ICONIC STATION WAGONS

VOLVO 850 WAGON

Truth be told, the 850 Wagon is nothing to shout about, it wasn’t particularly cavernous and it wasn’t really pretty or even ground breaking in design but it did race in the British Touring Car Championship.

If ever there was proof that winning on Sunday can translate directly into sales on Monday then the Volvo 850 Wagon is it.

Once it started whacking hot hatches on British race tracks in the mid 1990s, it became the wagon of choice for those who still wanted to maintain their serious driver credentials at the Teh Tarik Sessions.

It was the only wagon that was winning races and BMW hadn’t figured out that people might want an M5 with a bit more carrying capacity then.

These cars are quite rare now because, mechanically, they’re not hewn from granite like the 122, 144 and 240. If you find a wagon, pricing will start in the mid-teens but haggle well and haggle hard because the bits and bobs for this car can add up to quite a bit.

AUDI 100 WAGON avant garde wagon before the Audi 100 and no one has really, ever since.

The dramatically sloping rear hatch of this car meant that carrying capacity is seriously compromised but who cares when it looks like a station wagon born 20 years ahead of its time.

This car came at a time when Audi began embracing the super-neat aerodynamic look that has set the design tone for the company for well over 40 years.

The standard car was never really a dream drive thanks to the front-wheel drive configuration but Ingolstadt offered a Quattro version for those who wanted rapid crosscontinent travel.

I have never spotted this

MERCEDES W123 WAGON

I have to admit that I am partial to anything with a three-pointed star and the 123 is my favourite modern classic from Stuttgart.

The 123 was the last car, or so the folklore goes, that MercedesBenz designed with only the specifications in mind and it was so well built that when one company came out with an advertisement that their car would last a lifetime, Mercedes simply said theirs would last forever and no one thought they were boasting.

The 123 Wagon, like the sedan, looked like it was designed by engineers and then made a little pretty with the shiny bits. It was the very manifesto of form following function and that, to me at least, means it is the most beautiful wagon in the world. I hope you disagree and send me a strongly worded e-mail to ilham.editorial @gmail.com.

P.S. There is one wagon that I wish was actually made and that is the Saab 900. The company made two cars, one is kept at the Saab Museum while the other is roaming the countryside in pri

vate hands.