Sometimes it’s a little cathartic to admit that something dear to you is also maybe a little ridiculous. Doing so frees you from the burden of having to justify and defend your object of affection from any rational standpoint because you just come out and admit that rationality is not part of the deal. You can let yourself just like something, period, even if that thing really doesn’t make any sense. That’s where I think I’m at with one of my favorite car body styles, the two-door station wagon.
Yes, a two-door wagon! These are really pretty rare now, as in our modern era two-door cars in general are getting pretty rare. But a two-door wagon is even more so, as they really don’t make a hell of a lot of sense, objectively.
Now, I feel like I should clarify something here: I’m not talking about shooting brakes; those are two-door wagons, yes, but they’re two-door wagon sports cars, and as such they’re entirely freed of the burden of making any practical or rational sense. Shooting brakes are their own category, and not the same as just a two-door wagon. Remember this chart?
Shooting brakes are conceptually different than two-door wagons. A two-door wagon is something like the Chevy Nomad:
It’s just a station wagon, but only with two doors. This is sometimes done for styling reasons – maybe the Nomad rides the line of shooting brake, but I’m not sure. Sometimes, a two-door wagon is made because the small overall size of the car could make the addition of two extra doors difficult, or, more likely, just too expensive.
Take the Chevy Vega wagon, for example:
I always thought these Kammbacks were cool. Actually, maybe that one should count as a shooting brake? Look at those wheels, and that GT badge! Well, if so, then we have plenty of other examples, like the Opel Kadett Caravan:
That is just a two-door wagon. It looks like some back doors could have fit there, too. So, here we have a good example of why these make no sense. It’s a family car, designed to haul people and stuff, but you still have to squirm into that back seat like it was a coupé? It really is sorta silly. But I still love it.
The Germans seemed to like two-door wagons. Volkswagen had a few, including the Type 3 Squareback:
I never miss a chance to show a Type 3 cutaway, because I love the packaging so much:
VW also had a two-door wagon for their larger, more upscale Type 4, and this one really baffles me and drives home the madness of the two-door wagon. Because if we accept that VW didn’t make the Type 3 Squareback a four door for cost/size reasons, then how do we explain this:
The VW Type 4 wagon had only two doors, but there was a fastback version, built on the exact same platform, that had four doors, as you can see right above there. So… why didn’t the wagon have four doors? There’s definitely room, and of those two cars, the wagon is the more likely family car that would really need four doors, so what the hell was VW thinking? The wagon could have been the same as the fastback to the C-pillar, then had the wagon rear? Why didn’t they do that? I’m baffled.
I mean, Chevy pulled it off with the Corvair wagon, which wasn’t that much bigger, really:
I think one of the best examples of the two-door wagon madness may be this 1958 Dodge Regent, which had both two- and four-door wagon variants:
These were not small cars. And there was no difference in size between the two- and four-door wagons:
So… what was the point of the two-door wagon? It’s not really any sportier, the design overall is pretty much the same, it’s just a good bit less convenient, for no really good reason! It makes no sense!
And yet, I think it’s cool as hell, and of the two, I’d probably pick the one with half as many doors. Because I have brain problems, I suppose. I can’t think of any other reason to justify why.
I love two-door wagons. And they’re ridiculous. I’ve made my peace with that. I hope you can, too.
The beauty of the two-door wagon is in its simplicity and utilitarian design. The advantage at the forefront of my mind lies in the transportation of tots(or any captive audience)—with no doors for the passengers, at a time without child-locks, the opportunities for a quick “hit the ground running” escape from boredom are significantly lessened. For those without escape artists, it’s the near-perfect combination of the two-door coupe driving experience(so long as one is looking forward on a straight road), and ability to haul one’s own cargo, with none of the drawbacks of a pickup truck(such as a readily apparent mark for someone who needs help moving large items). It has extended seating and cargo area, but only when YOU need it.
I agree with you in categorizing the Nomad and Vega as near shooting brakes.
In my brain, the difference is clear on paper (but can get blurry in real life): a shooting brake is a station wagon derived from a coupé, rather than from a sedan. It’s rakish and a bit impractical.
As for the Germans, they had a long-running obsession with two-door cars, in large part because people were afraid of kids falling out of rear doors. Hence two-door wagons being the default for a very long time. Even large sedans like the Opel Rekord, Ford Granada, and Audi 100 were offered as two-doors into the 1980s. Four-door variants were considered export variants.
Brazilians were the same way, which is why Volkswagen still made two-door Paratis as late as 1997. For them it was partially about the military dictatorship always using four-door sedans to disappear people; people didn’t want to drive a car that made them look like torturers.
I saw my first Chevy Nomad at an Car Show last year here in Wisconsin. It blew my mind. One of the coolest cars I’ve ever seen in person.
https://savageonwheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/55-chevy-nomad-rt-rear-2.png?w=1024
https://savageonwheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/55-chevy-nomad-rt-front.png
I think I can solve the conundrum of whether the Vega, or any other car, is a shooting brake or a two-door wagon.
If it has a D-pillar, it’s a wagon. If it only has three pillars, it’s a shooting brake.
You’re welcome.
My dad had a 1973 Vega Kammback, yellow with a green stripe with an automatic, may have been the powerglide. That car was a miserable heap, and yet I thought that it was the coolest car I ever saw. When I see a Vega wagon for sale, everything logical about me says walk away, but I still feel the siren call. I bought a 2015 VW Golf Sportwagen TDi, and while it satisfied my craving for a longroof, the Vega still whispers in my ear…
The Chevy Nomad is a terrible example of not-a-shooting-brake, because it was sold alongside the much more normal utilitarian “Handyman” 2 door wagon, which had pillared doors and a squarer overall shape.
The nomad’s silhouette is almost decadently sporty in comparison with those thin c-pillars and that ridiculously raked tailgate. And considering the original 1954 Nomad concept was built out of a corvette, it’s got more than a little bit of “shooting brake pedigree”.
I want a 58 Edsel two door wagon. Ford produced less than one thousand of them, so not an easy buy.
I frequently need to haul bulky cargo, but I almost never have a third person in my car. I would be first in line for a 2-door wagon.
Stop Making Sense. Great movie, btw.
Yeah, I can’t make sense of it either. To me, the two/three-doors look weird. I don’t know what the price delta was between two and four. And Urban Runabout’s comment about reduced part count makes some sense, but if you were buying a car that big, did it really matter?
All the vehicles I (a now 68-year-old) grew up with were either 4-door sedans or 2-door pickups.
“…if you were buying a car that big, did it really matter?”
Yeah it mattered.
Because a $2571 BelAir Nomad vs a $2361 BelAir Beauville Wagon (Base MSRP) was “only” $200 – which would be a @$2400 difference today.
Take that down to a 150 Handyman wagon which was around $2100, or a 150 2 Door which started at $1748…
Cars were financed for 30 months at 11-12% interest – when a week’s worth of groceries for a family of 4 was $20-25.
My Dad’s family would have been considered lower-middle class – They always had 2 doors (Studebakers and Fords)
That’s why everyone didn’t get a 4 door BelAir – or a Buick for that matter.
Because yeah – the difference was a big deal.
Fair point. Maybe I just have an anti-two-door bias. As a kid, I hated the contortions to get past a forward leaning front seat to get in and out of the back in friend’s parent’s cars. It has only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older and less flexible and agile.
The point of a two-door wagon is a few points:
2 doors were cheaper than 4 doors. Because 4 doors had more parts and were more expensive to build. In the 30’s-early 50s – the cheapest car in the lineup was a 2 door “Business Coupe” – sometimes with no rear seats at all.
And since you had the parts to build a 2 door sedan and a 4 door sedan – it didn’t take a lot of work or imagination to come up with a 2 door long-roof. Again, these were for budget buyers – probably not families, but more likely businesses, ranchers, fleet drivers, deliveries. Folks who didn’t need rear passenger doors but needed the greater interior load space, and the economy of running a car as opposed to a bigger, heavier, less comfortable and more cumbersome delivery van
The Nomad was an anomaly in that it was an upper trimline for the wagon – but it was sold as a sports wagon – an early kind of “lifestyle” vehicle for surfers, “cool-cats”, etc – which is why they’ve always been quite rare. Mom was still getting the 4 door BelAir Beauville or the 210 Townsman – and while a some low-income families might get a 2 door 210 Handyman, most of them and the 150 Handyman would go to delivery guys, carpenters and veterinarians.
Remember too that low-moderate income families often did buy 2 door sedans – and they were perfectly practical because kids could clamber into the back themselves with a flick of a seatback: Car seats and seatbelts were not a thing.
Why did European automakers continue with 2 door long roofs into the 60’s and early 70s? You have to remember that their continent was largely devastated just 20-30 years before. They were still rebuilding their economies and cities – they needed to move their little families around on their limited budgets too – and 2 doors being cheaper to build than 4 doors….
I still think of the Nomad as the first Hot Hatch. I think that’s where the two door wagons went.
I agree, those 2dr wagons really are cool as hell
Back in the fifties at least, a lot of families liked two-door wagons because there were no rear doors for kids to open.