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Hardtop
A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, typically metal, and integral to the vehicle's design, strength, and style. The term typically applies to a pillarless hardtop, a car body style without a B-pillar. The term "pillared hardtop" was used in the 1970s to refer to cars that had a B-pillar but had frameless door glass like a pillarless hardtop. In limited cases, a hardtop roof can be detachable (often designed to store in the trunk), or retractable within the vehicle itself. Pillarless hardtop The pillarless hardtop (abbreviated as "hardtop") is a post-World War II car body designed with no center or B-pillar or glass frames. If window glass frames are present, they are designed to retract with the window when lowered. This creates an impression of uninterrupted glass along the side of the car. Even the smaller automakers like Packard introduced two-door hardtops in 1952 "as a response to America's newly discovered fondness for sportier looking cars that re ...
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Sedan (automobile)
A sedan (American English) or saloon (British English) 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. Definition A sedan () is a car with a closed body (i.e., a fixed metal roof) with the engine, passengers, and cargo in separate compartments. This broad definition does not differentiate sedans from various other car body styles. Still, in practice, the typical characteristics of sedans are: * a B-pillar (between the front and rear windows) that supports the roof; * two rows of seats; * a three-box design with the engine at the front and ...
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Chevrolet Bel Air
The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1981 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, the Bel Air name was changed from a designation for a unique body shape to a premium level of trim applied across a number of body styles. The Bel Air continued with various other trim level designations, and it had gone from a mid-level trim car to a budget fleet sedan when U.S. production ceased in 1975. Production continued in Canada, for its home market only, through the 1981 model year. First generation (1950–1954) From 1950 to 1952, the Bel Air Sport Coupe name was used only for the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range, to distinguish the car from the Chevrolet Deluxe, Styleline and Chevrolet Fleetline, Fleetline models. It is named after the wealthy Bel Air, Los Angeles, Bel Air neighborhood on the Westside of Los Ang ...
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Retractable Hardtop
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. Improved climate control and security benefits are traded against increased mechanical complexity, cost, weight, and often reduced luggage capacity. A 2006 ''New York Times'' article suggested the retractable hardtop might herald the demise of the textile-roofed convertible, and a 2007 ''Wall Street Journal'' article suggested "more and more convertibles are eschewing soft cloth tops in favor of sophisticated folding metal roofs, making them practical in all climates, year-round." History 1922 Ben P. Ellerbeck was granted a patent (U.S. No. 1,379,906 on 31 May 1921) for a retractable hardtop roof design for cars. He developed several scale models for the 1922 Automobile Body Builders Exhibition in New York City. In 1922, he modified a 1919 Hud ...
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Chrysler Newport
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 (for example, the 1956 Chrysler "New Yorker 2 Door Newport"). 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 (which originally replaced the Chrysler Royal) in the Windsor's final year. 1940s The first Newport, known as the Chrysler Newport Phaeton, was produced during 1940 and 1941. It was a dual-cowl phaeton that used the Chrysler Straight Eight "Spitfire" engine with dual carburetors coupled ...
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Pontiac Catalina
The Pontiac Catalina is a full-size automobile produced by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from 1950 to 1981. Initially, the name was a trim line on hardtop body styles, first appearing in the 1950 Chieftain Eight and DeLuxe Eight lines. In 1959, it became a separate model as the "entry-level" full-size Pontiac. The Catalina was Pontiac's most popular model, available in multiple body styles, and served as the donor platform for the popular Pontiac Grand Prix, Pontiac 2+2, Pontiac Ventura, and the Pontiac Safari station wagon. When the second-generation Pontiac Tempest was introduced in 1964, lessons learned from the Catalina's introduction of the Grand Prix led to the introduction of the Pontiac GTO, to include the Pontiac V8 engine#389, Pontiac V8. As a trim level (1950–1958) The name "Catalina" was first used on the 1950 Pontiac Chieftain, Chieftain Series 25/27 hardtop, Pontiac's top trim level package at the time, and later added to the Pontiac Star Chief, Star Chief in ...
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Plymouth Belvedere
The Plymouth Belvedere is a series of United States, American automobile models made by Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth from 1954 until 1970. The Belvedere name was first used for a new hardtop body style in the Plymouth Cranbrook line for the 1951 model year. In 1954, the Belvedere replaced the Cranbrook as the top trim and became a full model line with sedan (car), sedans, station wagons, and convertible body styles. The Belvedere continued as Plymouth's full-sized car until 1965 when it became an intermediate. It was replaced after the 1970 model year by the Plymouth Satellite, Satellite, a name originally used for the top-trim level Belvederes. The word "wikt:belvedere, belvedere" is Italian for "beautiful sight" or "fair view." Chrysler also had the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Belvidere, Illinois, which began vehicle production in 1965. However, the Plymouth Belvedere was never assembled there. During the 1950s and 1960s Chrysler Canada built the Belvedere for Commonwea ...
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Convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving experience, with the ability to provide a roof when required. A potential drawback of convertibles is their reduced Torsion (mechanics), structural rigidity (requiring significant engineering and modification to counteract the side effects of almost completely removing a car's roof). The majority of convertible roofs are of a folding construction framework with the actual top made from cloth or other fabric. Other types of convertible roofs include retractable hardtops (often constructed from metal or plastic) and Convertible#Detachable hardtop, detachable hardtops (where a metal or plastic roof is manually removed and often stored in the trunk (car), trunk). Terminology Other terms for convertibles include cabriolet, cabrio, drop top, ...
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Pontiac Parisienne
The Pontiac Parisienne is a full-size rear-wheel drive vehicle that was sold by Pontiac on the GM B platform in Canada from 1958 to 1986 and in the United States from 1983 to 1986. Right-hand drive models were locally assembled in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa until 1969. For most of its run, the Canadian Parisienne was nearly mechanically identical to the American Chevrolet Impala or Chevrolet Caprice. The Parisienne wagon continued under the Safari nameplate until 1989. ''Parisienne'' or ''La Parisienne'' means a grammatically female person or thing from Paris, France. Differences from US Pontiacs The Parisienne entered the production lineup as a sub-series within the Laurentian line in the 1958 model year. Parisienne became a separate model in 1959. For most of its life, the Parisienne was the Canadian nameplate for the top-of-the-line model sold in GM of Canada's Pontiac showrooms. Parisiennes were distinct from other Canadian Pontiac models by their standard ...
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AMC Ambassador
The Ambassador is an automobile manufactured and marketed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1957 through 1974 over eight generations, available in two- and four-door sedan, two-door hardtop, four-door station wagon as well as two-door convertible body styles. It was classified as a full-size car from 1957 through 1961, Mid-size car, mid-size from 1962 until 1966, and again full-size from 1967 through 1974 model years. When discontinued, the ''Ambassador'' nameplate had been used from 1927 until 1974, the longest continuously used car nameplate until then. The ''Ambassador'' nameplate was used variously as the Ambassador V-8 by Rambler, Rambler Ambassador, and finally AMC Ambassador. Previously, the nameplate Nash Ambassador, Ambassador applied to Nash Motors, Nash's full-size cars. The nameplate referred to a trim level between 1927 and 1931. Ambassadors were continuously manufactured at AMC's Lake Front plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin until 1974, as well as at AMC's Brampt ...
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Vinyl Roof
Vinyl roof refers to a vinyl covering for an automobile's top. This covering was originally designed to give the appearance of a convertible to models with a fixed roof and eventually evolved into a styling statement in its own right. Vinyl roofs were most popular in the North American market, and they are considered one of the period hallmarks of the 1970s domestic cars. Vinyl roofs were also popular on European- (especially UK-) and Japanese-built cars during the 1970s, and tended to be applied to sporting or luxury trim versions of standard saloon (sedan) models. History The vinyl roof cover was during the 1920s as a necessity to keep precipitation from occupants of the car. Other materials included leather and canvas. Some coverings replicated the appearance of a movable top, similar to those on horse carriages, along with landau bars. The use of vinyl to cover the roofs of regular automobiles was to "give fixed-roof cars some of the flair and appeal of their convert ...
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Oldsmobile 98
The Oldsmobile 98 (spelled Ninety-Eight from 1952 to 1991, and Ninety Eight from 1992 to 1996) is the full-size car, full-size flagship model of Oldsmobile that was produced from 1940 until 1942, and then from 1946 to 1996. The name – reflecting a "Series 90" fitted with an 8-cylinder engine – first appeared in 1941 and was used again after American consumer automobile production resumed post-World War II. It was, as it would remain, the division's top-of-the-line model, with lesser Oldsmobiles having lower numbers such as the GM A platform (RWD), A-body Oldsmobile Series 60, 66 and 68, and the GM B platform, B-body Oldsmobile Series 70, 76 and 78. The Series 60 was retired in 1949, the same year the Oldsmobile 78 was replaced by the Oldsmobile 88, 88. The Oldsmobile 76 was retired after 1950. This left the two remaining number-names to carry on into the 1990s as the bread and butter of the full-size Oldsmobile lineup until the Eighty Eight-based Regency replaced the 98 ...
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Car Body Style
There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made. Current styles Buggy (automobile), Buggy Lightweight off-road vehicle with sparse bodywork. Originally two- or four-wheeled carriages in the 19th and early 20th centuries pulled by one horse, the motorized buggies were developed in the 1960s and grew in popularity and diversity. Convertible / cabriolet : Has a retractable or removable roof. A convertible allows an open-air driving experience, with the ability to provide a roof when required. Most convertible roofs are either a folding textile soft-top or a retractable metal roof. Convertibles with a metal roof are sometimes called 'retractable hardtop', 'coupé convertible', or 'coupé cabriolet'. Coupé : Two-door car, seating up to four persons. Some two-door cars have only two seats, thus two-seaters. Fastback : Car with a roofline that slopes continuously down at the back. The ...
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