So you've often wondered where the station wagon got its name? (Or maybe you didn't... shame on you!) On the other hand, would you have been proud to tell your neighbors you'd just bought a "depot hack?" Because that's where it all began, folks, thanks to the ubiquitous Ford Model T upon which the pictured depot hack/station wagon body sits.

Back in an earlier era, prior to air travel, people would often travel by train with a distant hotel as destination. The hotel would dispatch its vehicle to pick up travelers and their luggage. Today this would be a shuttle van and the journey in a truck-based bus wouldn't be much fun. During inclement weather the depot van with its open sides wouldn't have been a happy ride either, but that's another story. The Ford Motor Company gave us the world's first depot van, as seen in this photo of a participant in the recent Model T centennial celebration in Richmond, Indiana. It was the predecessor of the station wagon, even predicting the woodies that would, for a few short years, become the fashion.

[Photo: Philip Powell]