Estate/staion wagons of saloons, hatchbacks and convertibles

[McColm]

Hi,
Whilst surfing the net on my surfboard, I've noticed that the humble estate car plastic model kit is lacking in numbers to its sports car, or MVP counterpart. The Honda estate is still manufactured and alternative parts to upgrade your kit are available.

The easiest conversion to make, is to slice the roof off.
Buy more than one the same kit and your car can be lengthened, or a double wheel arch.
Station wagons up on until the early 1950's can be bought.


Are there any kits of estate cars/station wagons still available?

[Hobbes]

IIRC there's a kit of the Volvo 850 estate in racing trim (as used on the British touring car championship).

[PR19_Kit]

IIRC there's a kit of the Volvo 850 estate in racing trim (as used on the British touring car championship).

There is too, and it's BRILL! 

They did the standard road version 850 estate for a while too, but it didn't have as high a level of interior stuff for some reason. As a result I've been converting a BTTC 850 Estate to a road version for umpteen years, ever since I had one in fact. 

[puddingwrestler]

Chevy Nomads are easily found, I'm sure the 55 and 57 versions are out there, not sure about 56.
THen there's the AlterNomad Caprice (a customized 90s chevy Caprice wagon designed to look like a nomad)
JoHan in it's revived form put out the Rambler wagon as just about thier first kit, and it came with a hat box! (Yes, I have a great memory for useless accessories if they seem funny enough!)
And if you are up for a good Whif based on history, you could easily convert a 64 (I think, could have been a 65 or 66) Fairlane into the intriguing Barris buit, Ford designed convertawagon thingee. Basically, it's a fast back, but the whole rear roof hinges and can be raised to convert it quickly and easily into a wagon. It's really quite awesome, and could have made it into production. Details can be found in 'Bariss Customs of the 60s', and almost certainly on the net. I can't remember it's name is the problem.

[anthonyp]

Just for clarification, saloons means sedans in American, right?

Lately I've been thinking of a modern update to the Nomad, just build it off a 2006/2007 Chevy Monte Carlo SS to take on the Dodge Magnum Hemi.  Take the boot/trunk off (I think I'm using the correct terms if my watching Top Gear is allowing me to translate correctly) and the sheetmetal aft of the C-pilar, and come up with a sloped rear similar to the Magnum.

I've also got ideas for a convertible Monte, and an El Camino based one (similar to the Ute, yet infinitely cooler).  Then there's making a modern SS look like the 84 SS Monte, all angular like the new, smaller Camero.

If I ever win the Lotto, I've got some cars I need to build...

[puddingwrestler]

Remember that the Nomad MUST be two-door; the name was only ever used on the two door wagons, which had a more sporty spec.
YOu could save a lot of time modifying a MOnte Carlo by simply buying an Australian GM product, the Holden Commodore Sportswagon (I'm fairly sure there are HSV super high performance versions out there) There are porbably LHD versions out there as we export them to the far east.


Definitions wise: An Estate is a Station Wagon or Wagon. There's also something called a shooting break, I think it's a sort of two door sporty wagon custom built from a sports car (those english adn their crazy notions!)
A ute or utility is NOT a pickup; it's a light truck based on an existing car and has car-like ride and handling, although they have beefier rear suspension.
A Panel Van is a van made by sticking extra bodywork on the back of a ute to provide cargo space.
A Shaggin Wagon is a panel van with a mattress in the back.
A Saloon is a Sedan. A Super Saloon is a high performance sedan.
A Coupe is always a Coupe.
A boot is a trunk. I dunno where boot comes from, but they used to literally be trunks strapped to the back of the car and not part of the body at all.
A Bonnet is a Hood.
An Executive Car is a Full Size Car... actually, there's a rather good article on Wikipedia which lists all of the size classifications of cars and what they are called in different countries.
A Cabriolet or Cabrio is, as far as I can tell, a convertible four seater, as opposed to a convertibel two seater. I think it has to be based on a normal porduction model, and not a model in it's own right... (therefore the Honda S2000 is a Convertible, while the drop-top version of a Volkswagen Beetle is a Cabriolet)
Oh, and finally the hard-core definition of a Roadster is an open topped car with no side windows and no real provision for a roof. It's one of the most widely misused motoring terms, actually it's been misused so much that it's now basically jsut a fancy term for convertible.

[anthonyp]

Bah, since the Nomad is a coupe, it starts as the venerable 06/07 Monte Carlo SS.  The Commodore is a nice vehicle and will have had two North American incarnations in the Grand Prix G8 and the forth coming Chevy Caprice (currently in the form of a police car, expected to go into civilian production).

And I ain't modifying no car till I win millions in the "Voluntary tax on people who are bad at math."

Yeah, I got Montes on the brain since the first actual car I ever wanted was an 84, and ended up with a 2000, 2003, 2005 and a 2006 modern Monte (last one has the engine only offered for one year in 2006, the 3.9L 240hp V6, all others had the 3.8L 200hp V6).

Also thanks for the English to American translations.  Looking at the list, I knew most of them, but there were a few surprises.  I worked at GM for 7 years, and no one ever used the non-American terms for things there.  Even visiting Holden, Vauxhaul and Opel engineers kept to common terms.

[puddingwrestler]

I think it refers to a cattle station - a VERY large cattle farm. But that's an Aussie term. I think it might actually refer to a railway station as the early versions (the so called 'Woodies' since the bodies were made of wood!) were sort of like mini buses used to transport people from the station to thier hotels along with thier laugage or something.

[Roger the Cabin Boy]

To add to Puddingwrestler's definitions -

A Combi is an Estate (in Europe)

A Bakkie is a Pickup (in South Africa)

A wheel panel / mudguard is a fender in the USA.

A Fender in the rest of the World is an American guitar.

Offender is the traffic cop term for the moronic speed merchant behind the driving wheel.   

[Hobbes]

AFAIK, a shooting brake (Shooting Break is the MB show car) is any two-door wagon. Does it have to be a two seater as well?

No, the term definitely is shooting break. "Break" is the French word for 'station wagon'. I don't think it has to be a two seater.

My favorite shooting break:

[PR19_Kit]

As I may be the only one around here who's old enough to have been present when the terms 'station wagon' and 'shooting break' were in common use, please allow me to explain........... 

'Station Wagons' were variations of one's standard saloon car with a van type extension added to the rear. They were used to carry one's goods and chattels from one's country home to the nearest railway station when one wished to return to town for such un-gentlemany activities as making money etc. One wouldn't have been seen DEAD in one's station wagon when up in town!

'Shooting Breaks' were similar to station wagons in that they had similar van like extensions to the rear, but could be four doors or two doors, but usually had split rear doors/windows so that one could access one's guns when out shooting. Or at least one's man could access the guns, one wouldn't want to sully one's hands with such mundane activities as loading the guns of course, of dear me no! Shooting breaks generally never left one's estate normally, but sometimes were allowed to be used by one's staff for collecting the groceries etc.

[Hobbes]

I'm going to have to eat my words here; the term 'shooting brake' appears to have a valid origin, not just a misspelling of 'break':

In the early 19th century, a brake was a large carriage-frame with no body, used for breaking in  young horses. By the late 19th century the meaning had been extended to a large waggonette designed for country use. A "shooting brake" carried a driver and gamekeeper  facing forward and up to six sportsmen on longitudinal benches with their dogs, guns and game carried alongside in slat-sided racks.

(wiki)

[NARSES2]

Beat me to it Harro. I was about to say that there had been a form of horse transport called a shooting brake. Nice to see the derivation though. 

[Mike Wren]

some good stuff here... http://www.shooting-brake.com/



have had a Corgi 1/43 Jaguar XJ (the previous model to the current one) estate on the go for a couple of years now... although it's pregressed a fair bit since these old pics, had to completely re-do the whole rear end/roof section as it wasn't quite right, will have to take some more pics





it's pretty much based on this image...

[jcf]

A Fender in the rest of the World is an American guitar.

A fender is what you put over the side of the boat so ya don't mess up yer pretty paint when ye tie up.

... and BTW the traditional big rope fenders on the bow and stern of of a tug are called puddings.