1977 Chrysler Town & Country Wagon

Overall, this seems like a decent listing. It's nicely optioned, and green on green too! The ad is Canadian, but the price comes to $11,800 US dollars.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-car...chrysler-town-county-station-wagon/1601024957

 

No thanks - former wood car that is now gone? No.

 

As far as I know, not all Town & Coutry wagons in the late 70s had woodgrain on them. A quick Google image search kind of confirms my recollection. Also, this is a Canadian car, and sometimes there were weird options and omissions on certain models, because Canadian buyers were (and still are to a certain extent) very conservative, budget and no frills buyers, so it's even possible this could be a lower "Canadian" option. However, I don't know enough about them to say this is the case, but I have seen other Town & Country wagons with no woodgrain installed before.

 

I would also bet if you wanted you could find replacement di-Noc and bring it back if you wanted wood. It wouldn’t be cheap as sets run nearly a grand, then you have to gingerly take off the trim. Kinda feeling jwdtenn’s vibe but if you got it reasonably enough you could bring it back, if it started out life as a wood car. It is pretty loaded.

 

It originally had wood on the sides, hence the chrome surround moldings.

 

Not that familiar with these. Was there a Town and Country that didn’t have wood? I know the Marquis wagons early on had the same chrome surrounds of a Colony Park. Just curious.

 

I kind of like it without the wood

 

Me too, sometime in the 70s wagons just started looking better to my eye when they did not have the wood. Had a 78 Volare wagon (with the woodgrain) that had a green vinyl interior maybe the same color as this one and thought it was very attractive.

 

Certainly wood grain was not for everyone. I tend to like the wood as it adds an especially kitchy touch, and seemed stylish on many wagons. I know by 1973 Ford offered the LTD wagons, and it’s cousin Marquis wagon with the wood delete options that offered buyers a full array of top line options with a steel sided wagon. Chevrolet followed suit in 1977? Again not sure about Chrysler but you’re correct Mark in that wood was not for everyone and the car makers seemed to respond to those buyers whims. I know that these wagons were also responsible for cutting into the market of lesser wagon models. Country Sedans were dropped after 1974. There were attempts in subsequent years to bring out a cheaper line of wagons in the Ford category, but by 1977 LTDs and Country Squires were about it. Chevrolet carried Impalas through 1982 if I remember correctly. I’m sure as the wagon market wained towards mini vans, wagon lines across all manufacturers segments got reduced. Sadly 1991 was it for Ford and GM was about done by ‘96. I guess that’s why we love these long roofs with or without wood!

 

In those years, it seemed Chrysler WANTED every T&C to have woodgrain. I checked the brochures for '75-'77, and none show or even mention a non-woodgrained T&C, not even a mention of a 'delete option' on the option list the brochures show. I'm sure you could get one, but back then it was most likely a Special Order.

 

As far as Chevrolet went, 71 through 76 models the top of the line wagon which was either Kingswood estate or caprice estate only came with wood grain. But, buying a steel sided Kingswood or Impala, you were moving on trim level down but didn’t loose much. You could load up an impala wagon to be basically as nice as a Caprice and all the Caprice really would have was the wood as the interiors were not much nicer than the impala anyway. In 1977 with the downsized redesign, you could buy a Caprice with wood or without. Two-tone paint was popular at this time and a lot of buyers would buy a Caprice and get either wood or two-tone paint. Probably because the car was offered both ways that caused the impala to lose sales and lead to its discontinuation by 1985. For 86 you then got the standard Caprice (Impala replacement), Caprice classic (nicer interior, steel sides) and Caprice Estate (woody)

 

I knew the top line Chevy wagon was either Kingswood Estate or Caprice Estate. Depending on year. Was ‘72 the last year for the Kingswood Estate name for the Caprice wagon? Thinking maybe. I knew the Impala car was here till ‘85, but was there an ‘85 wagon. Don’t remember, maybe just forgot.

 

'82 is the last year for an Impala wagon. Sedans made it through '85. As for the other wagons, I believe EdV is correct. I remember a company I worked for had like 4 89-91 Caprice wagons for their higher-ups as company cars, with the big boss having a loaded Caprice Estate, a real nice loaded black and woodgrain specimen, always neat as a pin. Left an impression on me...

 

Hmmm…didn’t know that but could very well be true that 82 was the last Impala wagon…makes sense…so the Caprice, Caprice Classic, Caprice Estate line up must have begun in 83. Yes…72 was the last year for Kingswood…that I do know for sure. Wagons were named differently from sedans and coupes from 69-72…but also from about 1955 thru 1960…but not exactly positive.

 

I know in 1966 when introduced they used the name Caprice in the wagon name through maybe ‘68. Think the wagons, although named differently in the ‘50’s and through 1960. Think from ‘61 to ‘68 wagons carried the same names as their sedan counter parts. 1969 they reverted to separate model names. Even some of the model names from the ‘50’s ie Brookwood.