definitions

[Guest]

How do I obtains detailed descriptions of the various body types? ie phaeton, roadster. cabriolet, coupe, etc

[ply33]

Body style names evolved over the years and some manufacturers did not use the "standard" names. Apparently the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) attempted to create a standard body nomenclature around 1930 but gave up by 1941. My twentieth edition of <span style="font-style: italic">Dyke's Automobile and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia</span> gives a summary of the 1930 SAE nomenclature. It is rather long. I will type it in while off line and post it here later.

[Guest]

<B>MANY</B> years ago the Classic Car Club of America published a very fine listing and description of the various body styles. I believe it was complete with sketches and may have been either in their magazine, The Classic Car, or in a newsletter supplement they published way back then. <P>You might go on the CCCA section of this forum and ask if anyone can furnish you with a copy of that article. Maybe, they could even post it on the forum for the benefit of ALL of us. ~ hvs

[ply33]

Back again. Here is what A.L. Dyke had to say on the subject. My $0.02 are at the bottom.<P>From <span style="font-style: italic">Dyke's Automobile and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia</span> (Twentieth Edition), 1943, A.L.Dyke, The Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc., Chicago, Ill.<blockquote><p align="center"><span style="font-weight: bold">Body Nomeclature</span></p><p>Types of body following is reprinted from the S.A.E. Handbook, issued by the Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., New York City, N.Y. Revised by the Passenger-Car Division and approved by the Standards Committee, January, 1930.*</p><dl><dt>Roadster</dt><dd>An open-type body having one cross seat. A compartment in the rear deck accommodates business equipment or luggage. The top is of weatherproof fabric and may be folded. Equipment includes removable side-curtains and provision is usually made for folding the windshield.</dd><dt>Sport Roadster</dt><dd>The rear deck is provided with a rumble seat accommodating additional passengers. Equipment frequently includes golf locker in the rear deck. In other respects this type is similar to the Roadster.</dd><dt>Phaeton</dt><dd>An open type body with two cross seats, usually accommodating five passengers. Folding-type windshield and folding weatherproof fabric top with removable side-curtains are usual equipment.<br><br>The seven-passenger Phaeton is generally the same except the additional length necessary for the auxiliary seats in the tonneau.</dd><dt>Sport and Imperial Phaeton</dt><dd>Similar to the Phaeton in general type with various refinements or extra equipment. Wire wheels, trunk rack and ultra-modish finish are common attributes of this type. The Imperial type is accepted to indicate a tonneau windshield.</dd><dt>Touring Car</dt><dd>Generally longer bodies than the Phaeton, permitting the use of auxiliary seats in the tonneau, for the accommodation of additional passengers. In other respects similar to the Phaeton.</dd><dt>Coupe</dt><dd>An enclosed single-compartment body. Passenger capacity varies witht he arrangement of seats or the length of the wheelbase. Two doors are provided; back panels and top are permanent and the rear deck accommodates a luggage compartment. Small coupes have a single cross seat accommodating two or three passengers, while the larger coupes frequently provide staggered seating arrangement which, with an auxiliary seat beside the driver, may accommodate as many as five passengers. The larger types are also generally provided with quarter windows.</dd><dt>Sport Coupe</dt><dd>A Coupe especially adapted for sport use, with fixed top, frequently of fabric material with landau joints. The rear deck is usually provided with a rumble seat accommodating additional passengers. Various refinements or extra equipment are frequently provided such as ultra-modish finish, wire wheels, and golf club locker in the rear deck. In other respects this type is similar to the Coupe.</dd> <dt>Cabriolet or Convertible Coupe</dt><dd>Similar to the Sport Coupe with the provision for converting to an open-type. The rumble seat and fender wells are usual but not restrictive features of this type.</dd> <dt>Coach</dt><dd>An enclosed two-door type body, with permanent back panels and top. A full-width cross seat in the tonneau accommodates three passengers. Two separate seats in the front accommodate the driver and an additional passenger, and by folding down, allow unobstructed exit or entrance to the rear-seat passengers. Fender wells and trunk racks are frequently provided but are not inherent features of this type.</dd> <dt>Sedan</dt><dd>An enclosed four-door type of body with permanent back panels and top. A full-width cross seat in front and rear. Passenger capacity from five to seven according to the wheel-base or body design. Auxiliary folding seats in rear for accommodation of extra passengers in the larger types. May or may not be provided with windows in the rear quarter.<br><br>Variations from the standard Sedan type may be variously designated as: 2-Window Sedan, 3-Window Sedan, Club-Sedan, Close-Coupled Sedan Landaulet Sedan, etc., but there is not sufficient uniformity in these variations to justify specific standardization.</dd><dt>Landau</dt><dd>A closed-type body with provision for opening or folding the rear quarter, by use of landau joints. This usually precludes the use of quarter windows.</dd><dt>Landaulet Sedan</dt><dd>Similar to the Landau Sedan in appearance but made with a stationary rear quarter. Landau joints are mounted on the rear quarter but are non-operative.</dd><dt>Imperial Sedan</dt><dd>A drop or sliding glass partition between the driver's compartment and the tonneau is the distinguishing feature between this type and the Sedan, which it resembles in all other essential respects.</dd><dt>Town Car</dt><dd>Same as Imperial Sedan with or without rear-quarter windows and without a fixed roof over front compartment. A folding or removable weatherproof fabric top over the front compartment is a usual but not restrictive feature of this type.</dd><dt>Convertible Sedan</dt><dd>Similar to Sedan type with provision for converting to an open-type car. Both the all-weather feature and the top are convertible.</dd></dl>*SAE discontinued this and other <span style="font-style: italic">Automobile Nomenclature</span> January, 1941, and substituted a brief generic form instead.</blockquote>Note that these generic names were not always used. For example, Plymouth never listed a "coach" in the 1920s and early 1930s. They had "two door sedans" instead. Ford used the terms Tudor and Fordor rather than coach and sedan. Later, as sedans and coaches got built in trunks the "club coupe" and "coach" styles converged and it was sometimes hard to tell, without knowing the manufacturer's name, what to call it. By the way, in the middle 1930s, Plymouth called sedans with trunks "touring sedans" (either two or four door) while the trunk less versions were simply sedans.<P>Generally, if it had sidecurtains, it is a roadster, touring or phaeton. If it has glass side windows it is a convertible coupe or convertible sedan. I generally think of older cars as touring and newer ones as phaetons.

[Guest]

In the '30s, Cadillac and no doubt other GM divisions built what they called "All Weather Phaetons". It was merely another name for the Convertible Sedan. I own a '41 Cadillac Convertible Sedan and on the bill of sale it is listed as a Phaeton. Not an All Weather Phaeton mind you, but just a Phaeton, which by the accepted definition it isn't.<P>As Tod said, manufacturers took a lot of liberties with the definition and naming of body styles. ~ hvs

[ronbarn]

As another example of manufacturers inability to agree on style terms, consider the problem of the 1927 Marmon salesman trying to convince a customer to buy a Collapsible Coupe - otherwise known in other makes as a Convertible.

[Guest]

Ever see a Corvair in a front end collision? Now <I>there's</I> a collapsible coupe!!

[novaman]

How about a '95 Nissian with the rear bumper shoved into the rear tires using the PLASTIC nosepiece on a 2001 Chevrloet Impala.