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Station wagon history starts with Model T depot hacks - according to THG

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:11 pm
by Arbs
The History Guy (THG) on youtube discusses the history of station wagons. He starts the timeline with the depot hack Model T.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-aCL9iUmVE

Re: Station wagon history starts with Model T depot hacks - according to THG

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:07 am
by Bryant
Thanks for posting! That was a nice video
Bryant

Re: Station wagon history starts with Model T depot hacks - according to THG

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 12:03 pm
by Erik Johnson
The term "station wagon" pre-dates the automobile so it actually did not start with the Model T. Same goes for "depot hackney" AKA "depot hack" and I also presume for "estate wagon."

Automobile manufactures such as Woods and Pope-Waverley produced models to which they referred as station wagons, long before the appearance of any Model T equipped with a depot hack body or Star produced its station wagon. Researching early sales literature and publications such as "Horseless Age" would probably yield other automobile companies that also produced station wagons prior to 1909.

Here is an example of the last year of the, true full-size U.S. made, rear wheel drive station wagon - a fully-loaded 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon that was owned by my parents. (Some may argue that the 2005-2008 Dodge Magnum station wagon was the last, U.S. full-sized station wagon.)

My father quit driving and my mother wanted a smaller vehicle so I literally sold it to a hick from Iowa two years ago (the gentleman's last name is Hick and he lives outside of Des Moines).

I would have like to have kept it for myself but I didn't have the space for it.