
Thanks!
I recently built the AMT `65 Lincoln Continental, the one that includes a long roof to convert it to a wagon. To make it look more ‘production like’, I made its 4 door hardtop configuration into a ‘post sedan’ roof and covered the clear large roof with black vinyl but left the rear part over the back seat clear in a ‘D’ shape kinda like an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. I applied wood grain contact paper to the sides and painted it in a maroon color. It came out fairly decent, a ‘one off’ that could have been if a real one was ever bought to market.
Ah, the wagon that wasn’t! Although I have that Lincoln kit, I haven’t built it. That large clear roof section always bugged me. Your treatment sounds quite tasteful, Phil.
There have been a few kits over the years with add-ons to build ‘phantom’ bodystyles like that. Another one that comes to mind is the MPC ’74 Dodge Charger. Maybe not as convincing being based on the fuselage Charger. This is an old build I found since writing today’s instalment.
Another colourful and varied selection there, Peter. I really like what you did with ‘updating’ the Ford Woody. (Too) many years ago I did get an Airfix Victor 2000 estate kit at what now looks a really good price (equivalent of about £50), but haven’t got round to building it. Probably worth more as it stands though even if it isn’t quite mint.
Looking for 1977 Buick Regal 2 Dr. Hard Top
Gold in color is possible
I love station wagons, they are an American status symbol starting in the 50s, that ran to the early 90s. Of the US Big Three, it’s Ford that had won the title of Wagonmaster because Ford wagons were the best-looking, and technically the state of the art. In 1965 it was Ford that designed louvers into the D pillars to route fresh air from the sides of the car while driving with the rear tailgate window open. This keep exhaust fumes from being sucked into the back of the car and eliminated the risk of the kids breathing the exhaust fumes. All wagons faced that issue. The other benefit of routing side air to the back, was with the tailgate window up, the side air would flow across the window keeping dust from settling on the glass, and in wet weather, flowing the side air across the back would keep rain and snow from settling on the glass, both these aided visibility when looking through the rear view mirror. This was even more important before rear window electric defoggers were available. In 1966, Ford Motor Company vehicles were the first to have the Magic Tailgate gate that opened like the traditional station wagon tailgates, and they could be opened like a regular door, a brilliant feature. All of these features would later become auto industry standards for all the manufacturers. Another feature Ford introduced in the mid-60s was the double-sided key. I had a 1975 Mercury Marquis Colony Park 9 passenger wagon. Ford was the first to mount the way back seats facing each other. My Colony Park had Ford’s 460 4 barrel Motorcraft 4300 series carburetor. It had every available option including ATC and luggage rack. At that time Ford used engine vacuum to power the ATC system. It would automatically adjust the fan motor to 8 different speeds while adjusting the temperature by using little vacuum motors under the dash to open and close the air duct doors to blend air temperatures. As the system operated, you could hear ticking and hissing as the system was automatically adjusting. It was almost cute to hear the living system at work. Ford also used vacuum to open and close the hidden headlight doors, and to automatically release the parking brake when the transmission was shifted in do reverse and forward gears. I loved that wagon, in fact my family and friends all loved it too because it allowed us to travel in one car. The Mercury Marquis Colony Park was the Ford Motor Company top of the line wagon. If Lincoln built a wagon, it would have been the Colony Park. I thought the exterior styling was beautiful and bold, and yes of course it had the woodgrain paneled sides and tailgate. While that offered no practical reason to exist, if I bought one today and I wish I could, I would take mine with the woodgrain trim, thank you very much. I know I’m not alone when I say I miss those big beautiful wagons. And I know all of us that knew how cool those wagons were, we never once believed that SUVs and mini vans replaced our wagons. We never bought that.