1966 Dodge Polara 880 station wagon

This one sure looks nice. Wish someone would ask me to help liquidate an estate. The snow on the ground plus the clear blue sky sure makes for a nice photo setting.

https://www.hemmings.com/auction/19...m_medium=email&utm_source=auctions_newsletter

 

clean and nice.

 

And NO air conditioning. Also, seems to be sold new in Canada, as it has the Plymouth dash, and not the Dodge dash.
This wagons' dash:


U.S. '66 Polara dash (from brochure...)

 

Yeah and we didn't get a Polara 880 here in the states. Last year for an 880 was 1965.

 

I’ve always wondered why they would do such inconsequential changes for the Canadian market…like changing the dash…

 

It came down to cost to my understanding. I also believe that to sell a car in Canada in the era there were rules about how it had to be made up there so they couldn't just import the average Dodge or Chevy built stateside, so plants were constructed and the cars were made up there. It therefore cost less to just rebadge a basic Chevy into something like a Pontiac with some trim and dash changes, leaving the suspension and drivetrain the same as the basic car and not the upscale model.

They sold more of the basic Dodge\Chevy\Ford cars in Canada as car culture wasn't really developed up there at the time like it was in the states - multiple models, trim differences, buyers willing to pay more, etc. Cars were more just for transportation and basic - not to mention just more expensive in general to Canadians than Americans at the time for a multitude of reasons.