Before there was cup holder lighting options – heck, before there were even cup holders – automotive engineers busied themselves with the perfecting of the wagon back door. Today there are SUVs, Crossovers, and “Cute-Utes” that have supplanted the iconic station wagon across much of the suburban zeitgeist, but one thing they still almost all have in common is a back door.
These days those are almost exclusively roof-hinged hatches, although there remain the few tailgate/hatch and swinging door holdouts spicing up the competition. Back when station wagons ruled the roost back door tech was the locus of family car engineering. Magic Gates, hatchbacks, dutch doors, you name it, somebody offered it.
What I’d like to hear today is a healthy debate on which of these was the best or most efficient mechanism for station wagon – or SUV or whatever – rear access. What do you think, what is the best wagon back door?
Image: Slick Street Stuff
Hooniverse Asks: Hatch, Dutch, or Splitgate, What's The Best Wagon Back Door?
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Not the best, but certainly the coolest, is the clamshell.
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The confidence in electric gizmos at the time was amazing! And it continues to be so today, to be honest.
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There was also a manual version of the tailgate (but not the glass), with a handhold in the center, to grab the tailgate and pull it up.
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Looking back at these things, it’s hard not to have dread for all that will break and how many things you have to remove to fix them.
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It seems that manufacturers today are still unafraid of how their cars will fare in 30 years. But that’s not weird considering who pays for their goods…
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The fabled clamshell. My folks had one, with a manual pull-up gate and a big trailer hitch hanging underneath the bumper. You grabbed the center handle at the top of the gate and yanked upward to close it; it would follow a curve away from you as it rose, which tended to make your legs lean toward the bumper. Soiled and wet clothing would often follow. If you really weren’t watching, you could also bark up your shin on the trailer hitch. Snow and ice made using the gate extra special fun, and when you retracted the window up into the roof it would fall into the cargo area if you didn’t scrape it off first. Even with a manual gate you still had a power window, and you were lucky if one or both didn’t act up and jam at some point, usually when it was raining.
Still, the clamshell wagon had its novelty and momentary cool factor, and it wasn’t a bad choice for trailer towing as you could fully open both the window and gate while still hitched. -
The convertible mechanism on my 1960 Thunderbird has a hydraulic pump, 4 hydraulic cylinders, 2 electric motors, 2 right angle gearboxes driven by flexible drive shafts, 12 relays and numerous limit switches. Yeah, they thought they could build anything.
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I wonder what the control/actuation mechanisms are like on a current,(or twenty year old) Audi convertible?
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Mid 90s seems pretty similar, perhaps simpler in some ways (they aren’t screwing the deck lid closed, for example):
http://www.audifans.net/ftopic-34798-days0-orderasc-0.html
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.caldow/cabriolet/aroofelectricsystem.jpg -
A lot to go wrong. I’ve just been offered an MB SLK230, first model, with a roof fault for $900. Roof is stuck up luckily. but pricing the parts and labour for repair put me off.
And someone in my town is driving round in a SAAB 9.3 convertible with the hood not quite sealed at the rear but with the header rail closed. It’s winter in the southern hemisphere at the moment.
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Depends on where you live.
If you are in a football town, you’ll want a split-gate or at least flop-back rear seats (Ford Flex anyone?)
If it’s a rainy area a la PNW or the lake effect regions, the hatch is key so you can put away cargo and kin without standing in the rain.
Being in NJ it’s likely a moot point as all you really need is that it opens to a sizable cargo area with a smooth ingress/egress for the bodies you’re taking to the woods/meadowlands.
GM Clamshell
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A bit of trivia here – the windshield of the pictured Deora is actually a rear window from a Ford station wagon. I never knew until now that the Deora tail panel swiveled at the center.
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This will work flawlessly after an accident, of course!
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It’s forward control and its the Deora. Any accident will be fatal, either because there is no protection between you and the object being hit, or because wrecking the Deora is a Capital offense.
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Is there anything cooler than the 1966 Ford Galaxie Magic Cruiser show car? The entire roof and rear window lowered electrically to form a big fastback.
This is almost exactly what my 1987 Crown Vic wagon looked like. What you can’t see in the photo is the awesome tailgate. Put the key in and turn it one way and the window rolls down and you lower it like a traditional tailgate. Turn it the other way and you can swing open the tailgate.
It was magical.
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The only way it gets better is when you put it on a Bronco with a removable roof.
I had a 1970 Chevrolet Nomad wagon. Tailgate opened like a tailgate or it could be opened like a door. Hanged on the left when used like a door.
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Came here for this. Olds Vista Cruisers and Buicks, too.
http://tanshanomi.com/temp/animated/vistacruiser-tailgate.gif-
“That’s a Vsta Cruiser. You can literally cruise…. the vista!”
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There were too cup holders back then.
http://i40.tinypic.com/rh3ngx.jpg
Okay, sort of.
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But wait, why do you have a glove box lid on your glove box lid? 😉
Drop gate, so I have a place to change my shoes.
http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/792187/2300s_pg23.jpg
http://en.autowp.ru/image/format/picture/picture-gallery-full/f/fiat/2300/fiat_2300_s_club_prototype_2.jpeg
Well, technically it’s a shooting brake, and a concept, but i nominate
the Fiat 2300 S Club Ghia and it’s full length roof rack.
Caption: “Mom, did you remember the towels, for when this flippin’ roof leaks again?”
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One does not speak disparagingly of the Wagonaire!
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Honestly, I think this is a great ad! The freedom implied by driving your car to the woods, hang up a tarp or set up a tent, and light a fire, is cery tempting. We still do that fairly regularly. So…bring the towels!
I always liked mine.
http://www.vectis.co.uk/AuctionImages/13/337_l.jpg
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