There are many words for the estate car across different cultures.

The British have the terms Estate of course as well as Shooting Brake, the latter most associated with two-door estates.

In Europe, they're known sometimes as Breaks, Familiales, Safaris and in America they are best known as Station Wagons and Woodies.

These trace their roots to bespoke vehicles with square rear ends, usually constructed from wood, designed to pick up hotel guests from the train station and transport them and their luggage to the hotel.

There were occasional, bespoke prewar offerings on both sides of the pond but these cars only became real production models after the war.

Germany had Mercedes-Benz Universals, France had Citroen DS Safaris and Peugeot 404 and 504 Estates, England had the Morris Traveller and the Humber Super Snipe Estate.

America meanwhile had dozens of choices, all innovative in their own ways.

Early American station wagons still used Wood and Woodies were immensely popular in t...