(first posted 3/20/2012) Chrysler had indeed come a long way from the dowdy boxes K.T. Keller insisted on for the late 1940s and early 1950s. But before the flamboyant plumage of the second wave of The Foward Look, These Million Dollar Look wagons added a posh touch to a few select well to do driveways around the country.
Before Virgil Exner fully got his way with all of the Chrysler lines in 1955, All of the Mopar wagons suffered from painfully dowdy looks. Although some of the pre-1955 Chryslers can hide their dowdiness with healthy dosages of chrome and a hardtop roofline, the poor wagons had the hardest time moving into the 1950s.
They looked especially dowdy next to their nearest competitors, the newly all steel (and cheaper) Special and Century Estates at Buick, which along with ditching their wooden upper body structure, gained up to 200 horsepower and a surprising zeal for performance formerly lacking in Buick family movers.
So Chrysler retaliated, finally, with a fresh looking line of cars that included a fresh new pair of Town & Country Wagons. Since Oldsmobile was absent from the Station Wagon Market from 1950 through 1956, the war for premium wagon buyers was between offerings at Chrysler and Buick. The look bestowed upon the Chryslers was equally as sporting but more elegant than the Boxy B-Brute look used by Buick.
Chrysler also kept a super premium New Yorker version of the Town & Country above the Windsor version, while Buick completely vacated the super premium wagon market until it introduced the Clamshell Estate in 1971. From 1954 through 1970 (when offered) Buick’s most premium full sized wagon was roughly the equivalent of then concurrent “Bankers Hot Rod” in the line.
It was a remarkable turn around; from being a complete also-ran in your field to being one of a few quite special competitors. And although rarer, The Chryslers didn’t suffer the growing pains that Buick suffered as it grew to #3 in auto sales.
As we all know these beautifully executed family haulers represent the calm before Chrysler self inflicted a 7 year storm on itself between the quality horrors of the Forward Look and styling oddities year after year in the early 1960s that scared away buyers.
It’s hard to believe this relatively restrained and well proportioned 1950s concoction came from the same man who came up with the idea for the 1961 Plymouth. How Virgil Exner and studio made that type of leap in 5 years is beyond me. Although decidedly gaudier than the 1955 model, the judicious usage of chrome trim give a very proper “picnic basket” appeal to these wagons. These weren’t mere carpool tools for suburban mothers, these were elegant all purpose vehicles for the well to do family.
Chrysler would keep the concept of the well to do all purpose wagon for years, and was one of the first to move the plush elegance of a luxury wagon to a more practical size, first with the Aspen/Volare based LeBaron and then the K Car LeBaron. The concept is still alive and well with us as Chrysler still uses the Town & Country name for its (supposedly) more premium minivans.
But few of its successors in name cast such an elegant, tasteful and well crafted image as the ones that shone for an all too brief few automotive seasons in the 1950s. The standard set by the elegant all purpose car has been one of the few nameplates to survive name debasement to sit in glossy brochures today.
I am in love. There has always been something about the 1956 Chrysler and DeSoto that appealed to me. They both had an almost perfect balance between blockiness and fluidity, flash and conservatism. Like baby bear’s porridge, they are just right.
My only disappointment on the wagons is that rather than investing in new rear quarter panels with proper tailfins, they popped the chrome minifin onto the top of the 1955 panel. I suppose that given the production on these, there was no way to justify a new one-year stamping.
These featured the first-ever pushbutton control for the Powerflite transmission and genuine Hemi Firepower engines. Throw in a Highway HiFi record player, and I would happily drive one of these for the rest of my life. Whose life wouldn’t be better with a view like this?
You beat me to it. I don’t know that I was ever happier than in the few rides I had in one of these as a kid in a neighbor’s car.
There is a 56 Windsor rusting away next door, please come and offer my neighbor some money to take it away. It runs but hasn’t moved in 10 years. I find the interior interesting and stylish but the overall build quality is not as nice as similar cars from that era. It’s not a hemi car, but it does have factory air.
What’s his number? Or have him call me 707-658-1978
Val
Here’s a close-up shot of the record player from a 56 Windsor sedan that was on ebay awhile back.
Thanks. I’d never really paid much attention to Mopar wagons of this vintage. Not bad looking.
It could be interesting to wonder what if the Million Dollar look came a bit early like in 1954 instead of 1955? Chrysler was affected (as well as the independents like Studebaker, Nash,Packard, Hudson, Kaiser) by the Ford-Chevrolet price-war of 1953-54 and the dowdy design didn’t helped things but would things be different if they got the Million Dollar look during that time?
Count me among those who prefer the ’55-’56 “$100 million look” to the Full Exner that replaced it. Those interior shots are such a tease – it hurts that I’ve never even ridden in one of these cars!
Maybe part of my love of these stems from the 55 DeSoto that my Grandma drove until 1967. I was about 8 when she replaced it, but that pink and white DeSoto remains one of my favorite cars from my childhood. I vividly remember some of the details, but would love to ride in one as an adult to refresh the experience.
I have great memories based on the same car. My great aunt and uncle bought a new 55 DeSoto Firedome two-door hardtop in powder blue and white, with white upholstery. They put those clear plastic seat covers on and drove it for ten years, kept it washed and waxed and garaged and it still looked like new (and this was in Indiana) when they traded it for a new 1965 Chrysler Newport four-door hardtop and moved to CA in retirement. The dealership took those covers off and there were untouched seats. Chrysler built some awfully good cars in 1955-56 and IIRC they were not the rustbuckets that the 57s quickly became.
This brings back fond memories of the two-tone blue ’55 Windsor sedan my grandmother drove back in the mid-60s. I really loved that car… The wagons are even better looking in my book, but are about as rare as hen’s teeth now.
Must confess, I never understood what it is people find “dowdy” about the Chrysler products made between ’49 and ’54. Those are some of my favorites ever, especially the wagons. Sure, they’re not blatantly glamorous, but I’ve always considered them to be extremely handsome cars.
BTW, I’ve had to resort to a dialup connection after relocating to a rather remote area (Mulberry, TN — a gorgeous place). The s-l-o-w-n-e-s-s of graphics-intensive sites just killed me at first, which is why I couldn’t take time to log in the last three months or so. It’s been a real lession in patience, LOL! Perhaps I needed that though …
Maybe you should look into a satellite for your internet connection. That’s what I’m using, and while it does scramble a good percentage of youtube videos it’s almost as fast as a typical high-speed connection. I’m using Hughes [ http://home.myhughesnet.com/index.php ] but they’re not the only outfit.
“Dowdy” defined 1949-54 for all makes, in my opinion. Don’t blame Chrysler, which was just a face in the crowd then.
In fact, in my opinion, Chrysler changed the rules of the game by itself in 1957.
I don’t think I’ve seen seen one of these in wagon form. Fantastic design. The Chryslers of this era are quite rare in Canada as we mostly got Plymouths and Plymouth derived Dodges (Plodges).
I agree with the sentiments expressed on the ’55, ’56 Chrysler and DeSoto styling. These were elegant looking cars and this style cycle should have been retained longer, instead of the plunge into shoddiness that the ’57s represented.
But I do take exception on the earlier wagons. We had a ’51 Dodge SW when I was a kid. In these earlier years the Dodge SW shared body style with the wagons from DeSoto and Chrysler. Although the sedans were dorky, the SWs somehow transformed the froggy looks into princely royalty. And the build quality was excellent. (The Dodge version did suffer from its flat head six and ‘prestomatic’ having to haul all that weight around).
I agree – the wagons carried the K.T. Keller-inspired lines better than the other body styles. Of course, my kids accurse me of having a fascination with wagons that borders on the creepy. 🙂
I like the tiny woman in the driver’s seat to make the car look huge inside. Ummm…can she reach the pedals? LOL
Good one. Using midgets in car ads is a long tradition!
It appears to me that the ’55 Plymouth wagon I shot recently and this Chrysler share the same basic body shell. The Chrysler has a longer front end, and longer fins, but the middle section looks identical. Explains why the Plymouth felt so familiar and roomy inside. So were all the ’55 and ’56 Mopars so closely related; just veriations on the same body shell. Were the Chrysler any wider. Must research…(or go do some plumbing).
I don’t know about that generation specifically, but I know the ’49-’52 mopars shared the same body shell from the lowest plymouth to he biggest imperial. The only difference were rear fenders & front clips, with a longer wheelbase on the 8-cyl models. I was shopping for one of that era this past fall and it was amazing how similar & yet how different the strippo Plymouth was from the Chrysler Windsor.
I would be surprised if the Chrysler/DeSoto wagon was any wider than the Plymouth/Dodge version. However, in your picture comparison, the rear door on the Chrysler looks to be a few inches longer than the one on the Plymouth, so maybe they had a way to lenthen the body in the middle for the bigger cars.
Likewise, I seem to recall that in the fuselage era, all Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth wagons shared even the same wheelbase. When you bought a Plymouth Suburban in those years, you got quite a bargain because your car was as big as a Town & Country.
All the 2nd wave Forward Looks used the same Wagon body with the front clip from their respective brand (and dashboard) but when the 118/122inch wheelbase split came back in 1960, and the hardtop wagons came in, I think they’re were different wagons from 1960-64 (definitely in 1962-64 with the downsized ones).
Were the 1965-69 ones all the same wagon C body?
Laurence, I think you’re right – all c-body body styles were the same size except for some wheelbase tricks for the Imperials. Even then, doors could be swapped from lowly Newports into the Imp…yet the big cars had a different wheel bolt circle, among other meaningless details.
The Chrysler also looks the front axle set further forward, and has longer rear sheetmetal – not a longer load bay however.
Add me on the list of opinions that this car is very elegant – the colour helps I suppose. It actually reminds me of a 150% scale Hillman Minx series 2 or 3 wagon, the overall proportions and treatment of the greenhouse is similar.
Plymouth & Dodge and DeSoto/Chrysler/Imperial used two different bodies for all models in ’55 – ’56, but switched to a common C-body from 1957 to the end.
The ’62-’64 period does get a bit squirrelly. The ’62-’64 “full-size” Plymouths and Dodges used a similar but trimmer wagon body off the new B-body platform.
The Town and Country and later Dodge Custom 880 used the ’60 C-Body wagon with the ’61 Plymouth’s rear quarters and tailgate, with wraparound taillight housings in place of Plymouth’s rocket pods.
The re-skinned ’63-64 Chrysler still used the same wagon body, but disguised it by reverting to the fin-less ’61 Chrysler tailgate, with chrome trim capping the ends of the quarter panels. Looks about as good as you would expect:
Quite likely the black metal is the same and they simply reskinned it, GM did that for decades for its various brands.
Actually, if you look close – the rear door vent window (therefore the whole door) is larger on the Chrysler. Also, the “D” pillar shape on the Plymouth is different than that on the Chrysler.
I agree: the rear door is longer, but the main window appears to be the same. And it appears that the D pillar is a bit longer too, although it’s possible that perspective may be part of that.
It’s pretty apparent that these cars shared the same basic body, but with some stretches at various points.
A pink and white 1956 Windsor station wagon came into the wrecking yard that I used to hang out at in about 1965 or so. It was from Pennsylvania or someplace like that and had a good many rust perforations, along with a blown tranny. The black and white interior was still nice and the car hadn’t ever been hit. I certainly toyed with the idea of getting it back on the road, but other automotive things interfered. (A rusty red and white 1955 Merc Montclair 2-door hardtop with a perfect interior, which got transferred in its entirety to my stick/overdrive car.) Afaik the old Windsor station wagon never did get resurrected.
Great article, Laurence. So many fond memories…
What was it about small women and big Buicks? They abounded in my growing up years in the L.A. area. Two of my Cub Scout den mothers drove these, very petite women, one in a 1954 Buick Super, the other in a 1956 Buick Roadmaster. My mom’s best friend drove a 1957 Buick Super, also a very small statured woman. My father always said they would have to look through the steering wheel to see where they were going. Our next door neighbor would schlep us kids around in her 1950 Buick Special Sedanette, an enormous beast for this tiny woman. She would laugh uproariously as she perched herself on the edge of the front seat to reach out with her right toe to press on the accelerator to start this barge. She would drive with several pillows behind her back, not to mention the seat in the farthest forward position. And she would delight us as she drove along, suddenly pulling the key out of the ignition as the car rolled along. And that distinctive droning sound of the Dynaflow transmission. Anyone remember those Buick quirks? Love the ad copy of the ’54 Buick station wagon above, “There’s only one way to know the exceptional performance of this spacious beauty. That’s to boss it yourself.” Imagine writing that today!
Like J.P. Cavanaugh, my fondness for these era Chryslers/DeSotos came from my grandmother’s 1956 DeSoto, a two-tone pink and charcoal gray Firedome Seville two door hardtop. It epitomized the fabulous 50’s car design for me. I would sit by the hour in that car, pushing those newfangled transmission buttons, pretending to drive this floating palace. And how I loved those triple-stacked taillights. I vividly remember driving with her on the winding mountain road from her home in Palm Springs to the little mountain hamlet of Idyllwild, swirling around those narrow curves, sliding back and forth across the seat (no seat belts, power steering or power brakes, mind you, it’s a wonder we ever arrived safely), my eyes riveted on the symmetrical gullwing dashboard, with the gold letters on the glove compartment door spelling out Firedome, with that distinctive reverse “F.” An elegant car, I was always the first to jump in to go for a ride with her.
Do I remember correctly that Broderick Crawford, at one point in his series “Highway Patrol,” drove one of these station wagons? Can’t recall if it was a Chrysler or DeSoto, but somehow I remember those big ugly bechromed taillight housings. And if you watch closely on “Ozzie and Harriet,” you will spot Ozzie’s 1955 Chrysler New Yorker station wagon, just saw it recently on our local PBS station. It was always such a mystery to me how Ozzie supported that family in their idyllic suburban home with this expensive car in the garage!
Anyway, great memories, thanks for bringing them to life, again.
In later years Ozzie drove an Imperial convertible. Still no visible signs of work; he mostly kept busy inserting and removing his golf clubs from the Imp’s trunk and eating pistachio ice cream at the malt shop.
The small woman/large car mismatch afflicts my mother as well. 5’1″ and 100 lbs on a good day, and she’s almost always driven big cars. Dimensionally the biggest was probably the ’69 Impala, but only by a bit. Her current car, a 2010 Mercury Grand Marquis, isn’t much smaller.
The pillows behind the back also brings back memories. Her car throughout my childhood was a ’79 Malibu sedan, whose bench seat seemed to only have two seat positions–all the way back and all the way up. All the way up still required her to sit on a pillow and have one behind her back to be in the “proper” position! Later cars’ power seats had more travel and the pillows’ services were no longer required.
I’m going to correct myself from my previous post recalling Broderick Crawford. After some thought and research, I remembered it wasn’t Crawford who drove the ’56 DeSoto station wagon, but John Bromfield in “Sheriff of Cochise County.” Crawford had the memorable ’55 Buick Century. “Sheriff” was also a contemporary cop show, same era as Highway Patrol, but set in modern day Arizona. Sorry, trivia buffs!
As a little kid in a suburb of Buffalo NY I used to watch The Sheriff of Cochise (and Sky King) every week. I can see the Sheriff’s 1955 or ’56 Chrysler station wagon among some kind of scrubby trees in my mind’s eye even today, in black and white of course.
Then my family moved to Cochise County when my father got a new job at Ft Huachuca. Turns out they were mesquite trees. We never approached the exalted realm of the Chrysler station wagon though.
Until 1957 Chryslers were mostly better at being driven in a more stately manner. This is the Sheriff driving in probably Douglas Arizona. Turns out it was a 1956, but later he got into the Forward Look with a 1958. Both New Yorkers.
I wasn’t terribly interested in Sky King’s Cessna 310, but I was quite impressed with his 1956 Chrysler station wagon. Only those with means spent more than the cost of a Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth for station wagons.
Sky King’s niece, Penny, used to drive my eight-year old mind into fits of lust. She wore her western-style shirts prevocatively unbuttoned lower than what modesty dictated. Chrysler station wagons and teen boobies, what could be better?
Sorry, but anything less than full Forward Look is just meh to me. I appreciate prewar bulbous design (fastback, wagon, Chevy, Morris, Plymouth, Plodge) and Forward Look and clones (I’m looking at you Cadillac), but not the inbetweeners.
I know I’m being a little pedantic here, but Buick re-entered the full-size wagon market in 1970, not 1971. The 1970 Estate Wagon was a one-year model, but it was the most luxurious wagon GM offered. It could be equipped like an Electra, with or without the wood.
My family owned one. Sherwood Green, green vinyl top, green deluxe interior. First car we ever owned with power accessories. Sweet.
I have to thank jpcavanaugh for the in-dash phonograph. It brought back a memory of magazine ads I viewed in wonderment at six years of age. Even then, though, I believe I wondered what would happen when the car went over railroad tracks or hit a bump..
By the way, I’ve always loved the tail end of the fifty six DeSoto, although I’ve never owned a Chrysler product.
The ’55s are very sweet, but I’m less of a fan of the ’56’s tacked-on fins. They do a poor job of replicating the sweep of the DeSoto/Chrysler/Imperial rear quarters.
One thing I love about these wagons are the chrome external tailgate hinges. That’s some heavy-duty hardware.
Virtual CC Effect? Saw and saved this very car on eBay Motors in 2008…
Allegedly had 70,XXX original miles on it at the time….
IMHO, the 1956 Chrysler New Yorker T&C is better looking than the Windsor.
I like these wagons ,though not so much the tail lights.Those taillights have always reminded me of a Studebaker of some sort.
I prefer those earlier wagons , they’re robust looking , not flashy .
As usual , Lawrence’s photography is idyllic .
I’m surprised no mention of the Pontiac wagons of this vintage ? they used Chevrolet bodies with oddball taillights .
-Nate
I always wondered what might have happened had sanity prevailed and Exner muzzled. A refinement of the styling themes seen on the 55 – 56 models could have resulted an an elegant range for 57. Had Chrysler managed to keep to its (up to that point) good reliability record, it would have ended up in a very strong position at the start of the 60s…
one sold yesterday for $6,600
vhttp://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/feature-lots.cfm?SaleCode=CA14&ID=r0371&Order=price&feature=&collection=&grouping=&category=Cars
As the K-car based wagons were mentioned earlier, here is a picture of the 1982 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country wagon. I liked these.
The ’56 Chryslers are certainly elegant, though I’m not terribly fond of the 1956 grille design. The ’55 worked better for me. And my favorite part of the ’56 design is the execution of the rear fenders/fins on the 2 and 4-door models. The long, sweeping fenders creating a modest fin, with the clean wraparound taillights–very elegant. They should have actually put down the money to create a new stamping for the wagon as well, rather than these awkward tacked-on spears.
It would be interesting to “visualize” a ’56 300B wagon with the split grille and proper rear quarters. Sadly, my photoshop skills are not quite up to the task!
Great to see old works of mine still being recycled on Curbside Classic, but remember to keep up with my latest sightings on my own blog, like this 1967 Country Sedan I found this week:
https://dynamicdrives.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/found-in-bayview-san-francisco-1967-ford-country-sedan-station-wagon/
the styling of the Chrysler station wagons including Dodge and Plymouth had remained almost the same from 1949 through 1956 except the new sheetmetal. the 1957 station wagons was restyled on all Chrysler cars, does anyone agrees?
> Chrysler would keep the concept of the well to do all purpose wagon for years, and was one of the first to move the plush elegance of a luxury wagon to a more practical size, first with the Aspen/Volare based LeBaron and then the K Car LeBaron. The concept is still alive and well with us as Chrysler still uses the Town & Country name for its (supposedly) more premium minivans.
Not anymore, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why Chrysler dumped such a long-lived, well-known, and evocative name.
I can’t read “Volare” without getting the part from the ad stuck in my head for half an hour. I don’t think I ever heard the full song.
These look a bit shorter in height than the C body GM sedans. Were they?
Is Town & Country the longest-lived US model name? It’s been in continuous use – albeit in some years as a Windsor, Newport, or New Yorker Town & Country – since 1946, plus ’41 and ’42. Ford didn’t start calling their pickups the F-Series until 1948, IIRC.
The Chevrolet Suburban has been in continuous production and use since the 1935 model year, even during WW2 because it was a truck and the military had some uses for it. It’s important to note though that “suburban”, like “jeep”, was originally a generic term that denoted a particular body style, and anyone could use it – and several brands did, amongst them Plymouth which used it on their full-sized wagons. But Plymouth dropped their big wagons after 1978, leaving Chevrolet (and GMC) as the only brands still using that name. Someone at GM was quietly keeping close watch on the situation, and when nobody else called their vehicles Suburbans over the next ten years, they were able to trademark it for themselves and now have exclusive use.