What do you call the rear compartment of a station wagon or minivan? Many know it as the way back (or wayback), not to be confused with the regular back, which is more likely to have seat belts. This is part of a complete episode.
This takes me back - yes, "way back"! We called the back of our humongous, lumbering station wagon the "way back" when I was growing up in South Dakota. No seat belts, far from supervising eyes (even facing away from our parents) and sticking our bare feet out the back window; sounds like crazy license today, but it was the norm, and we loved it! Thanks for the delicious, long-forgotten summer memory.
I once rode in a "way back" in the mid 60s returning from two weeks at Summer camp. Their station-wagon had a seat that faced rearward. The first and only time in my life I've been car sick.
We called it the "back back," and yes, it was the favorite place to sit because of the freedom from parental control that one enjoyed there. I've never heard "wayback" used for that special place, but I wonder if it's related to the "Wayback Machine" on the "Mr. Peabody" segment of the Rocky & Bullwinkle//Rocky and His Friends TV show. Mr. Peabody was a brilliant talking dog (a beagle, as I recall) who had a professorial air and a pet boy, Sherman; together they would visit famous people in history, using their Wayback Machine...I just googled "Mister Peabody," and learned that it's actually spelled WABAC, which is supposed to be "a take-off on early computer acronyms such as UNIVAC and ENIAC."
We've always used "way back" in my family. My mom's family is from Wyoming via Indiana, and my dad's family is from Wyoming via South Dakota. I'm currently in Minnesota.