Is my wagon a wagon?

Sorry, but I have to say no. Not a wagon.
A "wagon", as in Station Wagon or Depot Hack was originally designed to carry passengers from the train station to the local hotels.
The first examples being horse driven and later motor driven automobiles.

Requirements being room for 3 to 6 passengers (with driver) AND THEIR LUGGAGE! Most times that was only a carpet bag or small trunk. But there had to be a cargo compartment.
What you have there is a "People mover" and that is all.
But then, we are always moving the goal posts in this world, and it does have a long roof. But in my opinion, it's just a truncated sedan.

 

Surprised no ones done this before. Krash nailed it with the fold down seats question. So according to mister Webster it is a wagon!!! Great news!!! Contrary to how some members might feel you can stay on the forum congratulations! On the other hand what the hell does Webster know about cars? Anyone ever had a mechanic named Webster?! Doubt it

 

Let’s compromise and call it a shooting brake

 

The only thing it ever shot were salted- and unsalted pebbles at tailgating windshields. By the looks of the body rot, most of those pebbles were likely salted

At least that many would fit in the ashtray. Once in there, there isn't much luggage they would longer need, for the ride

 

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a station wagon as "an automobile with one or more rows of folding or removable seats behind the driver and no luggage compartment but an area behind the seats into which suitcases, parcels, etc., can be loaded through a tailgate."

This discussion comes up on the forum from time to time.
Modern versions that fit this description include but are not allowed here are:
Ford Explorer
Chevrolet Suburban
Dodge Durango etc and their larger and smaller cousins.

Truth here seems a bit "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" in my opinion.

 

A Suburban was a longroofed pick-up = panel truck

 

Funny thing is, at least a few of the Vegas hotels back in the day used Travelalls and Suburbans (especially stretched versions) to move guests and their luggage from the airport or Union Station, until the Union Plaza hotel was built.

 

I downloaded an entire repair manual with enlargable pdf pages. Here's the optional instrument panel next to the one I'm stuck with

 

Ach! My pitiful German just got a major workout!

 

I dug out the brake/licenseplate light assembly from my old Yamaha SR500, a couple days ago, and have converted it for use as a required by law rear fog lamp, being that the brace holding the old one rotted out. I'm mounting it so that the reflector points upwards, instead. To do that, I had to file off the tabs from the plastic lens, to turn it around, so that the license plate clear lens doesen't shine at rear on-coming vehicles. It's slightly smaller than the original. So, it'll certainly fit within the frame of which I re-sprayed with wheel silver paint, in order to intensify the lighting through reflection. The old lamp is made of plastic and the replacement of stainless steel. It's difficult to see in the position showed, that it's pointing upwards. Meaning that I'll have to punch a hole through the sheetmetal behind thr bumper, in order for the socket to protrude, leaving the rear wall of the lamp to sit flush. That way, I can drill a couple holes for mounting



The present threaded mount holes just miss the vehicle's sheet metal wall. The lamps are stacked up over one another accordingly, in the following image. All I'll have to do is to identify which cable serves the 21 Watt brake lamp and then wire it accordingly

 

I got it in and was able to glue in the painted frame. I suppose, it looks close enough to the point where an ordinary inspector wouldn't be able to tell the difference:





I got a tip-off to a garage, not that far from here, who used to be a Daihatsu affiliate. He ordered my strut tower bearings which should show up next Wednesday and the stabilizer bar bushings which I picked up a couple days ago. I was astounded as to end up paying a normal price for these things. Including 19% sales tax, they costed 26.18€ for all four which is about 6.55€ each. The official Daihatsu website's representative wanted a total of 118.04€ for all six which would have amounted to about 19.66€ each. Here's the difference between new and 20 year old:



He said that my stabilizer bar was no longer available. What I might eventually do is to build up the bar ends, through welding beads onto them. Then take it somewhere to machine them back down to 17 millimeters diameter. I don't think that the ends have to be comprised solely of spring steel. But, I'd have to keep the rest of the bar from warming up or else.
Weil browsing Ford, Mopar and M.E.L. engines, I happened to find exactly the engine I'd want for mine. The price is in U.S. dollars and equivalent to a little more than twice of what I initially paid for the entire car. I didn't know that they even sold Daihatsu Charades, over there. Since the bottom hose has been hacked off and the seller doesen't give any further information, for the price. Especially, as to milage, I assume that he's a hack

 

So you're talking about the radiator hoses? Yeah, morons get impatient and hack hoses, cables, etc. when parting a car out. The smart disassembler takes their time.

 

Here's what one of the strut tower caps looks like, after having left the dishwasher. The complete bearing assemble was decimated. In other words, it just vanished. There were absolutely no metal shavings to be found, in the grease. So, I suspect that the strut shocks might have been replaced and the noisy bearing were just left out

 

*shakes head ruefully*