A wagon that comes up "a bit short"

Discussion in 'General Station Wagon Discussions' started by WagonTheDog, Oct 27, 2021.

  1. WagonTheDog

    WagonTheDog Well-Known Member

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  2. wylee

    wylee Well-Known Member

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    not my cup of tea but a whole lotta work went into that
     
  3. WagonTheDog

    WagonTheDog Well-Known Member

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    A lot of work may have gone into it, but that thing looks like a death trap. lol The proportions are really weird and the door window frame is essentially a triangle. I would have much preferred that as a stock 1957 Chrysler Town & Country. It's a shame it got hacked up.
     
  4. KevinVarnes

    KevinVarnes Well-Known Member

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    I've never understood the motivations behind shorty cars. Maybe this car was wrecked and otherwise would have been scrapped. I haven't seen one yet that looks good to me. There is a shorty VW bus at a body shop I see on my way to work in the mornings. It cannot be more than 6 feet long (shrugs).
     
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  5. WagonTheDog

    WagonTheDog Well-Known Member

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    I think where most of them go wrong is that the other proportions are (rarely) modified to fit the shortened section(s), so they just wind up looking weird. But part of the problem is that even if you do shorten the back end, the front end can't be shortened because of the engine bay, so they just wind up looking odd and disproportionate.
     
  6. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    It's simply the weirdness factor, nothing more, nothing less. A 'shorty' '57 Chevy wagon isn't as disproportionate, but it's still weird.
     
  7. WagonTheDog

    WagonTheDog Well-Known Member

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    It's certainly not my cup o' tea, but I guess some people are just drawn toward weird and kitschy.
     
  8. ArnieM888

    ArnieM888 Well-Known Member

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    .

    All the shortened cars I have seen through the years were completely butt ugly .

    .
     
  9. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    If the builder would have gone with a normal hardtop length door and gone more along the "what if Chrysler Nomad" route this could have been a neat car. As it is though, it's not. Just bizarre.
     
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  10. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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  11. WagonTheDog

    WagonTheDog Well-Known Member

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    Agreed. I think if the builder had gone that route the results would have been infinitely better. Looking at pics of a '57 Town & Country as a reference, it looks like they spliced the rear doors onto the front doors, but they also changed the radius of the rear wheel opening (i.e. sectioned it and changed the curvature), and by doing so, the dogleg area just looks weird and the lines don't match. With that said, I would have much preferred that car to remain as a factory Town & Country wagon instead of it being hacked up. It would have been a much prettier car as a result. Chrysler got it right in '57.

    [​IMG]

    ^What a beautiful car. :love:
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2021
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