Citroën vs Morris vs Fiat vs Saab vs Buick: people-carrier pioneers

By Andrew Roberts

| 31 Oct 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Citroën vs Morris vs Fiat vs Saab vs Buick: people-carrier pioneers

Long before the Renault Espace and its MPV imitators arrived to transform the way we transport a multitude of passengers, this quintet stepped up to the challenge, seating six or more with panache and vast amounts of verve.

They all have greatly different appearances, but each is versatile, well-planned and almost definitely more intriguing than your average people carrier.

The oldest vehicle here is the Morris Isis Traveller, which appears as if it has just rolled off the set of a black-and-white MGM-British comedy, as part of the fleet of a tweed-clad James Robertson Justice.

The Morris Isis Traveller evokes a black-and-white era

This was precisely the image Morris hoped to create for its largest estate: the ideal vehicle to transport up to eight people to the village gymkhana.

Its maker had launched the 1.5-litre Oxford II in 1954, followed by the 2.6-litre Isis a year later.

Compared with its stablemate, the ‘Greatest Morris… in Morris History’ – as the sales copy so modestly put it – had a longer bonnet to accommodate the six-cylinder C-series engine.

Autocar regarded the Isis as ‘modern, without a hint of ostentation’ – in other words it had no vulgar mid-Atlantic overtones.

The Morris Isis Traveller’s red leather trim avoids any pretence of ostentation

The Isis Traveller, like the estate versions of the Oxford II and Minor Series II, featured a separately built ash-and-aluminium rear compartment.

The management at Cowley hoped the result would appeal to commercial travellers to use as an ad hoc office, as well as to social-climbing suburbanites who had dreams of becoming part of ‘The Country Set’.

At £957 7s 6d in 1955, the Isis cost more than a Standard Vanguard Estate, which offered the luxury of four side doors.

Morris claimed the Isis Traveller had space for up to eight adults (left); ash and aluminium rear extension houses a third row of seats

Other rivals included coachbuilt adaptations of the Ford Zephyr Six or Vauxhall Velox, but none could match the Morris’ third row of seats.

There was, of course, the option of a Bedford CA UtilaBrake, but that was a converted van and therefore represented social-aspiration suicide.

However, Isis sales were slow compared with its in-house British Motor Corporation rival, the Austin A90 Westminster, and production ended in 1958.

‘Our’ 1956 Clarendon Grey Traveller belongs to Morris experts Rosie and Sandy Hamilton, and is a vehicle that delights and beguiles.

The Morris Isis Traveller’s 2639cc straight-six unit

The brochure proclaimed ‘ample room for arms and legs’, although drawings showed eight suspiciously Ronnie Corbett-sized occupants.

In reality, accessing the middle row of seats calls for a degree of agility, while the rear bench is not exactly built for comfort.

Morris promised the Isis Traveller could be ‘valuable in your business, and provide endless pleasure for your wife, the children and their friends’.

A more 2024 way to summarise its virtues might be ‘dignity with practicality’, from its red leather upholstery to instruments that look as though BMC had sourced them from a Victorian steamship.

The diminutive Fiat 600 Multipla lives up to the multi-purpose billing as well as any car here

As a Series I, the Hamiltons’ Traveller has a four-speed column change, while Morris fitted the 1956 to ’58 Series II with a right-hand floor shifter of dubious merit.

Moving the lever into third and hearing the C-series engine lug, you can almost picture yourself as that pompous comedy anti-hero, en route to berate Leslie Phillips.

The next member of our group made its debut just a year after the Morris, but its design philosophy could not be more different.

It is always a pleasure to be reacquainted with an old automotive friend, never more so than when it’s Tommy Cerrone’s Fiat 600 Mulitpla.

The Fiat 600 Multipla’s 767cc ‘four’ is no powerhouse

Fiat unveiled its ‘all service’ car, based on the 600 saloon, at the 1956 Brussels Salon.

It was 10in longer than its parent model, with a choice of front and middle benches that could form a double bed, or a front bench combined with two rows of folding individual seats.

In addition, a taxi version with a division became a ubiquitous sight in cities across Italy.

By 1960 the Multipla had gained the 600D’s 767cc engine, and production ended six years later when it was replaced by the 850 Familiare.

The Fiat 600 Multipla’s driving position, located over the front axle, amplifies the sensation of speed

Tommy’s 1964 model is an incredibly rare right-hand-drive car, about which Fiat GB justifiably claimed: ‘No other vehicle in its class can offer such a variety of uses.’

Autocar thought the Multipla ‘might become one of the family’ and in 1961 it got its most high-profile British role when Pimilico entrepreneur Tom Sylvester commissioned 25 Multipla minicabs, to incur the wrath of London’s black-cab drivers.

Fiat GB sold fewer than 100 Multiplas in the UK, no doubt because it appeared far too unconventional for your average East Cheam motorist.

The Fiat 600 Multipla’s benches fold to form a double bed

In 1964 the price was a reasonable £653, but most drivers preferred to save £47 and opt for the safer waters of the Morris Minor Traveller.

Yet the few Britons who ordered the Fiat found it highly versatile.

The headroom is vast (it was drawn at a time when many Italians still wore hats), and there’s 19cu ft of luggage space with the seats folded.

The steering column is universally jointed, but the front bench has no fore/aft adjustment; instead, the backrest moves to a limited choice of settings.

This Saab 95 V4 stands out in Amber Yellow

Novice 600 Multipla drivers often find the seating position directly over the front axle as disconcerting as the headlight bowl by their kneecap and the spare wheel in front of the passenger.

But it soon wins them over – not least because the Fiat feels as if it’s travelling at 200mph when the speedometer reads just 30.

Meanwhile, the rear compartment holds any number of friends, family members and pets.

In contrast, the Saab 95 was a much more familiar sight in the UK 54 years ago, although it was still not a car for the average driver in the world of The Likely Lads.

The Saab 95 V4’s column-change gearshift works well

For one, its lines appeared to hark from the 1950s.

It retained a now wildly unfashionable column-mounted four-speed gearchange, and at £1233 it was expensive compared with £1138 Vauxhall Viva or £1100 Ford Escort XL estates.

Yet neither British rival offered the Saab’s air of quality, nor a third row of seats in the load bay.

Chris Boffey’s Amber Yellow 1972 95 appears as far removed from such mainstream competitors as The Seventh Seal was from Carry On Abroad.

The Saab 95 V4’s narrow, rear-facing bench is ideal for two children (left); room for seven – just

Saab introduced the original two-stroke 95 in May 1959, nine months before the 96 saloon.

The marque’s UK sales began in 1960, and in ’64 the range gained a dual-circuit braking system and ‘long-nose’ frontal treatment.

The 95 and 96 V4, powered by the 1.5-litre Ford Taunus engine, took a bow in 1966, with a new grille following for the ’69 model year – typifying its maker’s philosophy of gradual improvement.

One brochure warned the prospective buyer: ‘Don’t fall for body shape and colour alone. Fashion in body design leads many astray.’

The Saab’s Ford-sourced 1498cc V4 is applauded for its reliability and drives through a four-speed gearbox

The fundamental details of a 1972 95 are the same as those of a ’59 model, from the spoiler over the tailgate – to deflect air over the ’screen – to the deep footwell for the third row of seats.

There is room for seven adults, provided they are close friends, and the driver can enjoy neat details such as side-window demister vents and a safety tag on the headlight switch to prevent them from being accidentally switched on.

Some owners complained about the pedals being offset to the centre; others might regard the steering column lever with mild suspicion.

But if the former took some acclimatisation, the latter is so well executed as to make many an owner repudiate floor gearchanges.

The Citroën DS20 Break seats up to seven in hydropneumatically suspended comfort and head-turning style

A fully laden 95 laughs in the face of hills, while its reliability endeared it to many owners.

In the early ’70s, the drivers of some British cars were on first-name terms with AA or RAC patrols, but the Swede could usually be relied upon to start first time.

Production of the 95 ended in 1978; six years earlier, CAR had referred to it as ‘Old fashioned but talented’.

Enthusiasts prefer the slogan ‘Go swift, go safe, go Saab’.

The Citroën DS20 Break’s packaging takes a ‘waste not want not’ approach and it is powered by a 1985cc ‘four’

Meanwhile, if you want to be discreet, do not travel by 1970 Citroën DS20 Break from Oxford to Peterborough.

The reactions from members of the public range from amazement to the occasional: “What the blazing Hades is that?”

Or at least words to that effect – but DS owners tend to become immune to such responses.

The saga of the Citroën DS makes The Prisoner appear straightforward, but, put simply, the estate version appeared in 1958, three years after the original saloon.

The Citroën DS20 Break’s column shift is easy to use

Citroën based the specification on the cheaper ID, and customers could choose up to eight seats with two folding chairs in the load bay.

For 1967 a major facelift brought faired-in lights, and DS production ended eight years later.

The later dashboard also has an ominous-looking ‘Stop’ warning light straight from a B-movie spaceship.

Jamie Piggott of the DS Workshop owns ‘our’ Break, and a previous custodian fitted the 2.3-litre engine and five-speed manual gearbox from a 1972-’75 DS23.

Transverse seating in the Citroën DS20 Break’s rear

Jamie says: “I prefer the four-speed semi-automatic because I think it’s the car’s quintessence.

“It is esoteric and idiosyncratic, those elements that make the Citroën so wonderful. But I don’t mind the five-on-the-column, which is easy to use.”

Jamie finds the middle row of seats less comfortable than the saloon’s rear bench.

“It’s not as well-upholstered,” he says, “but it’s big enough to lug a wardrobe.

“All of the DS family was created to transport you from Paris to Nice in an afternoon.”

At more than 18ft long, the Buick Estate Wagon has a surplus of presence

The Break allows up to seven to enjoy the trip, with even occupants of the rearmost seats benefitting from the famous suspension.

Regardless of whether it’s a Break or saloon, it is always, to quote essayist Roland Barthes, the car that ‘has fallen from the sky’.

The final guest at our people-hauler party is even more remote from British motoring than the Fiat.

A fifth-generation 1978 Buick Estate Wagon powered by a 6.6-litre ‘403’ V8 belongs less on the minor roads of Peterborough and more on the highway to Lake Tahoe, taking an extended family to a weekend at the country club.

The Buick Estate Wagon boasts super-comfy seats

It is the sort of car favoured by a genially corrupt lawyer in an episode of Columbo.

The ‘woodie’ has a long tradition in American motoring history, but by 1953 Buick’s station wagons were of all-metal construction, apart from a vestigial panel on the tailgate.

Nearly three decades later, the Estate Wagon’s exterior décor still gave a sense of the great outdoors – or at least wearing a checked lumberjack shirt to the company’s summer picnic.

Buick introduced the Electra range in 1959 and launched the fifth-generation models for the ’77 model year.

The Buick’s Oldsmobile-designed V8 makes for effortless overtaking (left); there’s easy access to the rear-facing bench seats

The new line-up was 1000lb lighter than its predecessors, in response to the Fuel Crisis, while the Estate Wagon’s rear compartment was from the smaller Le Sabre.

Still, at more than 18ft long, Ross Mackenzie’s Buick feels substantial.

He bought it in January this year.

“I already owned a 1985 Limited sedan, but always wanted a station wagon,” he says. “When I saw this online, I had to have it.”

This 185bhp Buick boasts the range’s largest engine

Its bodywork is very well executed, including a multi-adjustable tailgate.

The standard car was around $5000, but when equipped with cruise control, electric windows, a remote-control bootlid lock and other essentials to modern living, the price neared $9000.

General Motors aimed Buicks at corporate executives who needed to make the right impression.

Above all, the Estate Wagon encourages the owner to move the column selector to Drive and head for the horizon, ferrying eight full-sized people in a mobile living room.

Multifarious, multipurpose and multinational, this diverse quintet of over-accommodating classic cars has something for everyone

The super-light steering typifies the effortless driving experience, matched by super-comfy seats.

The accelerator pedal is enormous and the transmission silky-smooth.

“Because this car has the largest engine offered, it makes overtaking easy,” adds Ross.

No wonder Car & Driver called the Buick ‘an exceptional vehicle’.

Selecting a victor is impossible, because each car so entertainingly fulfils its brief: conveying a large number of people in great style.

If I opt for the Morris, it is simply because the Isis belongs in a world now only seen in films on Talking Pictures TV – and because it really does feel as stately as a galleon.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: Jon Bentley; Jon Burgess; DS Workshop; Flying Club Conington

Factfiles

Morris Isis Traveller

Sold/number built 1955-’58/1850 (all S1 Travellers)
Construction steel unitary body, with rear compartment in ash and aluminium
Engine all-iron, ohv 2639cc straight-six, single SU carburettor
Max power 86bhp @ 4250rpm
Max torque 124lb ft @ 2000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual with overdrive on third and fourth, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by wishbones, torsion bars rear live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs; telescopic dampers f/r
Steering cam and lever
Brakes drums
Length 14ft 8¾in (4489mm)
Width 5ft 5in (1651mm)
Height 5ft 3in (1600mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 11½in (2371mm)
Weight 3220lb (1460kg)
Mpg 21
0-60mph 19.8 secs
Top speed 87mph
Price new £1125 (with overdrive)
Price now £5-10,000*

Fiat 600 Multipla

Sold/number built 1956-’66/240,000
Construction steel unitary
Engine all-iron, ohv 767cc ‘four’, single Weber carburettor
Max power 25bhp @ 4800rpm
Max torque 34lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by double wishbones rear semi-trailing arms; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering worm and roller
Brakes drums
Length 11ft 7in (3535mm)
Width 4ft 9in (1448mm)
Height 5ft 2in (1580mm)
Wheelbase 6ft 6¾in (2000mm)
Weight 737lb (1624kg)
Mpg 38
0-60mph 43 secs
Top speed 65mph
Price new £653
Price now £25-50,000*

Saab 95 V4

Sold/number built 1966-’78/110,527 (all 95s)
Construction steel unitary
Engine all-iron, ohv 1498cc V4, single Autolite carburettor
Max power 65bhp @ 4600rpm
Max torque 85lb ft @ 2600rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, FWD
Suspension: front independent, by wishbones, telescopic dampers rear beam axle, trailing arms, lever-arm dampers; coil springs f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Length 14ft 1in (4300mm)
Width 5ft 2½in (1580mm)
Height 4ft 10½in (1475mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 2in (2498mm)
Weight 2160lb (980kg)
Mpg 27
0-60mph 14.2 secs
Top speed 90mph
Price new £1233
Price now £6-10,000*

Citroën DS20 Break

Sold/number built 1958-’73/1,455,746 (all DS versions)
Construction steel unitary
Engine iron-block, alloy-head, ohv 1985cc ‘four’, single twin-choke Weber or Zenith carburettor
Max power 103bhp @ 6000rpm
Max torque 106lb ft @ 4000rpm
Transmission five-speed manual or four-speed semi-automatic, FWD
Suspension independent, by leading and trailing arms, oleo-pneumatic struts, anti-roll bar f/r
Steering powered rack and pinion
Brakes powered discs front, drums rear
Length 16ft 6in (5030mm)
Width 5ft 11in (1800mm)
Height 5ft (1530mm)
Wheelbase 10ft 3in (3124mm)
Weight 3157lb (1432kg)
Mpg 22.3
0-60mph 14.5 secs
Top speed 105mph
Price new £2098 (D Estate, 1973)
Price now £15-30,000*

Buick Estate Wagon

Sold/number built 1977-’79/25,964 (1978 Estate Wagons)
Construction steel unitary
Engine all-iron, ohv 6598cc V8, single Rochester four-barrel carburettor
Max power 185bhp @ 3600rpm
Max torque 320lb ft @ 2000rpm
Transmission three-speed automatic, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by wishbones, anti-roll bar rear live axle, four links; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering power-assisted recirculating ball
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Length 18ft ½in (5504mm)
Width 6ft 8in (2030mm)
Height 4ft 8 ½in (1435mm)
Wheelbase 9ft 8in (2944mm)
Weight 4134lb (1875kg)
Mpg 17
0-60mph 11.2 secs
Top speed 108mph
Price new $5000
Price now £10-15,000*