The History of the Suburban

The History of the Suburban - Page Two

The Chev/GMC Carryall-Suburban remained the only steel bodied station wagon until WW-II, when Dodge began selling a steel bodied "Carryall" to the military. These were the 4WD rigs that later became renowned as the Power Wagon. It was after the war's interuptions that steel bodied station wagons began generally to supplant the woody. Willys in '46, quickly followed by Crosley, was the first to put steel bodied wagons on non commercial chassis. The first steel bodied Plymouth Suburban came in '49. In the field of station wagons on commercial chassis, Chevy remained the only steel bodied entrant until the 1950's, when International Harvester's Travelall acquired a steel body. Then in 1958, Dodge released the Town Wagon which was carried through the '66 model year with an unchanged body and production of only a few hundred per year. With the demise of the Cornbinder, the Chevy (& its GMC counterpart) remained alone in the field until 1990's when their burgeoning popularity spurred other manufacturers to bring out models to compete against it.

1942 Dodge Carryall {by permission}	1946 Willys steel wagon {from contemporary ad}

U.S. Body & Forge woody on a '38 Plymouth Westchester Suburban	Crosley had the second steel wagon on a car chassis {from contemporary ad}

Note the holdover '58 styling of this 1964 Dodge Town Wagon. Mechanicals had kept pace with the rest of the Dodge truck line. {by permission of owner/photographer Alan Barrow}

First series 1955 was the last Canopy Express {contemporary ad submitted by Lou}
By the time the SUV craze got into full swing, the name useage for the rigs had already settled down. Except for Chrysler and GM, all the former brands using the names "suburban" and/or "carryall" had fallen by the wayside, and Chrysler had reverted to listing their station wagons by the same name as the comparably equipped sedan. This left the Chev/GMC Carryall-Suburban the sole vehicle of its type, and the sole vehicle using the "Suburban" name. Thus it was at last possible for GM to establish a trademark through usage and association. The SUBURBAN® trademark was registered to General Motors for motor vehicles on May 31st, 1988. GM has since reserved the mark to the Chevrolet division; beginning with the 2000 model year, the GMC version of this venerable wagon will carry the YUKON® name. In the course of 70 years, the Chevrolet Suburban has gone from being the only steel wagon in a sea of suburbans to being the only SUBURBAN® in a sea of steel wagons. Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery.
USAGE NOTE Chevrolet & General Motors have not always been consistant in use or spelling of the Carryall-Suburban name. The following have been seen in the manufacturer's own printed material. Sometimes, more than one form will appear on a single page.
Carryall Suburban * Carry-all Suburban * Suburban Carryall Other references to these GM vehicles compound the situation. For consistancy, I have used the form "Carryall-Suburban" for the pre-1988 Chevy/GMC steel bodied station wagon on commercial chassis, even when the cited work uses alternative spelling(s). For references to post-1988 Suburbans, the appropriate form is SUBURBAN®. For non General Motors users of these names, I have tried to follow the user's spelling and hyphenation. Where this has varried, I have tried to use the form with the best ties to the maker, ie ads and brochures prevailing over articles and reviews.
WHO'S WHO Chevrolet Suburban 1920's Carryall Suburban (see usage note above) 1933-present GMC same usages as Chevrolet except for '55 & '56 when the GMC counterpart of Chevy's Cameo pickup was labeled "Suburban" Desoto...Suburban 46-50 Carryall 50-52 Dodge...Suburban Carryall 1920's Suburban 1920's Westchester Semi-Sedan Suburban '33 Westchester Suburban '34-? Carryall 42-44? Suburban 54-58 Hudson...Suburban 32-35 Carry-all 40 Nash...Suburban 46,7 Super Suburban 48-55 Plymouth...Westchester Suburban 34-38 Suburban 39-63, 68-78 Studebaker Suburban Car 37 Terraplane Suburban 35 This list is by no means complete. Contact us if you can add to it.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lou - a '37 Chevy nut & Early 'Burb member. Lou's home page Special thanks for sharing pictures, ads, & manual pages, and for comments and insights regarding 33-38 Chevy Carryall-Suburban, its stable mates and competitors. Dan Stafford for use of reference books at Dan's Garage in Kennewick, WA
SOURCES BOOKS Oxford English Dictionary on a Historical Basis, Oxford University Press, 1971 Master Parts Price List 1929-1941, Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors Sales Corp, Detroit Mich, Feb 1, 1941 Chevrolet Parts Price List for Special Models, Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors Sales Corp, Detroit Mich, Mar 15, 1941 Chronicle of the American Automobile, James M. Flammang, (Lincolnwood, Ill. Publications International,1994) Encyclopedia of American Cars from 1930, Publications International, 1993 Wheels West, Richard Dunlop, Rand McNally 1977 The Expessmen - Time-Life by David Nevin / Time-Life Books (ny:1974) Chevrolet Pickups, Tom Brownell & Mike Mueller, Classic Motorbooks The History of the Carriage, Laszlo Tarr, (trans. Elisabeth Hoch) Arco Publishing (ny:1969) The Trademark Guide, Lee Wilson, Allworth Press (ny:1998) MAGAZINES "Collectable Automobile" April 97 "Cars & Parts" July 1999 vol.42 no.7 WEB SITES Remington-Alberta Carriage Center Thrasher Carriage Museum Station Wagon History Page Military Vehicle Preservation Association Carriage Association of America Gruber Wagon Works Automotive History Fomoco's heritage page U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Unofficial Dodge Town Wagon Page
This Suburban history article by: Mike Huntington Early Suburban Owners Club Historian
Note from the WebMaster: This Chevy/GMC history is a work in progress. Lou is currently working on production number tables, and Mike is working on an engine overview article.