A Town & Country minivan? To owners of the classic 1941-1950 Chrysler wood-paneled wagons, sedans and convertibles that bore the original nameplate, this may seem odd, but take a look around you. See anything that looked exactly as it did decades prior?
The name still belonged to a relatively low-volume niche craft aimed at “more mature, family-aged” buyers seeking “transportation suitably elegant and luxurious for driving to formal dinners at ‘the club’ yet practical and spacious enough for the needs of estate living,” as Chrysler put it.
Like the old T&C the minivan version came packed with goodies at a premium price. The original nine-passenger woody went for $14756 and change at a time when you could buy a Beverly Hills mansion for the cost of a 1990 contemporary tract home. The ’90 T&C sold in the mid $20k range, one price, fully equipped and with few extra cost options.
Where the hallmark of the postwar T&C was its real mahogany and whit ash exterior paneling, the most striking feature of the minivan was leather; glove-soft, sweet-smelling, gathered leather seats with vinyl trim, just like the Chrysler TC by Maserati.
To distinguish this luxo-van from its lesser T115 kin, the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan, the Town & Country sported the classic Chrysler grille, 15-inch cast aluminum wheels, a crystal Pentastar hood ornament and wood-grain body-side and liftgate panes accented by wood-look moldings.
Of course it wasn’t real wood, that would be about as practical as a fabric coated Learjet. The ‘wood’ on the T&C won’t rot in damp weather, though, or require twice-a-year re varnishing like the original land yacht.
At an expected volume of 3000-4000, the industry’s first luxury minivan wasn’t as exclusive as the original woody, of which only 979 were produced in 1941. It was, however , a 24-carat example of what Chrysler called the “gold standard” of minivans.
mid $20k range, one price, fully equipped and with few extra cost options.
eal wood, that would be about as practical as a fabric coated Learjet. The ‘wood’ on the T&C won’t rot in damp weather, though, or require twice-a-year re varnishing like the original land yacht.
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