Who has the biggest - monumental comparison test of family station wagons in 1965
08/01/2012
Estate cars were already being compared in the 1960s, even though this type of vehicle was nowhere near as popular back then as it is today and the tailgate hatchbacks had the image of a craftsman's vehicle.
The magazine "Automobil Revue" published the results of the comparative test of the VW 1500 S Variant, Opel Rekord Caravan, Ford Taunus 17M Turnier and Vauxhall Victor Estate Car in No. 39/1965. To demonstrate the load capacity, a large number of suitcases were brought in and the cars were loaded, as the photo above shows. It was difficult to demonstrate the fact that the VW also had a luggage compartment at the front; the corresponding suitcase was pragmatically placed on the roof.
The picture shows that the Vauxhall had to leave the most suitcases, namely four, while the Ford and VW only had to leave two at home. There was only room for all the luggage in the Opel.
The Automobil Revue did a thorough job. More than 50,000 km were covered with the four estate cars, each car was meticulously measured and the results documented in detail on three and a half pages.
Nevertheless, the editors did not want to give a clear ranking at the end of the test drive:
"Estate cars, like all cars, can be assessed according to a wide variety of aspects, some of which even overlap and do not make a final assessment any easier. The only decisive factor for future estate car owners will therefore be their personal requirements and needs, which alone can decide whether to give priority to large load space or comfort, high driving performance or low fuel consumption, good driving characteristics under varying load conditions or luxurious interior fittings."
Compared to today's lifestyle station wagons, however, these early transport artists appear quite raw and focused on the essentials, which was perhaps not so wrong, because at least the unladen weight could be limited to 930 kg (VW) or 1025 kg (Opel Rekord).
The complete test can of course be found in the Zwischengas magazine archive . And of course the two high-resolution pictures are also stored there.