Road cruiser

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In the German-speaking world, street cruiser is the colloquial term for cars from mostly US production, which, in terms of their dimensions and design, illustrate a pomp that is sometimes perceived as exaggerated. Most of them are full-size cars from the 1950s to 1970s. The term compares these wagons with large warships, see cruiser (ship type) .

Characteristics of these vehicles are a length of sometimes well over 5 meters, even in coupés , wide, chrome-plated radiator grilles and, in the 1950s, sometimes huge tail fins . These vehicles were powered by large, fuel-intensive engines. Road cruiser manufacturers were essentially the "Big Three" General Motors , Ford and Chrysler ; most impressive with their luxury brands Cadillac and Lincoln .

With the first oil crisis in 1973, these vehicles lost much of their importance due to their high fuel consumption . In order not to lose any further market share in their home market, the US automakers gradually offered significantly smaller successors to their “road cruisers”, which were based on the dimensions of the European and Japanese competitors.

  • Buick LeSabre Cabriolet, built in 1959

  • Buick LeSabre Cabriolet, front view

  • Plymouth Belvedere, built in 1957, rear view

  • Chevrolet Bel Air Cabriolet, model year 1957, side view

  • Cadillac Series 60 Special, built in 1959

  • Cadillac Sedan De Ville, built in 1959

  • Tail fin of a Cadillac built in 1959

Culture

Road cruisers are part of the low rider subculture of American Chicanos as well as Swedish raggare .

Movie

Road cruisers are the classic vehicles for road movies .

music

Road cruisers have inspired composers to write a variety of songs:

swell

  • Jürgen Lewandowski: The Century of the Automobile . Südwest Verlag, Munich 1985. ISBN 3-517-00874-5 , p. 150.
  • Colin Burnham: United States - road cruiser . Merit Verlag, Hamburg 1992. (Original edition: California Classics . Osprey Publishing, London 1990.)