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There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2019) |
There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.
A station wagon or estate car, is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.
A convertible or cabriolet is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume.
A coupe or coupé is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
A sedan or saloon is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of sedan in reference to an automobile body occurred in 1912. The name derives from the 17th-century litter known as a sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows and carried by porters. Variations of the sedan style include the close-coupled sedan, club sedan, convertible sedan, fastback sedan, hardtop sedan, notchback sedan, and sedanet/sedanette.
The Chrysler New Yorker is an automobile model produced by Chrysler from 1940 until 1996, serving for several decades as either the brand's flagship model or as a junior sedan to the Chrysler Imperial, the latter during the years in which the Imperial name was used within the Chrysler lineup rather than as a standalone brand.
The Chrysler LeBaron, also known as the Imperial LeBaron, is a line of automobiles built by Chrysler from 1931 to 1941 and from 1955 to 1995. The model was introduced in 1931, with a body manufactured by LeBaron, and competed with other luxury cars of the era such as Lincoln and Packard. After purchasing LeBaron with its parent Briggs Manufacturing Company, Chrysler introduced the luxury make Imperial in 1955, and sold automobiles under the name Imperial LeBaron until 1975. Chrysler discontinued the Imperial brand in 1975, and reintroduced the Chrysler LeBaron in 1977 to what was then Chrysler's lowest priced model.
A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, typically metal, and integral to the design, strength, and style of the vehicle.
The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was Chrysler's top-of-the-line vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced with the Chrysler name until 1954, after which it became a standalone brand; and again from 1990 to 1993. The company positioned the cars as a prestige marque to rival Cadillac, Continental, Lincoln, Duesenberg, Pierce Arrow, Cord, and Packard. According to Antique Automobile, "The adjective 'imperial' according to Webster's Dictionary means sovereign, supreme, superior or of unusual size or excellence. The word imperial thus justly befits Chrysler's highest priced model."
A liftback is a variation of a hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline, roughly between 45 and 10 degrees, whereas traditional or archetypal hatchback designs tend to use a 45 degree to near vertical slope on the top-hinged tailgate.
The Buick Roadmaster is an automobile that was built by Buick from 1936 until 1942, from 1946 until 1958, and then again from 1991 until 1996. Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buick's longest non-limousine wheelbase and shared their basic structure with the entry-level Cadillac Series 65, the Buick Limited, and after 1940, the Oldsmobile 98. Between 1946 and 1957 the Roadmaster served as Buick's flagship.
The Mercury Park Lane is a full-sized automobile that was produced by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company. While not officially introduced as the replacement of the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, the Park Lane became the flagship of the Mercury model line upon its introduction. The second-generation Park Lane was positioned above the Mercury Montclair.
The Starlight coupe is a unique 2-door body style that was offered by Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from 1947 to 1955 on its Champion and Commander model series. It was designed by Virgil Exner, formerly of Raymond Loewy Associates along the lines of the ponton style that had just gone mainstream after the WWII.
A tonneau is an area of a car, truck, or boat open at the top. It can be for passengers or cargo. When applied to trucks it refers to their bed or tray.
A phaeton is a style of open automobile without any fixed weather protection, which was popular from the 1900s until the 1930s. It is an automotive equivalent of the horse-drawn fast, lightweight phaeton carriage.
The trunk or boot of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle. It can also be called a tailgate.
A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars.
The Newport was a name used by Chrysler for both a hardtop body designation and also for its lowest priced model between 1961 and 1981. Chrysler first used the Newport name on a 1940 show car, of which five vehicles were produced. From 1950 to 1956, the Newport name was then used to designate any Chrysler model with a hardtop body style. In 1961, Chrysler introduced the Newport as a new, low-priced model, offering large, comfortable two- and four-door Chrysler models that were modestly priced compared with the Chrysler 300, the Chrysler New Yorker and the Imperial. For 1961, the Newport was priced below the Chrysler Windsor in the Windsor's final year.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to automobiles:
Breezeway is a term for a vertical or reverse-slanted, power-operated retractable rear window on sedans. Intended to provide through ventilation, it first appeared on the 1957-1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruisers and the 1958–1960 Continental Mark III, IV, & V. After a break it reappeared on some 1963–1968 full-size Mercurys, including some Park Lanes, Montclairs, and Montereys.
The estate body, also known as station wagons in some countries, has the roofline extended to the rear of the body to enlarge its internal capacity. Folding the rear seats down gives a large floor area for the carriage of luggage or goods. Stronger suspension springs are fitted at the rear to support the extra load. Hatchback: Although some hatchbacks are in fact saloon bodies with the boot or trunk effectively removed (usually the smaller cars) many hatchbacks retain the full length of the saloon, but the roofline extends down to the end of the vehicle...as with the estate, the rear seats fold down to give a flat floor for the transportation of luggage or other objects. When the tailgate is closed, the luggage compartment is usually covered with a parcel shelf.
Torpedo – Continental term for an open four-seat car with soft hood and sporting tendencies and in which the line of the bonnet was continued back to the rear of the car.