Well, not just Volkswagen Beetles, but they do make up an extremely significant part of the mix. In fact, I’d say the two most common Christmas-tree-on-roof cars shown are Beetles and old pickup trucks, often F100s or ’50s-era Chevy 3100 trucks, or the sorta genericized versions of them. Trucks are almost always the bulbous, fat-fendered ’50s sort, and the Beetle category includes a lot of cars I think people mistake for Beetles, especially in profile (in America at least), like Fiat 600s or Citroën 2CVs.
The cars are almost always red, too, I suppose for the red/green Xmas color scheme, and while you do see a smattering of more modern or mainstream cars, it’s clear that’s not what people want. They want a vintage look, they want charm and nostalgia and a certain mildly comical contrast between tree and car size, I think. A RAV4 doesn’t cut it, but an old Beetle does. Sure, the heater wasn’t great, and if you didn’t have a roof rack that rounded shell may be a challenge to lash a tree to, but they were good in snow. Remember, the first normal production car in Antarctica was a Beetle! Look!
Anyway, have a wonderful holiday, everyone. You’re the best. You know, I’ve always wondered what happened there? I’ve never really looked at the evolution of pickup design, but I’ve definitely noticed that back in the ’40s and ’50s they were rounded, with big fenders and stepside beds, as opposed to the more square, slabby designs with fleetside beds that have dominated since at least, oh, the 1970s I guess? Some of that just follows overall automotive design trends, but the change seems even more pronounced with pickups than with other types of automobile. What did that evolution look like, and what kind of industry trends drove it? Was it mostly a fashion thing? Was it a consequence of new manufacturing paradigms allowing for different designs? Was it just a case of one manufacturer having a good idea that caught on across the industry? Was it driven by some kind of regulatory change? What happened?
- The 1961 Lincoln Continental
- Manufacturers realized how much cheaper slab-shaped panels are to stamp. It started with the all-new ’55 “second series” models. Still stepside-only at first but with a much more slab-sided cab providing a wider fro- um, only seat. A few months later they launched the Cameo Carrier as a glamor special with slab-sided fiberglass rear fenders over the same bed as the stepside (and a top-of-the-line pricetag). Ford was the next to innovate, with their new ’57s essentially copying GM’s cab but adding an all-steel (may have still had a wood floor), full-width fore and aft of the fenderwells “Styleside” pickup box for the same price as the old-style one. The first working wide pickup box. The 1960 Chevy and ’61 Ford and Dodge were again fully redesigned and brought the cab height down so the hood and beltline was level with the tops of the new wide cargo boxes. Ford had a false start with its’ unitized cab-and-bed that lasted only a few years.
- rope was not in fact rope but a piece of twine given to me by the tree vendor so it breaking was really not my fault. 2. this tragedy happened years later than I remembered as this FIAT was long gone and the car in question was a Volvo 740 Wagon. Best seats ever, but sadly only the base 4cyl & auto. It did have a sunroof which is how we held the tree on the roof after retrieving it from under the car behind us. Daughter remembers how cold it was with it open. 3. The tree had to be placed in a corner of the dining room to hide most of the damage. story still has everyone in stitches You could have one of those ride shotgun for a while with minimal mess. 🙂 A long time ago I had a Chevy Tracker much like David’s. It was the second year in our first house; I had caught a case of Griswold-itis and picked out a tree that was far too large. In order to get it home, I put it in the Tracker trunk-first. The end of the trunk went between the front seats and was resting on the dash. The back gate wouldn’t close, of course, so I drove home with seven feet of tree hanging out the back of the Tracker. Sadly there are no pics of this event but it was gloriously comical. Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah everyone one! Wishing you all the best holiday memories this year!
