Don’t you just love the smooth lines, strong shapes, and the fullness and luxury of cars from the 1940s? Don’t wood body panels just make your sedan or wagon look so much nicer?

To Chrysler designer Bryan Nesbitt, very much so. In fact, he liked it so much that he designed the Chrysler PT Cruiser, a five door, front wheel drive, compact car. Some called it a SUV, though. Yeah, right.

Anyways, the car was originally designed to be a Plymouth, which is how it got the PT name, for Plymouth Truck (it was built to comply with federal safety standard for light trucks) but was sold as a Chrysler after the Plymouth brand was discontinued. It was designated a truck in order to bring Chrysler into compliance with Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for their truck line, and therefore was offered with inline four engines and four speed automatic transmissions. It was, however, available with a five speed manual, and a turbocharged GT model was introduced for 2003.

For the North American Market, the PT Cruiser was built in Toluca, Mexico. A grand total of 1,050,281 PT Cruisers were built there, ending in July 2010. Internationally, the car was built in Graz, Austria, and was surprisingly popular in Japan after the discontinuation of the Dodge Neon, selling 10,000 cars over 10 years. Keep in mind that in the United States, there are 809 cars for ever 1,000 people, but only 578 cars per every 1,000 people in Japan.

The PT Cruiser was designed to take styling cues from the Plymouth Prowler “hot rod” before, of course, Plymouth was shut down. The car was designed to invoke the styling of the 1930s and 40s, growing out of a collaboration with executive Bob Lutz, marketing executive Clotaire Rapaille and designer Bryan Nesbitt, who later left Chrysler and went on to design the Chevrolet HHR.

Special PT Cruiser models included the “Classic Edition,” “Limited Edition,” “Touring Edition,” “Dream Cruiser,” “Street Cruiser,” “Pacific Coast Highway Edition,” and the PT Cruiser GT, in addition to a “W. P. Chrysler Signature Series” edition.

Some trim levels could be ordered with a convertible top, and in 2006, the lights and front fascia were updated, and the cassette player was replaced with a stereo and CD player. Aftermarket cruise control was available after 2007, and from 2002 through 2004 simulated wood panels could be added to the sides and back. If that wasn’t your style, you could get flame decals. Seriously. I’m sure you’ve seen them. Those were actually put on by the factory.

All in all, the PT Cruiser was an interesting car, even though the jury might still be out as to whether it was a good car or not. It at least inspired a response from GM, in the form of the HHR, and you can still see plenty of the popular cars still PT Crusing to this day.