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February 26, 1999 - Hot Rod magazine, in the March issue, has wagons featured in two places.  First, an illustration by Steve Sandford of a nosed, decked, and shaved pink '62 Chrysler with a gold roof (this was part of an article on 'suede runners, or hot rodders who chose decorated primer over paint).  The other article featured Nelson & Lynne Aregood's 1958 Buick station wagon.  Bought for $650, over four years the wagon was "reinstalled" on a '74 Chevy Caprice frame and received a 430 cubic inch '68 Wildcat V8.  They also chopped the top three inches, filled in the rear doors, and did lots of other custom touches.

 

February 13, 1999 - A number of articles (in the Feb/March Sports Car International and February Car & Driver to name two) have detailed the previously mysterious collection of automobiles collected by the royal family of Brunei.  Evidently the most expensive, exotic, and outrageous automobile collection in the world, it evidently includes a number of fascinating station wagon variants.  Examples include a Ferrari 456 four-door station wagon, called the 456 Venice project by Pininfarina (which built it).  A wagon based on the 550 Maranello was evidently proposed by Pininfarina but has not yet been built.   There is also a 4-door Aston Martin Vantage wagon, and quite a few examples of Rolls Royce sedans that were converted to station wagons.

 

February 6, 1999 - The sedan delivery bodystyle has been ignored for some time....the manufacturers didn't do a lot of advertising for them, and they have generally been missing from books and reference materials.  However, the April 1999 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine begins to set the record straight with a short history of the sedan delivery.  Now why does stationwagon.com care about sedan deliveries?  Well, while many were truck-based, many were also based on a two-door station wagon, and represent a fascinating variation on the station wagon bodystyle.  The end of the article even has some sketches by artist Jairus Watson that show what a sedan delivery could look like today based on the Ford Countour, Pontiac Firebird and Grand Am, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Dodge Intrepid, and the Plymouth Prowler (?!).  Most intriguing.

 

February 4, 1999 - The February, 1999 issue of Hot Rod magazine reports on the inaugural version of Power Tour East.  While there were other station wagons (and a hearse or so) that participated, one of the participants that went the whole distance was a 1964 Volvo B18 station wagon.  Not only was the car brought over from Sweden for the event, the three drivers were also from Mariefred, Sweden (Claes Bruh, Mikael Kun, and Per Karlsson).

 

January 20, 1999 - It's almost here.....the Saab 9-5 wagon is now slated to show up in Saab USA dealers in April.  The March, 1999 issue of Motor Trend has a 'First Drive' of the wagon.  In the style of the new BMW 5-series wagons, Saab has made sure they are emphasizing 'sport', not just enhanced cargo capacity.  But cargo capacity is huge - 37 cubic feet with the middle seats up, and 72.9 cubic feet when you put down the seats down.  Both engines are turbocharged, one a 2.3 liter four-cylinder and the other a 3.0 liter V6.  Saab is expecting sales around 3,500 units in 1999.

;l;'

The January 4th issue of  AutoWeek also has a test of the new 9-5 wagon.  It mentions some interesting facts - the wagon version's sheetmetal is different from the sedan from the A-pillar back, for example.  And the Volvo V-70 was kept in mind as a target.  And the Saab engineers are considering offering all-wheel drive some day......

 

January 10, 1999 - The new 1999 Saab 9-5 wagon has been voted one of "1999's Best of the Best" by the editors of AAA World.  It won the $35,000-$40,000 category, partly based on typical Saab quirky yet useful touches.

 

In concept car news, Mazda debuted its Protege All-Sport Concept Wagon at the Los Angeles Auto show.  As reported in the January 11th issue of AutoWeek, it is based on the 5-door wagon version of the 1999 Protege (which is sold in Japan and Europe, but not the United States).  Judging from the Outback-ish looks it is targeted straight at Subaru.

 

Speaking of Subaru, the same issue of AutoWeek has an article on the revised Subaru Outback, due out for the 2000 model year (arriving at dealers sometime in June of 1999).  The old version is still going strong, though - it seems that in December sales hit an all-time high.  If you liked the old Outback, you'll like the new one - the styling and functionality of the car are improved, but don't change the course of the car we already know.  Improvements are concentrated on more torque for the engine, reduced NVH, a limited-slip differential, a more solid body, and more room.  As you can tell, function is emphasized over form.

 

January 6, 1999 - The Detroit Auto Show unveiled two concept vehicles that may be the future of the station wagon....the Chevrolet Nomad and the Chrysler PT Cruizer.  While the Nomad is pure concept (Ford says it 'combined the performance of a sports
car with the flexibility of a sport utility'), the PT Cruizer is scheduled to be available as a 2001 model.  As a follow-up to the Nomad concept, Old Cars (March 25, 1999) had an article with classic ('55-'57) Nomad owners giving their feelings about the Nomad concept  Surprisingly, they were all very positive about the car (even though it is a four-door, unlike the '55-'57 models).

 

Both the Nomad and the PT Cruizer are the so-called 'crossover' vehicles, looking like tall wagons or minivan-SUVs.  What do you think?  Will they ever be as appealing as a classic like this '62 Dodge Dart?

 

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