Wagon

Once the icon of stodgy sensibility, the Volvo station wagon went out of production after the 2011 model year. Now its back, as a “sports wagon” variant of the existing S60 sedan, the automaker announced at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. “The V60 builds on our wagon heritage,” Volvo Cars of North America Chief Executive John Maloney said in a statement. “And this time, we've added sophistication with the dynamic driving performance of a sedan.” PHOTOS:   Highlights of the 2013 New York Auto Show A high-performance version, the V60 R-Design, made its world debut Thursday at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

Once the icon of stodgy sensibility, the Volvo station wagon went out of production after the 2011 model year. Now its back, as a “sports wagon” variant of the existing S60 sedan, the automaker announced at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. “The V60 builds on our wagon heritage,” Volvo Cars of North America Chief Executive John Maloney said in a statement. “And this time, we've added sophistication with the dynamic driving performance of a sedan.” PHOTOS:   Highlights of the 2013 New York Auto Show A high-performance version, the V60 R-Design, made its world debut Thursday at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

On May 27, Vicente Vasquez was digging into the bed of Echo Park Lake with his backhoe when he scraped a solid object buried under 4 feet of muck. What could it be? During the city's months-long dredging and rebuilding of the lake, workers have found lots of old bottles and assorted junk, but nothing sexy or sensational. No bodies, no bones, no rusted weapons used in unsolved crimes. Vasquez cleared a space around his discovery and saw the outlines of the buried treasure.

The Occupy movement will be making a repeat appearance at the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade, organizers and police said Monday. A 15-foot-high float, with "Mr. Monopoly" riding a red wagon, will wheel its way down the 5.5-mile route at the conclusion of the parade, organizers said. The board game character, intended to represent bankers, will have strings attached to participants who are on the verge of losing their homes or have lost their homes to foreclosure. "It symbolizes the grip the banks have on individual homeowners," said Carlos Marroquin, an organizer with Occupy Fights Foreclosures.

FEW commercials in history are more cringe-worthy than those of Saab's current "Born From Jets" campaign, in which a Swedish-built Saab Viggen fighter morphs into ... wait for it ... a Saab 9-7X SUV -- Yah, Sven, dat's a guut one. As most devoted Saab-omites know, the 9-7X is born from the rather less-than-jet-like Chevy Trailblazer, built and re-badged in that famous Scandinavian enclave of Moraine, Ohio.

Philip Crosthwaite lived his life as a cowboy. On Monday, he was buried like one. A horse-drawn wagon, followed by a riderless horse, carried his branded coffin up Santiago Canyon Road to a hillside overlooking land he had once ridden as a vaquero. His pallbearers, at his request, wore Western garb, as did many of the 200 friends, colleagues and relatives who gathered to pay homage to one of the county's oldest cowboys.

A farm tractor pulling a wagon loaded with wedding guests fell into a canal Friday, killing 13 people, according to a news report. About 30 people were riding on the tractor and in the wagon near West Godavari, about 825 miles southeast of New Delhi.

Dale Rickards, a self-styled cowboy who wrangled horses for Hollywood and turned his Malibu ranch into a faux western town for location photography, has died. He was 88. Rickards, who was a retired mounted officer for the LAPD, died of emphysema Dec. 29 at his home in the hills above Malibu, said his son Ron. After Rickards bought 11 acres off Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica Mountains in 1957, he built a home. By the early 1980s, he had opened a business there selling and renting western props such as steers' heads, wagon wheels and horse troughs.

A special California Highway Patrol accident team Monday sought the cause of a truck-station wagon collision that killed a youth baseball coach, his two sons and three other players on rain-slick U.S. 101. The CHP said the truck towing two empty trailers was southbound Sunday at 9:15 a.m. and traveling at about 50 m.p.h. when it suddenly veered into the northbound lane and struck the station wagon. Officers said the speed of the station wagon was unknown. The victims, all from Santa Rosa, were identified as Roy A. Daniel Jr., 44; his sons, Roy III, 16, and Shane, 10; Nick Mataya, 16; Brent Towers, 17, and Nate Bartholomew, 16. The Daniels and the other youngsters were headed toward Ft. Bragg for a season-opening game.

The one good thing about beating a dead horse is that the horse doesn't mind. Mary Edwards regurgitates the same tired populist myth--the little people pay while the wealthy get off easy ["Ordinary People Pay the Price for Tax Honesty," Letters, April 21]. According to IRS data, the top 1% of income earners paid 35% of the personal income tax, the top 5% paid 54%, the top 25% paid 82%, while the bottom 50% paid a mere 4%. So who's pulling the wagon and who's is riding on the wagon?

If anecdotal evidence gleaned from trips through L.A.'s moneyed coastal enclaves like Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Manhattan Beach is any indication, there's a new automotive trend for the outdoorsy yuppie. It's a station wagon. Too culturally sensitive to be caught in an SUV, yet ever mindful of the curbside erratum that is the minivan, those with an active lifestyle or projection thereof clearly seem to be finding solace in the 2013 Audi Allroad. The car is essentially a more rugged yet equally sophisticated cousin of the A4 station wagon (nee Avant)

If anecdotal evidence gleaned from trips through L.A.'s moneyed coastal enclaves like Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Manhattan Beach is any indication, there's a new automotive trend for the outdoorsy yuppie. It's a station wagon. Too culturally sensitive to be caught in an SUV, yet ever mindful of the curbside erratum that is the minivan, those with an active lifestyle or projection thereof clearly seem to be finding solace in the 2013 Audi Allroad. The car is essentially a more rugged yet equally sophisticated cousin of the A4 station wagon (nee Avant)

LAS VEGAS -- Jonathan Ward, founder of ICON autos in Chatsworth, likes to take iconic utility vehicles and give it a new spin. The Toyota Land Cruiser . The Willys CJ3B . The Ford Bronco . On the latest project, the crew at ICON took on the 1965 Dodge crew cab. ICON unveiled a special one-off Power Wagon D200 Reformer at the Optima booth at the Specialty Equipment Market Assn. trade show in Las Vegas. Photos: Highlights from the 2012 SEMA Show Painted in glossy white with black accent, the truck has a new chassis and mechanical systems taken from a modern-day Dodge Ram 3500 series pickup.

One of the quirkiest trends in the auto industry is Ford's success at selling the massive Flex in California. This is an odd vehicle - kind of a 1950s' Woody meets a 1970s Ford Country Squire station wagon. The Flex, however, is the third-best-selling full-size sport-utility vehicle in California through September, according to a report from AutoCount, the car data division of Experian Co., and the California New Car Dealers Assn. The Flex, which starts at about $30,000, is counted in that category but really is an SUV-styled station wagon.

WESTWEGO, La. -- Thousands of people brought their cars to the Alario Center in this Jefferson Parish town Friday to pick up post-hurricane necessities being handed out by the Louisiana National Guard. Keith White brought his wagon. “They didn't want to let me in -- said only people in vehicles. I told 'em, 'This is my truck,'” White said as he held onto the hand-drawn wooden cart, which was loaded with enough to keep him, his wife, Sharon,  and their niece, Tina Penner, satisfied for another 24 hours.

On May 27, Vicente Vasquez was digging into the bed of Echo Park Lake with his backhoe when he scraped a solid object buried under 4 feet of muck. What could it be? During the city's months-long dredging and rebuilding of the lake, workers have found lots of old bottles and assorted junk, but nothing sexy or sensational. No bodies, no bones, no rusted weapons used in unsolved crimes. Vasquez cleared a space around his discovery and saw the outlines of the buried treasure.

. . . And speaking of historical accuracy in the TV miniseries "Napoleon and Josephine"--how about that Bic lighter that that crafty monarchist used to light the fuse that blew up the wagon. Now there's a man who was ahead of his time. KELLEY PALMER Hollywood

Great info on Mammoth ["Need a Lift?" Winter Holidays Issue, Dec. 14]. I graduated from Lowell Whiteman School circa 1959 in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Hit a tree in a downhill race the day before my college boards. Now that I'm 67, I am going skiing again. Our cheapest trip story to Mammoth, circa late '50s-early '60s ($5 lift tickets . . . three chair lifts, three T-bars). Four of us drove in my parents' '57 Chevy wagon with $80 between us to stay for one week. We slept in that wagon.

Mireya Ingham follows her favorite food trucks on Twitter so she knows when the movable feasts set up curbside in her East Hollywood neighborhood. But some recent foodie tweets are giving her heartburn: A state lawmaker wants to significantly limit where lunch wagons can operate, keeping them even farther from schools than marijuana dispensaries. That could put many of the mobile kitchens out of business just as the industry is surging with creativity. Dozens of colorfully painted trucks have hit the road throughout California, serving gourmet dishes to largely young epicures and becoming nearly as emblematic of the state as surfboards and convertibles.

Never underestimate the significance of doors. More specifically, the significance of sliding side doors on a type of vehicle that doesn't ordinarily have them. The ease of sliding doors was the reason that, after a week with the 2012 Mazda5 hatchback, my 8-year-old son declared the car his favorite of all the vehicles he's experienced me testing. And he's been driven in a Ferrari 458 Italia, Land Rover LR4 and a whole host of other truly stunning cars. Obvious cost benefits aside, the Mazda5 is designed for everyone inside the car, not just the driver.