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We’re going to do this a little different this week. For starters, two CC cars for the price of one. And the identification of this weeks cars are obvious (I hope!). Now tell me what specific feature these two cars share. Okay, not the obvious things like wheels and mufflers. A clue for the clue: this feature was not available on full size wagons from GM and Ford of this vintage. And it was also not available on most of the Saab’s competition. Another clue: it’s not something highly technical or esoteric; even women (oops!) would/could recognize and appreciate it.
A roof spoiler?
A 1970 Plymouth Fury Suburban station wagon and a 1965 Saab 95 station wagon ?!?!?
As for the feature, I think they both have rearward facing back seats…third row for the Plymouth, 2nd row for the Saab…
That’s my guess and I’m sticking with it.
1971 Plymouth Fury Suburban, and a Saab 95, other than a shifter on the column, I’d have to say what they had in common was a rear facing folding passenger seat.
My wife would kill me for posting this but…
Vanity mirrors?
1972 Plymouth Custom Suburban is the top one, love those C bodies.
I would say they share the torsion bar front suspension.
They also share no rust.
I’ll take that 72 in a heartbeat!
The Saab 95 and Plymouth Satellite wagons, as r129 mentioned earlier, both shared an integral and functional rear roof spoiler designed to keep the rear window clean. Vintage Saab enthusiasts refer to the 95’s as a “cheese slice.”
The third seat was split and faced each other, kind of like a Southwest flight.
no luggage racks on either sled?
A more lateral similarity is that both companies used specific (albeit slightly spurious) allusion to aircraft design principles as selling features in these two cars.
I can’t think of anything besides an amazing talent for rusting out…or was that the Volare?
I’ll take a shot with a rear window washer/cleaner
even women (oops!) would/could recognize and appreciate it.
I am going to go with lighted vanity mirrors
Three-row seating with rearward facing 3rd row! I alwasy wondered how three-row seating was possible in the tiny Saab, and I assume you had to be “vertically challenged” to fit into second and third row!
Rear seat (second row) that folded down flat to increase cargo space?
Total wild a$$ guess, 2 way tail gates?
Cool! 1972 Plymouths must have had two-stroke motors! ;)
A hill-holder clutch.
Heated seats?
CyCarConsulting:
The third seat was split and faced each other, kind of like a Southwest flight.
That was actually a feature unique to Ford & Mercury full sized wagons from 1965 up to the last ones in 1991. My sister and I spent many hours in those in my Dad’s 66 Country Squire. Mopars of this era used a rear facing 3rd seat, while the big GM wagons (with the clamshell tailgates) had a rear seat that faced forward. Also, The second row seats in all wagons of the big 3 folded flat. About the tailgate, I doubt the 2 way feature, because Ford started with a 2 way in 65 and went to 3 way (opened as a door with the window up or down) in 71.
On the Plymouth (which not many recall was called the Suburban) I can also eliminate the lighted visor vanity mirror, the heated seats and the hill-holder clutch.
As to Saab’s seating configurations, I am clueless. I am also guessing that Saab did not have fender mounted turn signal lights or an ignition key light, two other featurs unique to Mopars of the era. So, I will go with the rear facing 3d seat. Another idea – did the Saab have rubber steps on the bumper or grab handles for entry/exit?
I’ll offer a guess that both shared the feature of a rear window that rolled down into the backdoor/tailgate/liftgate.
Owners with no pride?
+1 for Buzzdog
+2 for r129
The Saab 95 and Plymouth Satellite wagons, as r129 mentioned earlier, both shared an integral and functional rear roof spoiler designed to keep the rear window clean. Vintage Saab enthusiasts refer to the 95’s as a “cheese slice.”
SAAB was still very heavily into aerodynamics in those days. My family owned a series of SAABs in the 60’s (but never a wagon), and one of the things that my dad liked to do was to drive in the rain with no wipers – since the air flow over the car was designed in a way that kept the rain from hitting the windshield. It’s an easy step to accept that they had the first Kamm tail lip designed to keep the rear window clean.
Bearidise:
Owners with no pride?
You are cold, sir. If I were not laughing so hard, I (as a C body Mopar fan) would be offended.
Speaking of curbside wagon finds I came across a very origional and nice shape Rx-4 wagon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/3854349010/
I’d go for the vanity mirrors. Women appreciate… but I think maybe it’s not that.
As far as making it different from Ford and GM of the same vintage, I’d go for the unit body construction, although the Plymouth had a front subframe.
even women (oops!) would/could recognize and appreciate it
Women would appreciate a mix or combination of features destined for: easy driving/maneuvering/parking, kids/goods management, vanity/beauty.
Not knowing much about both wagons makes it difficult to me to guess anything better than agree with the aforementioned vanity mirrors.
Didn’t Chrysler offer an optional rear-window cleaner on its full-size wagons? Rolling down the tailgate window would automatically clean it.
Without looking at the other comments (I promise)…
fuselage body?
Right, it’s the rear window cleaning air-ducting slice in the roof.
My father (he who had the mother-wit to buy two Bugattis back when they could be had for about a grand apiece in the late’50’s/early ’50’s), when I was about 18, said, “Kid, pick out the next family car”. Mind you, it had to work for my paralysed mother (or, more to the point, for whomever had to pick her out of the wheel chair and put her in the car) and the wheelchair. I proposed just this Saab, ring-a-ding-ding 2 cycle station wagon. What a happy gutsy practical little car and one that served the family well.
My father eventually gave it to me when I was in college…and then my (4 year older) brother totalled it on a long iced-over hill in West Virginia. Nary a scratch on us.
Wonderful car.
I believe that both GM and Ford wagons offered a “wing” that was supposed to keep the rear window clean. Their “wings” were more like spoilers, and were not as integrated into the bodywork.
The article said that this specific feature was not available on GM and Ford wagons.
Another vote for rear-facing third-row.
What r129 said. Keeps that back window clean!
Looks to me that it’s grab handles on the tailgate to get access to the roof.
Sorry guys. I owned a ’71 Estate Wagon.
It’s a rear facing third seat…