Chrysler Built the Luxury Wagon Cadillac Never Would !

📘 Think you know your car? Check the VIN first. Full decoding guide for Classic Cars → https://classiccarshistory.com/ In 1960, the most expensive station wagon in America did not wear a Cadillac crest. It came from Chrysler. The 1960 Chrysler New Yorker Town and Country was a full-size pillarless four-door hardtop wagon. In nine-passenger form it listed at $5,131, which was more than the cheapest Cadillac you could buy that year. Cadillac, the self-styled Standard of the World, would not offer a factory station wagon of its own for another half century. Lincoln never offered one at all. In this documentary we tell both halves of the story. First, the luxury wagon Cadillac never built. Wealthy buyers had to turn to coachbuilders like Hess and Eisenhardt for one-off Cadillac wagons such as the View Master and the Broadmoor Hotel wagons. Second, the wagon Chrysler did build, and why so few people have ever seen one. We trace the Town and Country name back to the 1941 "barrel back" woodie, which wore a steel roof borrowed from the Chrysler Imperial limousine. We also follow the late-1950s hardtop wagon craze: the Rambler Cross Country, Buick Caballero, Oldsmobile Fiesta, and the Mercury Commuter and Colony Park. Then we look at Chrysler's 1960 switch to unibody construction and the challenge of keeping a long wagon roof rigid with no center pillar. Along the way you'll see the 413 V8, the AstraDome dashboard, Virgil Exner's finned styling, and the Dodge Custom 880 sibling. There's also the boardroom scandal that saw a Chrysler president resign after just 64 days. You'll also learn why the "most expensive station wagon made in America in 1962" was really a 1961 Plymouth body in disguise. We cover how Chrysler and Dodge built the last pillarless hardtop wagons in America through 1964, and what happened to the Town and Country name afterward, from woodgrain wagons to the minivan era. Finally, we look at what surviving hardtop wagons are worth today. If you enjoy classic car history, forgotten Detroit engineering and rare American luxury cars, subscribe for more deep dives into automotive history. Tell us in the comments which classic car you want us to cover next. The comment with the most likes becomes our next video. And let us know where you're watching from. #ChryslerTownAndCountry #ClassicCars #StationWagon #HardtopWagon #Chrysler #Cadillac #MoparHistory #ChryslerNewYorker #VirgilExner #AutomotiveHistory #AmericanCars #1960sCars #ClassicCarHistory #VintageCars #Detroit Sources Curbside Classic, Aaron Severson, "1962 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country: 1962's Most Expensive Luxury Wagon Was A 1961 Plymouth In Disguise" Hagerty Media, "The 6 Most Interesting Hardtop Wagons of the Postwar Era" Chris Hawkins, "The 1960 New Yorker Town & Country: King of the Luxury Wagons," Chrysler Club Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. I do not own some or all of the video materials used in this video. In the case of copyright issues, please contact me at historymediachannel1@gmail.com for credit or removal.