People Movers

I’m driving an "inferno red" 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT, which is the last word in $36,140 people movers. As I’ve often noted, minivans are far more successful than SUVs in moving six or seven people in comfort and style.

In this case, passengers can sit in second-row captain’s chairs while watching the 7-inch DVD screen that descends from the ceiling. They can stow their gear in cubbies, pockets or drawers. They can enter and exit through sliding side doors that will leave their dignity intact. They can even push a button on the remote and the tailgate will open or close. All the while, they’ll be guided by GPS navigation, protected by airbags, traction control and ABS brakes, and propelled by a smooth 3.8-liter V-6 (that really should have better smog performance).

But moving the Cub Scout Pack wasn’t always this easy. I thought I’d introduce you to a few classic transporters of yore, most of which had their challenges:

Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion: In 1933, the renowned genius rented a section of the old Locomobile factory in Bridgeport, Conn., and built his prototypes of a brand-new streamlined automobile, a complement to his Dymaxion house. Powered by a Ford V-8 engine and looking a bit like an Airstream trailer, the Dymaxion could carry 11 passengers and achieve 30 miles per gallon. Alas, an early version crashed with fatalities and the enterprise was subsequently undercapitalized. Only three of these 120-mph Dymaxions were built, though a fourth, smaller car was constructed in 1943.

Stout Scarab: The Stout of 1936 did indeed resemble its insect namesake, with an especially cool "Batmobile" prow. Like the Dymaxion, the similarly Ford-powered Scarab was a hauler, able to carry a large number of passengers in a flexible seating arrangement that even included a mobile card table. The Stout was rear-engine, rear-drive, with a superb unobstructed frontal view that would be familiar to any Toyota minivan owner. Only nine (an estimate) Scarabs were built, not surprising since they cost $5,000 each in the Depression-scourged 1930s.

Packard "Woodie": One of my favorite cars is a custom-bodied Packard "woodie" that I see occasionally at auto shows. We’re talking serious wood paneling here, with the entire upper body built along the lines of a varnished Chris-Craft. Woodies, immortalized as cheap surfer transport by The Beach Boys, flourished from the 1930s to the mid-1950s, when much cheaper and "practical" fake wood (see below) took over. Woodies were difficult to maintain, but boy were they beautiful.

Ford Country Squire: The Brady Bunch had a particularly egregious example of this line. AutoWeek reports the 1960s was the decade of the station wagon, particularly for Ford: There were "10 separate station wagons, ranging from the compact Falcon to the midsize Fairlane to five full-size models that shared the 119-inch-wheelbase chassis of the Galaxie 500. Ford sold more than 1.7 million full-size wagons in the 1960s, including almost 92,000 copies of its 10-passenger Country Squire flagship in 1967."

I remember these cars well, as most of my neighbors’ parents had them, and they were invariably pressed into beach service, with the coolest place to be the flip-out "way back." The (fake) wood-paneled Country Squire may have appealed to a suburban dad’s escape from the smog-ensconced city, into acreage he could call his own. But it was mom who actually drove it.