Designing a new station wagon

NO! But hopefully someone else can. I'm almost certain a few have been in adds here. Those are the typical Ford two-way tailgates that swing like a door or fold downward after the window is lowered inside the gate.
Everything old is new again. Perhaps the station wagon can be reserrected.

 

Ah i know what your talking about now, yeah thats a cool way of doing things, but i imagine that its very heavy.

 

Keep in mind they could now add gas struts.

 

If it has a tailgate that folds down, one that you can sit on and drink a beer while watching the BBQ. Then THAT is a stationwagon!

All else is just an SUV or hatchback.

 

Might I suggest a revamp of the 71-76 roundback clamshell wagon!

Identicle frame design and a sleeker body line. They keep their resale WELL beyond their years! sides we need new stock for the derby guys!

 

Heres a thought that could solve the 4 door vs 2 door choice, and could allow a pillarless hardtop appearance, and might even help with access to a third row seat. A very wide, sliding, side door on each side that slides completely out of the way for both front and rear seat passengers. Doors could be either manual, or powered, and would allow the entire wide side glass to be lowered for both front and rear passengers. I guess the same thing could work as two separate siding doors on each side as long as the windows all go down and no center post remains to clutter the appearance with the windows down ( sort of like the 1969 Chrysler 70X concept car but without the center post).



Personally, I would like a swivel front passenger seat to ease entry for my elderly mother who is wheelchair bound. I know my niece would want anything that would ease the installation and removal of child safety seats as she finds its easier to switch cars with her husband than switch the child seats from car to car.

 

Yes, being able to sit on the tailgate, or use the tailgate as a picnic table allows the station wagon to be used for the great American tradition of "Tailgating" (Plus it allows for extra support for extra long loads).

 

yes, I believe the small drawer you are referring to..........was called a "ash tray"

 

Cat mainly needs the drawer to hide his toe nail clippings in so that Mrs Cat doesn't sit on them when she returns from shopping.

 

I'm a little confused, Meteor. Reading your assignment, it tells me you assignment is to define what the attributes of a station wagon owner are - probably phase 1 of a multi-part assignment. Next phase would be to define the parameters of the vehicle you are designing. So do you need help with what a station wagon owner is all about, or what makes an ideal station wagon?

Marshall

 

KK figured it out! we are just wagon lab rats..............

in a nut shell (and we are all nuts) if we are "character profile" we wagon lovers would be in the same category as the people who buy.....
........

.......

Etc, etc......

So we are all on expired medication based on what we like...... just different kinds of expired medication....with the side effects that follow

 

Its more of what the ideal station wagon would be. Granted i showed all of the input to my teacher today, and he basically tried telling me that station wagons have no point in the market today.

 

Your teacher is not quite correct IMO. There are still new wagons out there - Caddy CTS, Audi, Mercedes, BMW. The market is there - it's just been blown apart. First the Mini-vans took a huge chunk of the market share, then the SUV's and CUV's took over.

So my question is, What do we do to make a station wagon 'relevant' in today's market? Do we turn it into a SUV wanna-be? I don't claim to have all the answers........

 

You could show your teacher the market data for the non-US market.
Wagons ("estate" vehicles) comprise a large share of the European and Asian markets.
Last time I looked, wagons accounted for about 15% of vehicle sales in Europe.

 

I think I can answer that question quite easily. The problem with the modern day station wagon is that its not really a station wagon. Go look at a new cadillac, or a audi wagon, etc... they all have carpeting all the way through, and the roof-lines are not as high in the back so it makes the potential of carrying items harder. Not to mention the price, now a day station wagons are all luxury wagons, or high performance, nobody makes one that is purely for utility reasons. If someone made a station wagon that was as before mentioned a flat roof without a curve in the back of it, and was intended to be used by families, then they would sell like crazy. Thats my opinion at least. Just two years ago in high school, nobody wanted to be in a minivan, that was the ultimate uncool sign so to say, and the younger crowd would go crazy over a station wagon in the minivan price range. The way I see it is that the station wagons spot in todays world is the sectioned, chopped, v8 powered, rear wheel drive minivan, its just a billion times cooler. Rarely does anyone say "thats a cool minivan", but people do say quite often "thats a cool station wagon", and the younger generations live off of cool.