Even the roof rails on this malaise-era Chrysler wagon are trimmed with fake wood
May 10, 2025 at 16:11
- A classic 1981 Chrysler Le Baron Town And Country is for sale on Bring a Trailer.
- The kitsch fake wood-sided M-body wagon has had only one owner from new.
- Its 318 cu in (5.2 liter) V8 makes just 165 hp and was the middle engine option.
Whether it’s the hair or the clothes that makes us wince, we’ve all come across pictures of ourselves taken years before that make us wonder “what was I thinking?” But the person who placed the original order for this gloriously OTT Chrysler Le Baron Town & Country back in 1981 clearly doesn’t feel that way about his decision because it’s taken him 44 years to part company with the beige-on-beige wagon.
More: For $10,900, Will This 15k Mile 1985 Chrysler Town & Country Give You Wood?
The Town & Country badge dates back to 1941, when it first appeared on a big wagon with genuine wood sides. The tree trim disappeared during the 1950s, reappeared in fake form in the middle of the next decade and by the launch of the 1978-81 model, the Town & Country had become a full blown caricature of its original self.
A Rolling Relic from a Stranger Time
All that fake wood – there’s even some on the roof rails – makes it a dead ringer for the Griswald Family Truckster in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movie (though that was based on a Ford LTD) and looks ridiculous from a 2025 vantage point. But it’s quite possible future generations might feel the same way about our era’s fake honeycomb mesh on the bumpers of cars like the previous Honda Civic and Jaguar E-Pace.
We’ve featured T&Cs before on Carscoops, but they’ve all been later front-wheel drive models that were built on the downsized Chrysler K-series platform, which helped save the automaker by cutting weight and boosting economy. But this 1981 car comes from the tail end of the previous generation, when Detroit was still in the grip of a malaise epidemic that resulted in performance and taste taking a nosedive.
Malaise-Era Muscle (Or Lack Thereof)
This car currently being auctioned on Bring a Trailer has a 318 cu-in (5.2-liter) V8 that makes just 165 hp (167 PS), and based on magazine tests of other Chrysler M-body cars with that engine, zero to 60 mph (97 kmh) must have been on the wrong side of 15 seconds. And this was the mid-grade powertrain option. Base cars got a 225 cu-in (3.7-liter) ‘slant six’ that made only 85 hp (86 PS).
The V8 drives the rear wheels through a three-speed auto equipped with a column-change shifter (of course) and should have plenty of life left in it because the owner has restricted the mileage to 69,000 miles (111,000 km). Whether that’s because he simply never needed to travel far or was just too embarrassed to be seen driving it, we don’t know.
More: Subaru’s New Outback Compared To Griswald Family Truckster
What we do know is it’s great that examples like this survive to remind us of a very strange time – and help us understand why the Japanese made such massive inroads into the US market.
If, for some reason, you’ve decided your life won’t be complete without a faux-wood Chrysler that looks like it was ordered by someone who thought Studio 54 and Home Depot should collaborate, the full auction listing is waiting for you over on Bring a Trailer here. Just don’t act surprised when your neighbors start asking if you’re filming a reboot of National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Photos Bring a Trailer
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