Plymouth Suburban

Plymouth Suburban is a Plymouth station wagon produced from 1949 to 1978.

Prior to 1949, Plymouth had offered only a 4-door "woodie" station wagon, which was expensive not only to build, but also to buy. In 1949, Plymouth revolutionised the US station wagon market by introducing the industry's first all-steel body station wagon, the Suburban. In addition, for the first time in a low-priced car, automatic "turn-the-key" ignition/starter combination was introduced. The Suburban featured a two-door body (plus tailgate) and seated six. The back row of seating folded flat to allow 42 inches (1,100 mm) of flat floor space, and became popular as a commercial wagon.

The Suburban for 1950 was accompanied by a four-door Special Deluxe wagon, the last of the "woodies", for those wanting something a little more traditional. There were two Plymouth wheelbases, with the Suburban riding on the shorter 111-inch (2,800 mm) platform (the Special Deluxe was 118.5 inches). Vinyl upholstery was used, as this was more hard-wearing for utilitarian use. Motive power was the Chrysler Corporation's smallest six, a 217.8cid L-head that produced 97 bhp @ 3,800rpm. The Suburbans rode on 6.40x15 inch Goodyear tyres, though a 6.70x15 inch "Super Cushion" tyre option with higher gearing was offered, as was a high-clearance 18-inch (460 mm) wheel option. A "taxi package" was recommended to owners expecting to carry heavy loads, featuring heavy-duty chassis springs and shock absorbers, a 100amp/hr battery with a heat shield, and even heavier grade springs in seats and seat backs.

The Suburban continued to 1955 with few changes other than annual styling applications (including a new body in 1953 and again in 1955). New for 1953 was the Hydrive automatic transmission, which was really a manual with a torque converter that eliminated shifting between second and third, sharing lubrication between engine and transmission. The 1954 models benefitted from a power upgrade to 117 bhp from the ageing L-head six, as well as an optional two-speed "Power-Flite" automatic. In 1955 Plymouth introduced a range of V8 engines, extending the power plant range to a 117 bhp 230cid L-head six, a polyspherical-head 157 bhp 241cid V8, a 167 bhp 260cid V8, and a 177 bhp 260cid V8 (with 4bbl carbs), the former two of which were available for the Suburban. All-new Virgil Exner styling and a good year for all manufacturers, contributed to Plymouth's best year ever of 705,455 cars.

For 1956 the Plymouth station wagons were grouped in their own separate series instead of being a part of the standard range of models (the Deluxe in 1950, the Concord in 1951-1952, the Cambridge for 1954 and the Plaza and Belvedere in 1955). The 1956 wagon range comprised the De Luxe Suburban 2-Door, the Custom Suburban 2-Door, the Custom Suburban 4-Door and the Sport Suburban 4-Door with De Luxe Suburban, Custom Suburban and Sport Suburban models equating to the Plymouth Plaza, Savoy and Belvedere models respectively.

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Wikipedia