Those things have always intriqued me.

You could spot them on every imaginabe vehicle by little googling.
But im too young to have seen them on their "days". Where did they come, when did they fade out of "fashion"- or were they even ever so seen addition?
Not even searching AMCO luggage racks bring up too much about their history ( AMCO just because many seem to mention it), mostly old sell-ads. Ive only seen three live, one at Mopar- Challenger or something, and one at Jaguar XJS, and one at Triump Spitfire. Always loved the look, even if the real usability would be questionable.

If anyone can educate about them, appreciated. Thought there are people old enough to know something about them.

 

I can't speak to luggage rack history other nearly every single automobile manufacturer back in the early days of automobile manufacturing appeared to offer a luggage rack somewhere on the vehicle. Most likely they originated from horse carriage days?

Here's one on a 69 Cutlass from a thread I was engaged in some time ago - 29098

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...cs-69-a-10979/

 

They still stick them on cars, got one on my Miata. All you need is a little car and they become indispensable. Most likely started in the horse and buggy days..... Tedd

Fort Bragg California

 

They did put them on everything. No self respecting station wagon would be seen w/o one. My Mom had it on her Vista Cruiser back in the day. Heck they were on just about every Blazer, Bronco and Suburban too. Personally, I don't care if they ever went out of fashion or not. Anyone that has kids and goes on roadtrips can attest to how valuable they are. I made sure to have one on my '98 and '02 Durangos. I also have one on my Santa Fe.

If you are going on a long road trip with a wife, 3 kids and a dog, you need that extra storage space.

 

Well, ive been searching all around the internet.

Indeed there were roof racks also. I got to say they both look wonderful. Each to their own- and i noticed they raise quite a storm on forums when debating about installing one or not.

I remember when we went tenting with my wife on our Cutlass to Lithuania, for a week. Not even then all the stuff fit inside the trunk, we had stuff at backseats. And now we have two kids.
And same urge to go camping, when the Covid allows. And thats where my interest to them came from. Next planned trip would be to Hungary. Last time we were there it with some boring Honda Accord.

Im heavily debating about installing one before ill paint the car, so if i dont like it, i can sell it and fix the holes. Of course ill have an towbar, so i could pull a trailer, but that would limit my allowed speed, and when travelling distances, that is not as tempting option.

Vintage Chief - Thanks for the link. Was worth a read. Thats nice looking rack. I didnt either manage to found any other picture about Cutlass with a luggage rack

 

The earliest luggage rack I know of was one that expanded and attached to the running boards of older cars like Model T Fords. Don't know if it would be called a luggage rack but it gave extra capacity to carry luggage.