Eighty-two years ago, Chrysler pioneered the concept of an upmarket 'woodie' with its Town and Country wagons. Decades before the current 'sport utility' craze, these were crossover machines that mixed motoring disciplines which had previously seemed mutually exclusive.
Half luxury car, half utility vehicle, these six- or nine-passenger conveyances appealed to owners of ranches and stud farms as a means of collecting guests from the railway station, or as swanky wagons to take the well-heeled 'hunting, shooting and fishing' fraternity - in red plaid shirts and beaverskin hats - to their weekend lodges. They gave rustic credibility to country club-frequenting townies who would never strap a dead moose to the roof, but wanted you to think they might do something that manly. These were not vehicles for off-roading, yet they offered a template for much the same sort of bucolic dreams of rustic adventure in the great American wilderness.
Chrysler was on to something here: despite high prices and an upkeep regime that included varnishing the woodwork every six months just under 2000 Barrel back’ T&C wagons found homes (mostly on the mid-range Windsor straight-six chassis) before the events at Pearl Harbor put a stop to production.
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Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring