Monday, December 12, 2022

1950 Dodge Wayfarer

Believe it or not, there used to be a market for full-size cars with only one row of seats. Traveling salesman bought them. This was probably the cheapest car you could buy from the Big 3 automakers. You might call it The Willy Loman Special, except that Death of a Salesman specifically mentions Willy driving a Studebaker.

This car had Chrysler's Fluid Drive. This was a hydraulic fluid coupling placed between the engine and an otherwise totally conventional manual clutch and transmission. From a practical standpoint, this meant that if you were stuck in traffic, you could just put it in second gear and drive it like an automatic.