This article gives me a vague, melancholic sense of having won an argument — just too late. One difference of opinion I had over and over with a close friend whose heart gave out a few years ago at the ripe old age of 54 was about wagons. He was a child of 1960s big-city suburbia, and to him, wagons were dowdy family haulers, nothing more. As for me, I have loved and lost many wagons, even some of the high-priced exceptions mentioned in this article, including three Volvos, a 145, a 240, and an 850 GLT, a Saab 9-5, and a 1969 Chrysler Town and Country, to name my faves, as well as my parents’ 1969 Corolla wagon, later Malibus (‘76 and ‘81), a huge late-1970s Mercury Colony Park — and my grandfather’s gorgeous 1985 Mercedes 300TD and his very last car, a manual turbo 1991 Audi 200 Quattro Avant (wagon), one of 150 ever sold in the US (his was red). They must be worth lots more than an Audi 200 sedan! I just love wagons, I guess. Always have.
As the wagon scene grew in the 2010s, esp. on the west coast, I fed my buddy magazine pieces and price charts showing how wagons were finally getting their day in the sun — but he refused to be impressed. Guy was a very skilled driver and he loved his GTI. Maybe if it had come as a wagon…? Rust in peace, old friend.
