Get in, loser. We're going for a barouche ride.

All the cool kids know that this is the only way to travel.

This scene from Mean Girls feels especially appropriate since the barouche was the convertible of its time. Owning a barouche meant that you had the disposable income to spend on an extra carriage that could only be reasonably used on a limited, seasonal basis. It also meant that you had the leisure time to cruise the countryside in your elegant conveyance in order to “explore the different beauties extremely well”¹ or to see and be seen in London’s most fashionable neighborhoods.

Mrs. John Dashwood wished it likewise; but in the mean while, till one of these superior blessings could be attained, it would have quieted her ambition to see him driving a barouche.

1850 barouche, located at the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages. https://www.thecarriagefoundation.org.uk/item/barouche

For more on the barouche and its many variations (Mrs. Elton has a particular model in mind), you can listen to the most recent episode of the podcast, The Thing About the Barouche-landau.

She had something to suffer, perhaps, when they came into contact again, in seeing Anne restored to the rights of seniority, and the mistress of a very pretty landaulette….

Somewhere, Mary Musgrove is sufferingly greatly. 1870 landaulet, located at the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages. https://www.thecarriagefoundation.org.uk/item/landaulet

And because we had to put our own visual spin on the famous Mean Girls scene:

S. Normand, "A Horse-Drawn Carriage in a Park with a Hunt Beyond" oil on canvas.

1. Please contact Mrs. A Elton of Cara Sposo Country Carriages for all of your countryside exploring party needs.