It's mad that the US forgot about those. I drive an estate with a sportspack - it's no sports car, but it handles nicely; it has low drag, so it sips fuel on the motorway; and it carries more than a 4x4 because the load space is a better shape. Between the car and the trailer, I've hauled a metric tonne. Every third car around here used to be an estate, until the shitty crossovers invaded and destroyed all the advantages.
I once put the back seats down in my station wagon and loaded 0.75T of soil in 40lb bags. My suspension didn't like that, but the car did just fine.
I would definitely consider a modern version of those big wood paneled ones