Scripps News (Enlarge photo)

22/08/2008 08:24. Before minivans, sport utility vehicles, crossovers and four-door passenger-oriented pickup trucks, there was only one real choice for families: the station wagon.

Sure, you also could choose among a few other vehicles, like large vans, the venerable Chevrolet Suburban and the Volkswagen microbus. But mostly it was wagons from American manufacturers: Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Plymouth, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Mercury and Buick.

They came in giant and large sizes, though they were, in the idiom of the era, referred to as full- and mid-size.

After European, Japanese and even Korean manufacturers made inroads into the U.S. they also began to offer wagons. Soon you could find them from companies as diverse as Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Suzuki, Saab, Audi, Honda, BMW, Nissan, Subaru and, of... // Scripps News