It took a trip to Norway, of all places, for me to learn of an American car known as the “Vagabond” — a proto-hatchback manufactured by Michigan’s Kaiser Motors in the late 1940s.
One curious thrill of travel is the opportunity it offers you to see your own country through the eyes of another culture. Which made it fascinating to visit the “Eight AmCars Club” in Sørum, Norway, which is dedicated to the collection and restoration of non-Ford/GM cars made in the two decades after WWII — lesser-known American makes like DeSoto, Hudson, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker.
In addition to vintage automobiles, Eight Amcars Club features a Hall of Fame for Norway’s 1950s rock musicians, and an under-construction, set-to-open-soon 1950s burgers-and-milkshakes diner along the lines of something you’d have seen in the TV show “Happy Days.”
The Norwegian love for this specific American era of popular culture was fascinating to behold, and made me wonder if the US itself has a facility that can compete. As for the Vagabond, it featured a fold-out wood-slat cargo deck, and appears to have been designed for family road trips.
Note: “Dispatches” are short vignettes, profiles, and mini-essays written and posted from the road, often in tandem with my Instagram account. I don’t host a “comments” section, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts via my Contact page.
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