I noticed that a neighbor in DC recently bought a VW Phaeton, and since every other house in our DC neighborhood has either a Volvo wagon, a Mercedes wagon, or a Passat wagon in front of it, the walks to the playground or preschool give me a chance to wonder what a Phaeton station wagon might look like.
This was not what I had in mind.
Apparently, I'm the first person in 35 years to ask this question. That's about the time the Eagle Coach company of Dallas, Texas introduced the Phaeton Continental Coach, a walnut&fur-trimmed station wagon conversion of a Lincoln Continental. [Seriously. "The interior of the Phaeton Continental Coach features solid walnut window sills, padded vinyl covered roof and rear pillars with opera windows, and for added luxury, genuine moulton fur carpeting."]
Still, a brochure from a random [to me] coachbuilder makes me wonder if a Phaeton wagon conversion is not so far-fetched after all. I mean, isn't a Phaeton half-Audi A8 and half-Bentley, anyway? And those are both available in wagon format... oh, wait, there's no Audi A8 Avant?
The scan above came from eBay seller Autolit, where the Phaeton Continental Coach brochure recently didn't sell for $35. Possibly because it's not selling here for $15, either.
Related: 2001 Audi Avantissimo concept [supercars.net]
2006 A8 Avant concept shots [auto-motor-und-sport.de]
Sweet. Thanks for the pic of the A8 Avant. I never thought of that before! My daily driver is a current model A8L, which I saw as a reasonable alternative to the A4 Avant I was driving previously. There's so much room in the back of the long wheel base version A8 that you don't miss not having that extra wagon storage, to be honest (at least that was the rationale). Seriously, it's bigger than our first apartment back there. But now I'm wondering about what it would cost to get a coach builder to convert mine!
Regarding the Phaeton, I drove one before I bought the Audi. I did like it, but it was heavier and slower than the Audi (steel body instead of aluminum), and I didn't want to deal with VW service people. The Audi warranty and service is much better (and free Audi loaners!), and the price was about the same.
[at least it was then. I haven't seen a luxury car depreciate as fast as the Phaeton since the Aston Martin Lagonda. They go for less than A4's now. -ed.]
Thanks for the link to the A8 Avant. I had forgotten about the car I wanted to get but realized they didn't import here in the US - the RS6 Avant I drove behind in Germany. Now that's a sweet ride. Although, I wouldn't be able to afford it at 100,000 Euros!
Drove behind an RS6? Probably WAAAAAAAAAAAAY behind!