Why We Should Love the All-American Car

Filed in archive As We See Things , Chrysler , Design , Plymouth on December 17, 2008

The business coupe is a relic from another era, beginning in the late 30s and ending in the early 50s. Those were the years of the traveling salesman who carried samples and deliverable goods as he drove from town-to-town in his allotted territory. The trunk was mostly needed for the salesman's personal luggage and so the coupe's back seat was replaced with storage space. Thus there was only room for three across the front. Clearly the business coupe was not a car for the family man.

I never thought of the business coupe as a compact car until I came upon a New York Times feature about "early compacts."" With their short wheelbases, tiny greenhouses, lower weight, and economical six-cylinder engines, business coupes could, I suppose, qualify as small cars, though the designers never thought of them that way. With a little imagination and some added power they might even have been turned into sports coupes, broadening their appeal among enthusiasts.

Hundreds of thousands of these practical cars were produced by various manufacturers and yet I rarely see one in auctions, club shows, or offered for sale online. It's as if, being poor cousins to mainline sedans and 5-seat coupes, they've been consigned to the scrapyards of automobile memories. That's unfair because, if you look again, you'll note that the business coupe has a style of its own. Perhaps there should be a national club to preserve the few survivors. Think of it this way: only one country ever produced a business coupe. And that, friends, is the real All-American car.

[Photo: From the brochure collection of Steve Hayes]