Hi,

I would like to know if the Crossfire luggage set is still available?

Anybody know how much they are ...?

Thanks,
George

 

you should look on ebay! there are always sets available there for a huge discount over buying from the dealer!!!

 

I posted on this website that I was in the market for the set as I bought my car used and the luggage did not come with. I had several people respond, and I purchased directly from a member on here. Now and then ebay will have a listing. Be prepared to pay around $250 dollars for the set which may or may not include shipping. The luggage is high quality and I am very happy with my purchase.

 

Hi ! And thank you for the info.

Am sorry for the delay, I thought that I would be notified by e-mail when I have a reply.

Am happy to see some answers, thank you again.

George

 

Here's an interesting story from this coming Sunday's New York Times. As usual, of course, there is no mention of the Crossfire.

Luggage So Luxe It’s Tailor Made

IF fashion dictates that the bag should match the shoes, just think what a statement you can make when the bags match the car.

Luggage designed to fit a particular model, often done up in the same leather as the interior, has long been a mark of the grand-touring experience. Picture this: you pull up to the Schlosshotel Bühlerhöhe near Baden-Baden in your Gullwing Mercedes, two precisely tailored suitcases strapped to the luggage shelf. Of course, they are in the exact shade of blue leather as the bucket seats.

You have arrived.

The origins of fitted luggage go back to the early days of the automobile. “In the teens, brackets began to be made for attaching suitcases to running boards, and that evolved during the 20’s into the luggage rack carrier that was mounted to the rear,” said Beverly Rae Kimes, the author and former president of the Society of Automotive Historians. “A trunk, often with fitted luggage inside, could be mounted on the rack.”

In the 1930’s, when a luggage compartment became an integral part of the car’s body, Mercedes-Benz started offering suitcases tailored to the compartment’s exact dimensions and shape.

There were several suppliers, including Kofferfabrik F. Waldbauer and Noerdlinger & Pollock, both of Stuttgart, said Nils Beckmann, head of the product history section of the DaimlerChrysler Archives in Stuttgart, Germany.

In France, Louis Vuitton catered to motorists from the earliest days of the automobile. In 1916, Vuitton made what it called the “driver bag,” which looked like a hatbox and was positioned within the rim of the outside-mounted spare tire.

“Most of the cars that came with fitted luggage were European,” Ms. Kimes said, but the reasons are a bit obscure. Perhaps it was because the luggage makers were close by, or perhaps well-heeled Europeans were more inclined to pop off for the weekend.

“I could only conjecture that there was so much traveling on the Continent,” she said. “Spaces were not nearly so vast.”

Mercedes was by no means the only maker to offer fitted luggage. The 1937 Delage D8-120 S Aérodynamic Coupé that won best of show in 2005 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance, had two pieces of fitted luggage nestled beneath the rakishly sloping trunk lid of its swoopy body, which was designed by Georges Paulin for Marcel Pourtout, the French coachbuilder.

The cases are original to the Delage, which is owned by Sam and Emily Mann of Englewood, N.J. Gary Maucher, an auto upholsterer in Newtown, Pa., recovered the luggage in Spinneybeck leather in the same smoky medium blue as the car’s interior, and trimmed it in tan strap leather darkened by repeated applications of mink oil.

While many automakers that offered fitted luggage were European, domestic manufacturers were not to be outdone. Packard, Lincoln and even Hupmobile and Studebaker were among those that offered suitcases tailored to their trunks.

Fitted luggage is not limited to the classic era, either. Contemporary suppliers can be found on the Internet, and Ferrari offers soft-sided bags, by Schedoni in Modena, Italy, for all models made in the last 30 years.

Such luggage doesn’t come cheap. For the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, the six fitted pieces in Poltrona Frau leather, in a standard color of the owner’s choosing, cost $6,970.

 

I bought a roadster that had been a lease so I did not get the luggage. Does the luggage fit in the roadster when the top is down? If so, I guess that the roll-on fits under the folded top? The roll-on must be quite thin.