Star Station Wagon History

In 1923 Star offered a wood-bodied station wagon as a factory body style on its four-cylinder chassis — a move often cited as the first time a station wagon was offered directly by an automaker rather than built up by an outside coachbuilder on a bare chassis. It is the Star's most lasting claim in automotive history.

Bodied largely in wood (the 'depot hack' idiom of the era, intended for hauling people and luggage between train stations and hotels), the Star wagon predated the better-known Ford Model A wagon of the late 1920s. It was a body variant of the Star Four rather than a separate model line, and it sold in modest numbers, but it marks an early step toward the station wagon becoming a mainstream factory body type.