1940s Chrysler classics made one final, fascinating splash before WWII hit the brakes

In the summer of 1940, a Chrysler buyer could pay $25 extra (close to $600 today) to have the seats covered in Scottish plaid. That option, called the Highlander, sums up the 1940s Chrysler lineup pretty well, with new engineering and a little flair packed into the two short years before World War II halted car production.

Chrysler restyled its whole line for 1940 and made Fluid Drive available on every model. The system used a fluid coupling between the engine and clutch to smooth out starts and shifts, and for 1941 Chrysler added the Vacamatic, an early semi-automatic transmission. Six-cylinder cars got an engine called the Spitfire, named for the British fighter planes then flying in the Battle of Britain.

The most unusual car of the period was the 1941 Town & Country, a wagon with a steel roof and a body framed in wood. Chrysler also built a handful of show cars with coachbuilder LeBaron, and one of them, the Newport, paced the 1941 Indianapolis 500.

Civilian car production across the country stopped in February 1942, and Chrysler turned its factories over to war work, including building tanks. When new cars returned after the war, the 1946 models were essentially updated versions of the 1942 cars.

Some of those prewar ideas lasted a long time. The Town & Country name carried on for decades, eventually ending up on Chrysler’s minivans.

The vintage ads collected here ran in LIFE magazine between June 1940 and May 1941. They start with the plaid-seated Highlander and its headline “I’ll be in Scotland afore ye!” before moving on to the new 1941 models.