(2) In video game controllers, a haptic feedback vibration.
(3) In the jargon of cardiologists, a quality of a "heart murmur".
(4) In the slang of physicians (as "stomach rumble"), borborygmus (a rumbling sound made by the movement of gas in the intestines).
(5) In slang, a street fight between or among gangs.
(6) As rumble seat (sometimes called dickie seat), a rear part of a carriage or car containing seating accommodation for servants, or space for baggage; known colloquially as the mother-in-law seat (an now also used by pram manufacturers to describe a clip-on seat suitable for lighter infants).
(7) The action of a tumbling box (used to polish stones).
(8) As rumble strip, in road-building, a pattern of variation in a road's surface designed to alert inattentive drivers to potential danger by causing a tactile vibration and audible rumbling if they veer from their lane.
(9) In slang, to find out about (someone or something); to discover the secret plans of another (mostly UK informal and used mostly in forms such as: "I've rumbled her" or "I've been rumbled").
(10) To make a deep, heavy, somewhat muffled,
continuous sound, as thunder.
(11) To move or travel with such a sound:
1325-1375:
From Middle English verbs rumblen,
romblen & rummelyn,
frequentative form of romen (make a deep, heavy, continuous sound (also "move with a rolling, thundering sound" & "create disorder and confusion")), equivalent to rome + -le.It was cognate with the Dutch rommelen (to rumble), the Low German
rummeln (to rumble), the German rumpeln
(to be noisy) and the Danish rumle
(to rumble) and the Old Norse rymja (to roar or shout), all of
imitative origin.The noun form emerged
in the late fourteenth century, description of the rear of a carriage dates
from 1808, replacing the earlier rumbler
(1801), finally formalized as the rumble seat in 1828, a design extended to
automobiles, the last of which was produced in 1949.The slang noun meaning "gang fight" dates from 1946 and was an element in the 1950s "moral panic" about such things. Rumble is a noun & verb, rumbler is a noun, rumbled is a verb, rumbling is a noun, verb & adjective and rumblingly is an adverb; the noun plural is rumbles.
Opening
cut from studio trailer for Lindsay Lohan's film Freakier Friday (Walt Disney
Pictures, 2025) available on Rumble.
Founded in 2013 as a kind of “anti-YouTube”, as well as being an online
video platform Rumble expanded into cloud services and web hosting. In the vibrant US ecosystem of ideas (and
such), Rumble is interesting in that while also carrying non-controversial content,
it’s noted as one of the native environments of conservative users from libertarians
to the “lunar right”, thus the oft-used descriptor “alt-tech”. Rumble hosts Donald Trump’s (b 1946; US
president 2017-2021 and since 2025) Truth Social media platform which has a user
base slanted towards “alt-this & that” although to some inherently it’s evil
because much of its underlying code is in Java.
The Velvet Underground and Nico
Link
Wray’s (1929-2005) 1958 instrumental recording Rumble
is mentioned as a seminal influence by many who were later influential in some
of the most notable forks of post-war popular music including punk,
heavy-metal, death-metal, glam-rock, art-rock, proto-punk, psychedelic-rock, avant-pop
and the various strains of experimental and the gothic.Wray’s
release of Rumble as a single also
gained a unique distinction in that it remains the only instrumental piece ever
banned from radio in the United States on purely “musical” grounds, the stations
(apparently in some parts “prevailed upon” by the authorities) finding its
power chords just too menacing for youth to resist.It wasn't thought it would “give them ideas”
in the political sense (many things banned for that fear) but because the “threatening”
sound and title was deemed likely to incite juvenile delinquency and gang
violence.“Rumble” was in the 1950s
youth slang for fights between gangs, thus the concern the song might be picked
up as a kind of anthem and exacerbate the problems of gang culture by glorifying
the phenomenon which had already been the centre of a "moral panic". There is a science to
deconstructing the relationship between musical techniques and the feelings
induced in people and the consensus was the use of power chords, distortion,
and feedback (then radically different from mainstream pop tunes) was “raw, dark
and ominous”, even without lyrics; it’s never difficult to sell nihilism to
teenagers.Like many bans, the action heightened
its appeal, cementing its status as an anthem of discontented youth and, on
sale in most record stores, sales were strong.
Lou
Reed (1942-2013) said he spent days listening to Rumble
before joining with John Cale (b 1942) in New York in 1964 to form The Velvet Underground.Their debut album, The Velvet
Underground & Nico, included German-born model Nico (1938-1988) and
was, like their subsequent releases, a critical and commercial failure but
within twenty years, the view had changed, their work now regarded among the
most important and influential of the era, critics noting (with only some exaggeration): "Not many bought the Velvet Underground's records but most of those who did formed a band and headed to a garage."The Velvet Underground’s output built on the proto heavy-metal motifs from
Rumble with experimental performances
and was noted especially for its controversial lyrical content including drug
abuse, prostitution, sado-masochism and sexual deviancy.However, despite this and the often
nihilistic tone, in the decade since Rumble,
the counter-culture had changed not just pop music but also America: The
Velvet Underground was never banned from radio.
Rumble seat in 1937 Packard Twelve Series
1507 2/4-passenger coupé. The most
expensive of Packard's 1937 line-up, the Twelve was powered by a 473 cubic-inch
(7.7 litre) 67o V12 rated at 175 horsepower at 3,200 RPM.It was best year for the Packard Twelve,
sales reaching 1,300 units. The marque's other distinction in the era was the big Packard limousines were the favorite car of comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953), a fair judge or machinery.
The rumble seat was also known as a dicky (also
as dickie & dickey) seat in the UK while the colloquial “mother-in-law seat”
was at least trans-Atlantic and probably global. It was an upholstered bench seat mounted at
the rear of a coach, carriage or early motorcar and as the car industry evolved
and coachwork became more elaborate, increasingly they folded into the body. The size varied but generally they were
designed to accommodate one or two adults although the photographic evidence
suggests they could be used also to seat half-a-dozen or more children (the seat belt era decades away). Why it was called a dicky seat is unknown (the
word dates from 1801 and most speculation is in some way related to the English
class system) but when fitted on horse-drawn carriages it was always understood
to mean "a boot (box or receptacle covered with leather at either end of a
coach, the use based on the footwear) with a seat above it for servants". On European phaetons, a similar fixture was the
“spider”, a small single seat or bench for the use of a groom or footman, the
name based on the spindly supports which called to mind an arachnid’s legs. The spider name would later be re-purposed on
a similar basis to describe open vehicles and use persists to this day, Italians and others sometimes preferring spyder. They were sometimes also called jump-seats,
the idea being they were used by servants or slaves who were required to “jump
off” at their master’s command and the term “jump seat” was later used for the
folding seats in long-wheelbase limousines although many coach-builders
preferred “occasional seats”.
Rumble seat in 1949 Triumph 2000 Roadster. The unusual (and doubtless welcome) split-screen was a post-war innovation, the idea recalling the twin-screen phaetons of the inter-war years. Had they been aware of the things, many passengers in the back seats of convertibles (at highway speeds it was a bad hair day) would have longed for the return of the dual-cowl phaetons.
The US use of “rumble seat” comes from the horse
& buggy age so obviously predates any rumble from an engine’s exhaust
system and it’s thought the idea of the rumble was literally the noise and
vibration experienced by those compelled to sit above a live axle with 40 inch (1 metre-odd) steel rims on wooden-spoked wheels, sometimes with no suspension system. When such an
arrangement was pulled along rough, rutted roads by several galloping horses,
even a short journey could be a jarring experience. The rumble seat actually didn’t appear on
many early cars because the engines lacked power so weight had to be restricted, seating typically limited to one or two; they again became a thing only as machines grew larger and bodywork was fitted. Those in a rumble seat were exposed to the
elements which could be most pleasant but not always and they enjoyed only the slightest
protection afforded by the regular passenger compartment’s top & windscreen. Ford actually offered the option of a folding
top with side curtains for the rumble seats on the Model A (1927-1931) but few
were purchased, a similar fate suffered by those produced by third party
suppliers. US production of cars with
rumble seats ended in 1939 and the last made in England was the Triumph 1800/2000
Roadster (1946-1949) but pram manufacturers have of late adopted the name to describe a seat which can be clipped onto the frame. Their distinction between a toddler seat and a rumble seat is that the former comes with the stroller and is slightly bigger, rated to hold 50 lbs (23 KG), while the former can hold up to 35 (16).
1935 MG NA
Magnette Allingham 2/4-Seater by Whittingham & Mitchel. Sometimes described by auction houses as a DHC (drophead coupé), this body style (despite what would come to be called 2+2 seating) really is a true roadster. The scalloped shape of the front seats' squabs appeared also in the early (3.8 litre version; 1961-1964) Jaguar E-Types (1961-1974) but attractive as they were, few complained when they were replaced by a more prosaic but also more accommodating design.
Although most rumble (or
dickie) seats were mounted in an aperture separated from the passenger
compartment, in smaller vehicles the additional seat often was integrated but
became usable (by people) only when the hinged cover was raised; otherwise, the
rear-seat cushion was a “parcel shelf”.The
MG N-Type Magnette (1934-1936) used a 1271 cm3 (78 cubic inch)
straight-six and while the combination of that many cylinders and a small
displacement sounds curious, the configuration was something of an English
tradition and a product of (1) a taxation system based on cylinder bore and (2)
the attractive economies of scale and production line rationalization of “adding
two cylinders” to existing four-cylinder units to achieve greater, smoother
power with the additional benefit of retaining the same tax-rate.Even after the taxation system was changed,
some small-capacity sixes were developed as out-growths of fours.Despite the additional length of the engine block,
many N-type Magnettes were among the few front-engined cars to include a “frunk”
(a front trunk (boot)), a small storage compartment which sat between cowl
(scuttle) and engine.
Croissant (pronounced krwah-sahn
(French) or kruh-sahnt (barbarians))
A rich,
buttery, often crescent-shaped, roll of leavened dough or puff paste.
1899:From the French croissant (crescent), present participle of the verb croître (to increase, to grow), from the
Middle French croistre, from the Old
French creistre derived from the
Classical Latin crēscēns & crēscentem, present active infinitive of
crēscō (I augment), drawn from the
Proto-Italic krēskō. The ultimate root was the primitive Indo-European
ḱreh (to grow, become bigger). Correct pronunciation here.
The Austrian Pastry
Like
some other cultural artefacts thought quintessentially French (French fries
invented in Belgium; Nicolas Sarkozy (b 1955; French president 2007-2012) from here and there; the Citroën DS (1955-1975) styled
by an Italian) the croissant came from elsewhere, its origins Austrian, the Viennese kipferl a crescent-shaped
sweet made plain, with nuts or other fillings.It varies from the French classic in being denser and less flaky, made
with softer dough.First noted in the thirteenth
century at which time, it was thought a “sweet” it was another three-hundred
years before it came to be regarded as a morning
pastry.Tastes changed as new techniques
of baking evolved and around the turn of the seventeenth century, recipes began
to appear in Le Pâtissier François
using Pâte feuilletée (puff pastry),
these being the first recognisably modern croissants.
Culinary
histories include a number of (likely apocryphal) tales of why the croissant
adopted a crescent shape.One suggests
it was baked first in Buda to celebrate the defeat of the Ummayyad (the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) was the second of the four major caliphates created after the death of the prophet Muhammad (circa 570-632)) forces by
the Franks in the Battle of Tours (732), the shape representing the Islamic crescent
moon although more famous is the notion it was designed after the battle of
1683 when the Ottomans were turned back from the gates of Vienna.A baker, said to have heard the Turks
tunneling under the walls of the city as he lit his ovens to bake the morning
bread, sounded an alarm, and the defending forces collapsed the tunnel, saving
the city.To celebrate, bread was baked
in the shape of the crescent moon of the Turkish flag.
Portrait
of Marie Antoinette(1755–1793; Queen of France 1774-1792) (1769), oil on canvas by Joseph Ducreux (1735-1802).
The official title of the portrait was Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria and
it was created as the era’s equivalent of a Tinder profile picture, the artist
summoned in 1769 to Vienna to paint a pleasing rendering of the young lady the
Hapsburg royal court planned to marry off to Louis, Dauphin of France (1754-1973)
who would reign as Louis XVI (King of France 1774-1792)).Tinder profile pictures can be misleading (some
pounds and even more years sometimes vanishing) so the work must be considered
in that context although she was barely fourteen when she sat so it may be true
to the subject.Ducreux’s portrait was
the first glimpse the prince had of his intended bride and it must have been
pleasing enough for him metaphorically to "swipe right" and the marriage lasted until the pair were executed with the blade of the guillotine.As a
reward, Ducreux was raised to the nobility as a seigneur de la baronnie (lord of the barony, the grade of of baron
granted to roturiers (commoners)) and appointed premier peintre de la reine (First Painter to the Queen), outliving the royal couple.
A more romantic tale attributes the pastry to Marie Antoinette, who, as an Austrian, preferred the food of her homeland to
that of the French court and, at state dinners, would sneak off to enjoy
pastries and coffee.There is no
documentary evidence for her having re-christened the kipferl as the croissant but the story is she so missed what she
knew as kipfel (German for crescent)
that she commanded the royal baker to clone the treat.More prosaic, but actually verified by
historical evidence, is that August Zang (1807-1888), a retired Austrian artillery officer
founded a Viennese Bakery in Paris in 1839 and most food historians agree he is
the one most likely to have introduced the kipfel
to France, a pastry that later inspired French bakers to create crescents of
their own. The
first mention of the croissant in French is in French chemist Anselme Payen’s (1795-1871) Des Substances alimentaires (1853),
published long after Marie-Antoinette’s time in court, the first known printed
recipe, using the name, appearing in Swiss chef Joseph Favre’s (1849-1903) Dictionnaire universel de cuisine (1905) although even that was a
more dense creation than the puffy thing known today.
Once were
croissants: 1967 Mercedes-Benz 600 (with "jam rolls", left), 1969 Mercedes-Benz 600 (with "croissants" (better known as "rabbits ears"), centre) and
1990 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL (with boring "headrests", right).
Mercedes-Benz introduced their
Kopfstütze (literally “head support”
although in the factory’s technical documents the design project was the Kopfstützensystem (head restraint system))
when the 600 (W100, 1963-1981) was displayed at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show,
the early cars having only a rear-pair as standard equipment (there was an
expectation many 600s would be chauffeur-driven) with the front units optional but
the hand-built 600 could be ordered with one, two, three or four Kopfstützen (or even none although none
seem to have be so-configred ordered). In
1969 the design was updated and over three weeks the new type was phased in for
the models then in production. While a
totally new design (one cognizant of the US safety regulations which had mandated
them for the front seats of passenger vehicles) with a different internal
structure and mounting assembly, the most distinctive aspect was the raised
sides which some compared to the “pagoda” roof then in use on the W113 (230,
250 & 280 SL, 1963-1971) roadster but this was coincidental. In the early press reports the shapes were described
with culinary references, the previous versions said to resemble a Biskuitrolle mit Marmelade (jam filled
sponge roll) while the new generation was more like a croissant. In the English-speaking world, neither term
caught on, the older style was called something like “older style” while the
new came to be known as “rabbits ears” which was much more charming. Uncharmed, the humorless types at the factory
continued to call them teilt (split)
or offener Rahmen (open-frame). The “rabbits ears” were phased out in 1979
although the low volume 600 retained them (along with the archaic rear swing-axles!)
until the last was built in 1981. The
design introduced in 1979 seems never to have been compared to any kind of food
and it reverted to lateral symmetry although the structure was noticeably more vertiginous.
Petit-déjeuner à Paris: café; croissant; Gauloises.
In 2025, to enjoy this pleasure began to demand a little more planning after the French government banned the smoking of cigarettes in all outdoor areas where children can be present (US$130 on-the-spot fine). Vaping was still allowed (!) so there was that and terrasses (the outdoor areas of coffee shops bars) were exempt. It's good Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) & Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) didn't live to see this day.
Although the famous shape is much admired, for purists, the choice is always the un-curved croissant au beurre, (butter croissant), the more eye-catching crescents being usually the ordinaires, made with margarine. The
taste in the English-speaking world for things like ham-and-cheese croissants
is regarded by the French as proof of Anglo-Saxon barbarism although they will
tolerate a sparse drizzle of chocolate if it’s for children and food critics reluctantly concede the almond croissant (with a frangipane filling, topped with slivered
almonds and a dusting of powdered sugar) is “…enjoyed by younger women”.Generally though, the French stick to the
classics, eschewing even butter, a croissant being best enjoyed unadorned and
taken with a strong black coffee and while some will insist this should be accompanied with a Gitanes, that is optional.
Although much focused upon, the shape of a croissant of course becomes less relevant when eaten when the experience becomes one of taste and texture. For that reason the pastry used has long attracted those chefs for whom food offers architectural possibilities and while for more than a century one-offs have been created for competition and special event, in recent years the phenomenon of social media has been a design stimulant, Instagram, TikTok etc fuelling a culinary arms race and patisseries have built (sometimes short-lived) product lines in response to viral videos. Fillings have of course been a feature but it’s the shapes which have been most eye-catching (and by extension click-catching which is the point for the content providers). There have been “croissants” in the shape of spheres, discs, pyramids, spirals, wedges and cubes, the last among the more amusing with chefs referencing objects and concepts such as dice, cubist art and, of course, the Rubik’s Cube. Many have been just a moment while some have for a while trended.
Some have endured for longer such as the Cronut (the portmanteau’s construct being cro(issant) + (dough)nut) and so serious was New York based French pastry chef Dominique Ansel (b 1978) that in 2013 he trademarked his creation. In the familiar shape of a doughnut, the composition was described as “a croissant-like pastry with a filling of flavored cream and fried in grapeseed oil.” Interviewed by Murdoch tabloid the New York Post, the chef revealed it took “two months of R&D (research & development)” before the Cronut was perfected and the effort was clearly worthwhile because after being released in his eponymous bakery in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood, the city’s food bloggers (a numerous and competitive population) responded and within days photographs circulated of dozens waiting for opening time, a reaction which prompted the application to the US Patent and Trademark Office. In the way of such things, around the planet “clones”, “tributes”, “knock-offs”, “imitations”, “rip-offs” (the descriptions as varied as the slight changes in the recipes introduced presumably to fend off a C&D (cease and desist letter)) soon appeared. Predictably, some were called “Doughssants” (the Germanic eszett a nice touch) although others were less derivative.
New York Post, August 16 2022.
Monsieur Ansel in 2015 released Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, a cookbook which included the Cronut recipe and the thing in its authentic form was clearly for the obsessives, the instructions noting making one or a batch was a three-day process. In its review of the year, Time magazine nominated the Cronut as one of the “best inventions of 2013”, prompting one cultural commentator (another species which proliferates in New York City) to observe the decadence of the West had reached the point the breakdown of society was close. There may have been something in the idea the new “Visigoths at the Gates of Rome” were actually pastry chefs because in the wake of the Cronut the city was soon flooded with all sorts of novel sugary treats, mostly elaborations of croissants, doughnuts and, it being NYC, bagels. By 2022 the New York Post was prepared to proclaim: “Move over cronuts! NYC's hot new baked good is the Suprême”, the defenestrator from Noho’s Lafayette Grand Café and revealed to be a “unique circular croissant filled with pastry crème and topped with ganache and crushed up cookies.” Again of the Instagram & TikTok age, queues were reported even though at a unit cost of US$8.50 it was two dollars more expensive than a Cronut, the price of which had increased fairly modestly since 2013 when it debuted at US$5.00.
All
the recent variations on the croissant are built on the theme chefs have for
centuries understood is the easy path to popularity: FSS; add fat, salt &
sugar, the substances mankind has for millennia sought. Once it took much effort (and often some
risk) to find these things but now they’re conveniently packaged and widely
available at prices which, although subject to political and economic forces, remain
by historic standards very cheap. Often,
we don’t even need to seek out the packages because so much of the preparation
and distribution of food has been outsourced to specialists, mostly industrial
concerns but the artisans persist in niches.
That’s certainly true of the croissant, few making their own whether basic
or embellished and one of the latest of the croissant crazes is FSS writ large:
the crookie.
Miss Sina's crookie (without added topping or powered sugar).
A
crookie is a croissant stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough and its very existence
will be thought particularly shameful by some Parisian purists because it was
first sold in December 2023 by the Boulangerie Louvard, located on Rue de
Châteaudun in Paris’s 9th arrondissement which, in an Instragram
post announced the arrival: “Our pure
butter croissant, awarded the seventh best croissant in the Île-de-France
region in 2022, is made every morning with a 24-hour fermented milk sourdough
and layered with Charente butter. For
our cookie dough, we use one of the best and purest chocolates in the world,
from @xoco.gourmet.” Offered
originally in a test batch to test the market, the boulangerie soon announced “The concept was well received, so we're
keeping it. Available every day
in-store!”
Unlike
a Cronut which (at least in its pure form) demands three days to make, the charm
of the crookie is its elegant simplicity and Instagrammers quickly deconstructed
and posted the instructions:
(1)
With a serrated knife, cut open a croissant lengthwise, leaving a “hinge” at
the back.
(2)
Add 2-3 tablespoons of your chocolate chip cookie dough (from a packet or home-made).
(3)
Close the two sections of croissant wholly encasing the dough.
(4)
When the dough is almost cooked (time will vary according to oven and the
volume of dough but it takes only a few minutes), remove from oven.
(5)
Add more cookie dough to the top of croissant and return to the oven for final
bake.
(6)
When the outside is crispy and the centre gooey, remove from oven and top with
a dusting of powdered sugar.
Some crookie critics don't recommend either adding the second lashing of dough or the powered sugar because they tend to "overwhelm" the croissant and limit the surface area, thereby denying the dish some of the essential crispiness.
The croissant in fashion
Louis Vuitton Loop (part number M81098). Created by Nicolas Ghesquière (b 1971) for the Cruise 2022 Collection, the Loop is described as a "half-moon baguette" and was inspired by the earlier Croissant bag, the original a less fussy design but the details in the new reflect modern consumer preference.
Rendered by Vovsoft as cartoon character: a brunette Lindsay Lohan in croissant T-shirt.
While
a handbag lends itself well to the shape of a crescent, it does inherently limit
the efficiency of space utilization but this aspect is often not a primary goal
in the upper reaches of the market.With
garments however, although actually a common component because the shape makes
all sorts of engineering possible such as the underwire of the bra or other
constructions where any sort of cantilever effect is demanded, it’s usually
just an element rather than a design motif.As a playful touch, a distinctive crescent moon or croissant might
appear on a T-shirt or scarf but it’s rare to see a whole garment pursue the
theme although they have appeared on the catwalks where they attract the usual
mix of admiration and derision.
Sarah Jessica Parker (b 1965) in "croissant dress".
Sometimes
though, such things escape the catwalk.In 2022 the actor Sarah Jessica Parker appeared in Home Box Office's (HBO) And Just Like That, a spin-off (2021-2022)
of the Sex and the City TV series
(1998-2024), wearing an orange Valentino couture gown from the house’s spring/summer
2019 collection.It recalled a large
croissant, the piece chosen presumably because the scene was set in Paris
although it must have been thought the viewers needed the verisimilitude laid
on with a trowel because also prominent was a handbag in the shape of the Eifel
Tower.A gift to the meme-makers, admiration
for the dress was restrained.
Hardtop & Hard Topor Hard-Top ( pronounced hahrd-top)
(1) In
automotive design, as hardtop, a design in which no centre post (B-pillar) is used between the
front and rear windows.
(2) As "hard top" or "hard top", a rigid, removable or retractable roof used on convertible cars (as distinct from
the historically more common folding, soft-top).
(3) Mid
twentieth-century US slang for an indoor cinema with a roof (as opposed to a
drive-in).
1947-1949:
A compound of US origin, hard + top.Hard was from the Middle English hard, from the Old English heard, from the Proto-West Germanic hard(ī),
from the Proto-Germanic harduz, from
the primitive Indo-European kort-ús,
from kret- (strong, powerful). It was
cognate with the German hart, the
Swedish hård, the Ancient Greek
κρατύς (kratús), the Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu) and the Avestanxratu.Top was from the Middle English top & toppe, from the
Old English top (top, highest part;
summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the
highest point of anything), from the Proto-Germanic tuppaz (braid, pigtail, end), from the primitive Indo-European
dumb- (tail, rod, staff, penis).It was
cognate with the Scots tap (top), the
North Frisian top, tap & tup (top), the Saterland Frisian Top (top), the West Frisian top
(top), the Dutch top (top,
summit, peak), the Low German Topp (top),
the German Zopf (braid, pigtail,
plait, top), the Swedish topp (top,
peak, summit, tip) and the Icelandic toppur
(top).
Although the origins of the body-style can
be traced to the early twentieth century, the hardtop, a two or four-door car
without a central (B-pillar) post, became a recognizable model type in the late
1940s and, although never the biggest seller, was popular in the United States
until the mid 1970s when down-sizing and safety legislation led to their
extinction, the last being the full sized Chrysler lines of 1978.European manufacturers too were drawn to the
style and produced many coupes but only Mercedes-Benz and Facel Vega made four-door
hardtops in any number, the former long maintaining several lines of hardtop
coupés.
1965
Lincoln Continental four-door sedan (with centre (B) pillar).
The convention of
use is that the fixed roofed vehicles without the centre (B)-pillars are called
a hardtop
whereas a removable or retractable roof for a convertible is either a hard
top or, somewhat less commonly a hard-top.The folding fabric roof is either a soft
top or soft-top, both common forms; the word softtop probably doesn't exist although it has been used by manufacturers of this and that to describe various "tops" made of stuff not wholly solid. In the mid-1990s, the decades-old idea of the
folding metal roof was revived as an alternative to fabric.The engineering was sound but some
manufacturers have reverted to fabric, the advantages of solid materials
outweighed by the drawbacks of weight, cost and complexity.A solid, folding top is usually called a retractable roof or folding hard-top.
1957
Ford Fairlane Skyliner.
Designers had toyed with the idea of the solid
retractable roof early in the twentieth century, and patents were applied for in the
1920s but the applications were allowed to lapse and it wouldn't be until
1932 one was granted in France, the first commercial release by Peugeot in
1934.Other limited-production cars
followed but it wasn't until 1957 one was sold in any volume, Ford's Fairlane
Skyliner, using a system Ford developed but never used for the Continental Mark II (1956-1957) was an expensive top-of-the range model for two years.It was expensive for a reason: the complexity
of the electric system which raised and lowered the roof.A marvel of what was still substantially the
pre-electronic age, it used an array of motors, relays and switches, all
connected with literally hundreds of feet of electrical cables in nine different
colors.Despite that, the system was
reliable and could, if need be, be fixed by any competent auto-electrician who
had the wiring schematic.In its
two-year run, nearly fifty-thousand were built. The possibilities of nomenclature are interesting too. With the hard top in place, the Skyliner becomes also a hardtop because there's no B pillar so it's a "hardtop" with a "hard-top", something only word-nerds note.
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG with retractable metal roof.
After 1960, the concept was neglected,
re-visited only by a handful of low-volume specialists or small production runs
for the Japanese domestic market.The
car which more than any other turned the retractable roof into a mainstream
product was the 1996 Mercedes-Benz SLK which began as a show car, the favorable
response encouraging production.Successful, over three generations, it was in the line-up for almost twenty-five years.
The
Fairlane Skyliner's top was notable for another reason: size and weight. On small roadsters, even when made from
steel, taking off and putting on a hard-top could usually be done by someone of
reasonable strength, the task made easier still if the thing instead was made
from aluminum or fibreglass. If large
and heavy, it became impossible for one and difficult even for two; some of even the smaller hard-tops (such as the Triumph Stag and the R107 Mercedes SL roadster) were
famous heavyweights. Many owners used trolley
or ceiling-mounted hoists, some even electric but not all had the space, either for
the hardware or the detached roof.
1962 Pontiac Catalina convertible with Riveria "Esquire" Series 300 hard-top. Note the fake landau irons.
No manufacturer attempted a retractable hard-top on the
scale of the big Skyliner but at least one aftermarket supplier thought there
might be demand for something large and detachable. Riveria Inc, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, offered
them between 1963-1964 for the big (then called full or standard-size) General Motors
(GM) convertibles. Such was GM’s
production-line standardization, the entire range of models, spread over three years and five
divisions (Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac & Cadillac) and three years, could be covered by just three variations (in length) of hard-top. Made from fibreglass with an external texture which emulated leather, weight
was a reasonable 80 lb (30 kg) but the sheer size rendered them unmanageable for
many and not all had storage for such a bulky item, the growth of the American automobile
meaning garages accommodative but a few years earlier were now cramped.
1962
Chevrolet Impala SS (Super Sport) convertible with Riveria "Esquire" Series 100 hard-top.
Riveria offered their basic (100 series) hard-top in black
or white, a more elaborately textured model (200 series) finished in gold or
silver while the top of the range (300 series) used the same finishes but with simulated
“landau” irons. No modification was
required to the car, the roof attaching to the standard convertible clamps, the soft-top remaining retracted. Prices started at US$295 and the company seems
to have attempted to interest GM's dealers in offering the hard-tops as a
dealer-fitter accessory but corporate interest must have been as muted as buyer
response, Riveria ceasing operations in 1964.
1935 MG NB
Magnette “Faux Cabriolet” on Triple-M chassis (chassis number NA0801).The body is believed the work of an unknown
Irish coach-builder.
Lest it be
thought Riveria adding fake landau bars to their fibreglass hard-tops was
typical American vulgarity, across the Atlantic, their use as a decorative accouterment
was not unknown.Most of the 738 MG
N-type Magnettes (1934-1936) were bodied as roadsters or DHCs (drop head coupé,
a style understood in Europe as a cabriolet and in the US as a convertible) and
while coach-builders like Carbodies and Allingham did a few with enclosed
bodywork, chassis NA0801 is the only known “Faux Cabriolet” and it would be
more rapid than many because the 1271 cm3 (78 cubic inch) SOHC
(single overhead camshaft) straight-six has been fitted with a side-mounted Marshall
87 supercharger.While the combination
of that many cylinders and a small displacement sounds curious, the
configuration was something of an English tradition and a product of (1) a
taxation system based on cylinder bore and (2) the attractive economies of
scale and production line rationalization of “adding two cylinders” to existing
four-cylinder units to achieve greater, smoother power with the additional
benefit of retaining the same tax-rate.Even after the taxation system was changed, some small-capacity sixes were
developed as out-growths of fours.Despite
the additional length of the engine block, many N-type Magnettes were among the
few front-engined cars to include a “frunk” (a front trunk (boot)), a small
storage compartment which sat between cowl (scuttle) and engine.
1935 MG NB
Magnette “Faux Cabriolet”.
The
scalloped shape of the front seats' squabs appeared also in the early (3.8
litre version; 1961-1964) Jaguar E-Types (1961-1974) but attractive as they were,
few complained when they were replaced by a more prosaic but also more
accommodating design.The lengths of
rope fitted just behind the door frames were for years these were known as “assist straps”, there to aid those
exiting and while not needed by the young or still agile, were a help to
many.When implemented as a rigid
fitting, they were known (unambiguously) as “grab handles” but in the US in the 1970s they were sometimes
advertised as “Lavaliere straps”.Lavaliere was a term from jewellery design
which described a pendant (typically with a single stone) suspended from a
necklace, the style named after Françoise-Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess
of La Vallière and Vaujours (1644–1710) who was, between 1661-1667 (a reasonable
run in such a profession), the mistress of Louis XIV (1638–1715; le Roi Soleil (the Sun King), King of
France 1643-1715).It’s said the
adaptation of her name for the pendants was based on the frequency with which
the accessories appeared in her many portraits.
Cadillac
Hearse based on 1987 Cadillac Brougham (used in the Lindsay Lohan film Machete
(2010), left), 1964 Alvis TE21 DHC (drophead coupé) by Park Ward (centre) and
1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet C by Sindelfingen (right).
The landau
irons (which some coach-builders insist should be called “carriage bars”) on
the rear side-panels emulate in style (though not function) those used on
horse-drawn carriages and early automobiles (the last probably the
Mercedes-Benz 300 (the “Adenauer”; W186 (1951-1957) & W189 (1957-1962))
Cabriolet D.On those vehicles, the
irons actually supported the folding mechanism but as a decorative device they
proved useful those hearses not fitted with rear side-windows, existing to relieve
the slab-sidedness of the expanse of flat metal.That may have been the rationale of the MG’s Irish
coach-builder (or his customer) and the bulk of the fabric on the soft-top of
the Alvis TE21 (above, centre) illustrates why the visual effect on larger convertibles
with no rear side-windows displeased some.
1967 Ford
Thunderbird sedan: it’s a strange look without the vinyl roof and would be more
bizarre still without fake landau irons.
When for 1967 Ford replaced
the convertible version of the Thunderbird with a four-door model, it also
appeared with fake landau irons.On the
two-door Thunderbirds they were just gorp (what bling used to be called in
Detroit) but the sedan was built on a relatively short wheelbase combined with
a large C-Pillar (for the desired “formal roofline”) so the only way to make
the door opening wide enough to be functional was use the “suicide” (rear
hinged) configuration and integrate some of the structure into the
C-Pillar.To disguise the trick (1) a
vinyl roof was glued on (covering also the affected part of the door) and (2) the
curve of the landau bars formed an extension of the trim-line (roof guttering).As a visual device it worked, making the four-door
Thunderbird (1967-1971) the only car ever improved by the addition of the otherwise
ghastly vinyl roof although it works best in a black-on-black combination,
further disguising things.
Publicity shot for 1961 Lincoln
Continental four-door hardtop (pre-production prototype).
One of the
anomalies in the history of the four-door hardtops was that Lincoln, in its
classic 1960s Continental, offered a a four-door pillared
sedan, a by then unique (in the US, Mercedes-Benz as late as 1962 still with one on the books) four-door convertible and, late in the run, a two-door hardtop but no four-door hardtop.That seemed curious because the structural
engineering required to produce a four door hardtop already existed in the
convertible coachwork and both Ford & Mercury had several in their ranges,
as did the many divisions of GM & Chrysler. According to the authoritative Curbside Classic, the four-door hardtop was cancelled almost on the eve of the model's release, the factory’s records indicating either ten or eleven were built (which seem to have been pre-production vehicles rather than prototypes) and
photographs survive, some of which even appeared in general-release brochures with a B-pillar air-brushed in. It seems testing had revealed that at speed, the large expanse of metal in the roof was prone to distortion which, while barely perceptible, allowed some moisture intrusion through the window seals. The only obvious solution was to use heavier gauge metal but that would have been expensive and delayed the model's release so, with some some uncertainty about the prospects of success for the brand, the decision was taken to prune the line-up. While never the biggest sellers, the four-door hardtops had always attracted attention in showrooms but for that task, Lincoln anyway had something beyond the merely exclusive, they had the eye-catching four-door convertible. So late was the decision taken not to proceed that Lincoln had already printed service bulletins, parts lists and other documents, detailing the four-door (pillared) sedan (Body Code 53A), four-door convertible (74A) & four-door hardtop (57C). Curbside Classic revealed that of the 57C count, either six or seven were converted to sedans while the fate of the "missing four" remains a mystery, there being nothing to suggest any of the phantom four ever reached public hands.Collectors chase rarities like these but they’ve
not been seen in 65-odd years so it’s presumed all were scrapped once the
decision was taken not to proceed with production.
An
alternative explanation for the body-style not reaching production was provided
by Mac's Motor City Garage which noted the intricate mechanisms fitted to the
doors of the convertible, devised to replicate the way side-windows behave when
a B-pillar is present.What the body
engineers did was craft a system in which the rear side glass seal slipped in
behind the front glass, triggering an automatic “drop-down” which made the rear
glass lower to the extent required when the door was opened.The pre-production plan had been for all these
motors and associated wiring to be fitted also to the four-door hardtop but the
assumption is the accountants must have looked at the increased costs all this
imposed and then compared the math with the sales projections, concluding the
economics were wrong.Because the body
engineering had been done for the convertible, there was no structural
necessity in the B-pillar used for the sedan (which is why it could be so impressively
slender) but it did provide an effective seal between the front and rear side
glass and much reduced wear on the weather-stripping. So, according to Mac's Motor City Garage, the
non-appearance of the planned hardtop was all about the cost savings achieved
by not having to install the hardware in the doors.
1966 Lincoln
Continental two-door hardtop.
The consensus among Lincoln gurus is the rationale for the decision was based wholly on cost.While the
Edsel's failure in the late 1950s is well storied, it’s often forgotten that nor were the huge Lincolns
of that era a success and, with the Ford Motor
Company suddenly being run by the MBA-type “wizz kids”, the Lincoln brand too
was considered for the axe. After Lincoln booked a cumulative loss of US$60 million (then a great deal of money although that number, like the Edsel's US$250 million in red ink, might have been overstated to take advantage of the tax rules related to write-offs), that idea was considered but Lincoln was given one last chance at redemption, using
what was actually a prototype Ford Thunderbird; that was the car which emerged
as the memorable 1961 Lincoln.But given the lukewarm reception to the last range, to there
was no certainty of success so it seems the decision was taken to restrict the
range to the pillared sedan and the four-door convertible, a breakdown on the
production costs of the prototype four-door hardtops proving they would be much
more expensive to produce (it would have had to use the convertible's intricate side-window assemblies).
1976 Jaguar XJ 5.3C. With the ugly vinyl removed, the lovely roof-line can be admired. Although long habitually referred to as a "coupé", the factory called them the "XJ Two-Door Saloon", reserving the former designation for the E-Type (1961-1974) and XJ-S (later XJS) (1975-1996).
Coincidently, a decade later Jaguar in the UK faced a similar problem when developing the two-door hardtop version (1975-1977) of their XJ saloon (1968-1992). It was a troubled time for the UK industry and although first displayed in 1973, it wasn't until 1975 the first were delivered. One problem revealed in testing was the roof tended slightly to flex and while not a structural issue, because regulations had compelled the removal of lead from automotive paint, the movement in the metal could cause the now less flexible paint to craze and, under-capitalized, Jaguar (by then part of the doomed British Leyland conglomerate) didn't have the funds to undertake a costly re-design so the Q&D (quick & dirty) solution was to glue on a vinyl roof. It marred the look but saved the car and modern paint can now cope so a number of owners have taken the opportunity to restore their XJC to the appearance the designers intended. Other problems (the dubious window sealing and the inadequate door hinges, the latter carried over from the four-door range which used shorter, lighter doors) were never fixed. It's an accident of history that in 1960 when the fate of the Lincoln four-door hardtop was being pondered, vinyl roofs (although they had been seen) were a few years away from entering the mainstream so presumably the engineers never contemplated gluing one on to try to "fix the flex" although, given the economic imperatives, perhaps even that wouldn't have allowed it to escape the axe.
End of the line: 1967 Lincoln
Continental four-door convertible.
It did work, sales volumes after a slow start
in 1961 growing to a level Lincoln had not enjoyed in years, comfortably
out-selling Imperial even if never a challenge to Cadillac. The four-door convertible's most famous owner was Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1963-1969) who would use it to drive visitors around his Texas ranch (often with can of Pearl beer in hand according to LBJ folklore). While never a big seller (21,347 made over seven years and it achieved fewer than 4,000 sales even in its best year), it was the most publicized of the line and to this day remains a staple in film & television productions needing verisimilitude of the era. The convertible was
discontinued after 1967 when 2276 were built, the two-door hardtop introduced the year before
out-selling it five to one. The market had spoken; it would be the last convertible Lincoln ever
produced and it's now a collectable, LBJ's 1964 model in 2024 selling at auction for US$200,000 and fully restored examples without a celebrity connection regularly trade at well into five figures, illustrating the magic of the coach-work.
John Cashman (aka "The Lincoln Guru") is acknowledged as the world's
foremost authority on the 1961-1967 Lincoln Continental Convertibles.Here, in a video provided when LBJ's car (in
Arctic White (Code M) over Beige Leather (Trim 74)) was sold on the Bring-a-Trailer
on-line auction site, he explains the electrical & mechanical intricacies of
the machinery which handles the folding top and side windows. The soft-top is a marvel of analogue-era mechanical engineering.
Chrysler New
Yorker Town & Country wagons: 1960 (left) and 1961 (right).In 1960 there were 671 nine-passenger New
Yorker Town & Country wagons, production increasing the next year to 760.
There were
even four-door hardtop station wagons (which the Europeans would probably
classify as “five door”) and curiously it was the usually dowdy AMC (American
Motors Corporation) which in 1956 released the first, the impressively named Rambler
Custom Cross Country Hardtop Wagon which in 1957 even gained a V8 engine.For 1958, the niche body-style was moved to
the bigger Ambassador series but it remained available only until 1960.Buick, Oldsmobile and Mercury also flirted
with four-door hardtop wagons all releasing models in 1957 but the GM (General
Motors) were produced for only two seasons while the slow-selling Mercury
lasted until 1960.
Image from
1960 Dodge brochure featuring the line's two wagons, the Dart (red) and the
Polara (bronze).
In the era, the
relationship in appearance between the car in the metal and the images in the
advertising were something like what McDonalds and others do with their
burgers: indicative but exaggerated. In fairness to Chrysler, there were others in the industry who applied their artistic licence with much less restraint.
Not for the first or last time, Chrysler
were late to a trend and with the quirky four-door hardtop wagon segment, the
corporation managed to enter the market just as the rest of the industry had concluded
it wasn’t worth the effort.The 1960
Chryslers were the first to use unit-body (ie no separate chassis) construction
and both the Windsor & New Yorker Town & Country wagons included the
style and it remained in the catalogue until 1964, dropped when the new C-Body
made its debut for 1965.The companion marque
Dodge had their premium Polara available as a hardtop wagon and it was
available even with the photogenic Sonoramic cross-ram induction system.After a hiatus in 1962, the style returned the
next year in the Custom 880 series but as with the Chryslers, 1964 was the end
of the line for the four-door hardtop wagon, not just for the corporation but
the whole industry; there have been none since.
Deconstructing the oxymoronic "pillared hardtop"
Ford public relations department's press release announcing the 1974 "pillared hardtop", September 1973 (left) and the frameless rear window on a 1977 Mercury Marquis four-door "pillared hardtop".
So
it would seem settled a hard-top is a convertible’s removable roof made with
rigid materials like metal or fibreglass while a hardtop is a car with no
central pillar between the forward and rear side glass. That would be fine except that in the 1970s, Ford
decided there were also “pillared hardtops”, introducing the description on a
four-door range built on their full-sized (a breed now extinct) corporate
platform shared between 1968-1978 by Ford and Mercury. The rationale for the name was that to differentiate
between the conventional sedan which used frames around the side windows and
the pillared hardtops which used the frameless assemblies familiar from their
use in the traditional hardtops. When
the pillared hardtops were released, as part of the effort to comply with
pending rollover standards, the two door hardtop switched to being a coupé with
thick B-pillars, behind which sat a tall “opera window”, another of those
motifs the US manufacturers for years found irresistible.
1976
Cadillac Eldorado convertible, at the time: “the last American convertible”. Unlike the convertibles, the US industry's four-door hardtops were never resurrected from the 1970s coachwork cull. The styling of the original FWD Eldorado (1967) was one of the US industry's finest (as long as buyers resisted ordering the disfiguring vinyl roof) which no subsequent version matched, descending first to the baroque before in the 1980s becoming an absurd caricature. In 1976, the lines of “the last American convertible” were almost restrained compared with the excesses of earlier in the decade.
The
wheels in the picture are a minor footnote in the history of US
manufacturing.When GM’s “big” FWD (front
wheel drive) coupes debuted (the Oldsmobile Toronado for 1966, the Eldorado the
following season), although the styling of both was eye-catching, it was the
engineering which intrigued many.On
paper, coupling 7.0 litre (429 cubic inch) (the Eldorado soon enlarged to 8.2 (500)) V8s with FWD sounded at least courageous but even in the early, more powerful,
versions, GM managed remarkably well to tame the characteristics inherent in
such a configuration and the transmission (which included a chain-drive!)
proved as robust and the other heavy-duty Turbo-Hydramatics.Unlike other ranges, the Toronado and
Eldorado offered no options in wheel or wheel-cover design and because the
buyer demographic was very different for those shopping for Mustangs, Corvettes
and such, there was initially no interest from wheel manufactures in offering
an alternative; being FWD, it would have
required a different design for the mounting and with such a small potential market,
none were tempted.Later however,
California’s Western Wheel Company adapted their “Cyclone Special” (a “turbine”
style) and released it as the “Cyclone Eldorado”.It wasn’t a big seller but the volumes must
have been enough to justify continuation because Western also released a
version for the 1979-1985 Eldorados although the two were not interchangeable,
the bolt-circle 5 x 5" for the older, 5 x 4.75" for the newer.The difference in the offset was corrected
with a spacer while the wheels (Western casting #4056) were otherwise
identical.When Cadillac in the 1980s
offered a factory fitted alloy wheel, that was the end of the line for Western's Cyclone
Eldorado.
According to Ford in 1973, a “sunroof” was an opening in the roof with a sliding hatch made from a non-translucent material (metal or vinyl) while a “moonroof” included a hatch made from a transparent or semi-transparent substance (typically then glass). The advantage the moonroof offered was additional natural light could be enjoyed even if the weather (rain, temperature etc) precluded opening the hatch.A secondary, internal, sliding hatch (really an extension of the roof lining) enabled the sun to be blocked out if desired and in that configuration the cabin’s ambiance would be the same whether equipped with sunroof, moonroof or no sliding mechanism of any kind.Advances in materials mean many of what now commonly are called “sunroofs” are (by Ford’s 1973 definition) really moonroofs but the latter term has faded from use.
1973 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with moonroof.
Manufacturers in the 1970s allocated resources to refine the sunroof because, at the time, the industry’s assumption was the implications of the US NHTSA's (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) 208 (roll-over protection, published 1970) fully would be realized, outlawing both convertibles and hardtops (certainly the four-door versions). FMVSS 208 was slated to take effect in late 1975 (when production began of passenger vehicles for the 1976 season) with FMVSS 216 (roof-crush standards) added in 1971 and applying to 1974-onwards models.There was a “transitional” exemption for convertibles but it ran only until August 1977 (a date agreed with the industry because by then Detroit’s existing convertible lines were scheduled to have reached their EoL (end of life)) at which point the roll-over and roof-crush standards universally would be applied to passenger vehicles meaning the only way a “convertible” could registered for use on public roads was if it was some interpretation of the “targa” concept (Porsche 911, Chevrolet Corvette etc), included what was, in effect a roll-cage (Triumph Stag) or (then more speculatively), some sort of device which in the event of a roll-over would automatically be activated to afford occupants the mandated level of protection and Mercedes-Benz later would include such a device on the R129 SL roadster (1998-2001).Although in 1988 there were not yet “pop-ups” on the internet to annoy us, quickly the press dubbed the R129’s innovative safety feature a “pop-up roll bar”, the factory called the apparatus automatischer Überrollbügel (automatic rollover bar).It was spring loaded and pyrotechnically activated, designed fully to deploy in less than a half-second if sensors detected an impending rollover although the safety-conscious could at any time raise it by pressing one of the R129’s many buttons.
Alternative approaches (partial toplessness): 1973 Triumph Stag in Magenta (left) and 1972 Porsche 911 Targa in silver (right). The lovely but flawed Stag (1970-1977) actually needed its built-in roll cage for structural rigidity because it's underpinnings substantially were unchanged from the Triumph 2000 sedan (1963-1977) on which it was based.
Despite the myths which grew to surround the temporary extinction of convertibles from Detroit’s production lines, at the time, the industry was at best indifferent about their demise and happily would have offered immediately to kill the breed as a trade-off for a relaxation or abandonment of other looming safety standards.As motoring conditions changed and the cost of installing air-conditioning fell, convertible sales had since the mid-1960s been in decline and the availability of the style had been pruned from many lines.Because of the additional engineering required (strengthening the platform, elaborate folding roofs with electric motors), keeping them in the range was justifiable only if volumes were high and it was obvious to all the trend was downwards, thus the industry being sanguine about the species loss.That attitude didn’t however extend to a number of British and European manufacturers which had since the early post-war years found the US market a place both receptive and lucrative for theirroadstersandcabriolets; for some, their presence in the US was sustained only by drop-top sales. By the 1970s, the very existence of the charming (if antiquated)MG&Triumphroadsters was predicated upon US sales.
High tech approach (prophylactic toplessness): Mercedes-Benz advertising for the R129 roadster (in the factory's Sicherheitsorange (safety orange) used for test vehicles).
The play on words uses the German wunderbar (“wonderful” and pronounced vuhn-dah-baah) with a placement and context so an English speaking audience would read the word as “wonder bar”; it made for better advertising copy than the heading: Automatischer Überrollbügel. This was a time when the corporate tag-line“Engineered like no other car” was still a reasonable assertion. It had been the spectre of US legislation which accounted for Mercedes-Benz not including a cabriolet when the S-Class (W116) was released in 1972, leaving the SL (R107; 1971-1989) roadster as the company’s only open car and it wasn’t until 1990 a four-seat cabriolet returned with the debut of the A124.
Chrysler was already in the courts to attempt to have a number of the upcoming regulations (focusing on those for which compliance would be most costly, particularly barrier crash and passive safety requirements) so instead of filing their own suit, a consortium of foreign manufacturers (including British Leyland & Fiat) sought to “append themselves” to the case, lodging a petition seeking judicial review of roll-over and roof-crush standards, arguing that in their present form (ie FMVSS 208 & 216), their application unfairly would render unlawful the convertible category (on which the profitability of their US operation depended).A federal appeals court late in 1972 agreed and referred the matter back to NHTSA for revision, ordering the agency to ensure the standard “…does not in fact serve to eliminate convertibles and sports cars from the United States new car market.”The court’s edit was the basis for the NHTSA making convertibles permanently exempt from roll-over & roof crush regulations.That ensured the foreign roadsters & cabriolets lived on but although the ruling would have enabled Detroit to remain in the market, it regarded the segment as one in apparently terminal decline and had no interest in allocating resources to develop new models, happily letting existing lines expire.
The “last American convertible” ceremony, Cadillac Clark Street Assembly Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 21 April 1976.
One potential “special case” may have been the Cadillac Eldorado which by 1975 was the only one of the few big US convertibles still available selling in reasonable numbers but the platform was in its final years and with no guarantee a version based on the new, smaller Eldorado (to debut in 1978) would enjoy similar success, General Motors (GM) decided it wasn’t worth the trouble but, sensing a “market opportunity”, promoted the 1976 model as the “Last American convertible”.Sales spiked, some to buyers who purchased the things as investments, assuming in years to come they’d have a collectable and book a tidy profit on-selling to those who wanted a (no longer available) big drop-top.Not only did GM use the phrase as a marketing hook; when the last of the 1976 run rolled off the Detroit production line on 21 April, the PR department, having recognized a photo opportunity, conducted a ceremony, complete with a “THE END OF AN ERA 1916-1976”) banner and a “LAST” Michigan license plate.The final 200 Fleetwood Eldorado convertibles were “white on white on white”, identically finished in white with white soft-tops, white leather seat trim with red piping, white wheel covers, red carpeting & a red instrument panel; red and blue hood (bonnet) accent stripes marked the nation’s bicentennial year.
The “last American convertible” ceremony, Cadillac Clark Street Assembly Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 21 April 1976.
Of course in 1984 a convertible returned to the Cadillac catalogue so some of those who had stashed away their 1976 models under wraps in climate controlled garages weren’t best pleased and litigation ensued, a class action filed against GM alleging the use of the (now clearly incorrect) phrase “Last American Convertible” had been “deceptive or misleading” in that it induced the plaintiffs to enter a contract which they’d not otherwise have undertaken.The suit was dismissed on the basis of there being insufficient legal grounds to support the claim, the court ruling the phrase was a “non-actionable opinion” rather than a “factual claim”, supporting GM's contention it had been a creative expression rather than a strict statement of fact and thus did not fulfil the criteria for a “deceptive advertising” violation.Additionally, the court found there was no actual harm caused to the class of plaintiffs as they failed to show they had suffered economic loss or that the advertisement had led them to make a purchase they would not otherwise have made.That aspect of the judgment has since been criticized with dark hints it was one of those “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country” moments but the documentary evidence did suggest GM at the time genuinely believed the statement to be true and no action was possible against the government on several grounds, including the doctrines of remoteness and unforeseeability.
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004, US president 1981-1989). in riding boots & spurs with 1938 LaSalle Series 50 Convertible Coupe (one of 819 produced that year), Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank California, 1941.
LaSalle was the lower-priced (although marketed more as "sporty") "companion marque" to Cadillac and a survivor of GM's (Great Depression-induced) 1931 cull of brand-names, the last LaSalle produced in 1940. Mr Regan remained fond of Cadillacs and when president was instrumental is shifting the White House's presidential fleet to them from Lincolns. Although doubtlessly Mr Reagan had fond memories of top-down motoring in sunny California (climate change not yet making things too hot, too often for them to be enjoyed in summer) and was a champion (for better and worse) of de-regulation, it's an urban myth he lobbied to ensure convertibles weren't banned in the US.
Compliant and not with FMVSS 208 as drafted. 1978 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe with T-Top roof (left) and 1978 Chrysler New Yorker, the last of the four-door hardtops (right). The indefinite extension of the "temporary exemption" of convertibles from FMVSS's roll-over standards created the curious anomaly that Chrysler could in theory have maintained a New Yorker convertible (had one existed) in production while being compelled to drop the four-door hardtop. Market realities meant the federal court never had to resolve that one and no manufacturer sought an exemption for the latter.
1966 Lincoln Continental Sedan (left) and 1974 Buick Century Luxus Colonnade Hardtop Sedan (right). Luxus was from the Latin luxus (extravagance) and appeared in several Germanic languages where it conveyed the idea of "luxury".
With "pillared hardtops", it
was actually only the ostensibly oxymoronic nomenclature which was novel, Ford’s
Lincoln Continentals combining side windows with frames which lowered into the doors and a B pillar; Lincoln
called these a sedan, then the familiar appellation in the US for all four-door
models with a centre pillar. Curiously,
in the 1960s another descriptive layer appeared (though usually not used by the
manufacturers): “post”. Thus where a
range included two-door hardtops with no pillar a coupés with one, there was
among some to adopt “coupé” and “post coupé” as a means of differentiation and
this spread, the term “post sedan” also still seen today in the collector
markets. Other manufacturers in the
1970s also used the combination of frameless side glass and a B-pillar but Ford’s
adoption of “pillar hardtop was unique; All such models in General Motors’ (GM)
“Colonnade” lines were originally described variously as “colonnade hardtop
sedans” (Buick) or “colonnade hardtops” (Chevrolet, Oldsmobile & Pontiac) and
the nickname was borrowed from architecture where colonnade refers to “a series
of regularly spaced columns supporting an entablature and often one side of a
roof”. For whatever reasons, the advertising
copy changed over the years, Buick shifting to “hardtop sedan”, Chevrolet &
Oldsmobile to “sedan” and Pontiac “colonnade hardtop sedan”. Pontiac was the last to cling to the use of “colonnade”;
by the late 1970s the novelty has passed and the consumer is usually attracted
by something “new”. Because the GM range
of sedans had for uprights (A, B & C-pillars plus a divided rear glass),
the allusion was to these as “columns”.
Ford though, was a little tricky.
Their B-pillars were designed in such as way that the thick portion was recessed
and dark, the silver centrepiece thin and more obvious, so with the windows
raised, the cars could be mistaken for a classic hardtop. It was a cheap trick but it was also clever,
in etymological terms a “fake hardtop” but before long, there was a bit of a
vogue for “fake soft-tops” which seems indisputably worse.
1975 Imperial LeBaron (left) and 1978 Chrysler New Yorker. The big Chryslers were the last of the four-door hardtops produced in the US.
The
Americans didn’t actually invent the pillarless hardtop style and although coach-builders on both sides of the Atlantic had built a handful in both two and four door form, in the
post-war years it was Detroit which with gusto took to the motif. The other geo-centre of hardtops was the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market)
which refers to vehicles produced (almost) exclusively for sale within Japan
and rarely seen beyond except in diplomatic use, as private imports, or as part
of the odd batch exported to special markets.
As an ecosystem, it exerts a special fascination for (1) those who study the
Japanese industry and (2) those who gaze enviously on the desirable versions the RoW (rest of the world) was denied. The range of high performance versions and variations in coachwork available in the JDM was wide and for those with a fondness for Japanese cars, the subject of cult-like veneration. By the late 1970s,
the handful of US four-door hardtops still on sale were hangovers from designs
which dated from the late 1960s, behemoths anyway doomed by rising gas (petrol) prices
and tightening emission controls; with the coming of 1979 (coincidently the
year of the “second oil shock”) all were gone.
In the JDM however, the interest remained and endured into the 1990s.
1965 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa (two-door hardtop, left) and 1969 Mazda Luce Coupé (right).
The
first Japanese cars to use the hardtop configuration were two-door coupés, the
Toyota Corona the first in 1965 and Nissan and Mitsubishi soon followed. One interesting thing during the era was the
elegant Izuzu 117 Coupé (1968-1980), styled by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro
(b 1938) which, with its slender B-pillar, anticipated Ford’s stylistic trick
although there’s nothing to suggest this was ever part of the design brief. Another of Giugiaro’s creations was the rare
Mazda Luce Coupé (1968), a true hardtop which has the quirk of being Mazda’s
only rotary-powered car to be configured with FWD. Giugiaro’s lines were hardly original because
essentially they duplicated (though few suggest "improved") those of the lovely second
generation Chevrolet Corvair (1965-1969) and does illustrate what an
outstanding compact the Corvair could have been if fitted with a conventional (front-engine
/ rear wheel drive (RWD)) drive-train.
1973 Nissan Cedric four-door Hardtop 2000 Custom Deluxe (KF230, left) and 1974 Toyota Crown Royal Saloon four-door Pillared Hardtop (2600 Series, right).
By
1972, Nissan released a version of the Laurel which was their first four-door although it was only the volume manufacturers for which the economics of scale
of such things were attractive, the smaller players such as Honda and Subaru
dabbling only with two-door models.
Toyota was the most smitten and by the late 1970s, there were hardtops
in all the passenger car lines except the smallest and the exclusive Century,
the company finding that for a relatively small investment, an increase in profit
margins of over 10% was possible. Toyota
in 1974 also followed Ford’s example in using a “pillared hardtop” style for
the up-market Crown, the exclusivity enhanced by a roofline lowered by 25 mm (1
inch); these days it’d be called a “four door coupé” (and etymologically that
is correct, as Rover had already demonstrated with a "chop-top" which surprised many upon its release in 1962). In the JDM, the last true four-door hardtops
were built in the early 1990s but Subaru continued to offer the “pillared
hardtop” style until 2010 and the extinction of the breed was most attributable
to the shifting market preference for sports utility vehicles (SUV) and such. In Australia, Mitsubishi between between 1996-2005
used frameless side-windows and a slim B-pillar on their Magna so it fitted the
definition of a “pillar hardtop” although the term was never used in marketing,
the term “hardtop” something Australians associated only with two-door coupés (Ford
and Chrysler had actually the term as a model name in the 1960s &
1970s). When the Magna was replaced by
the doomed and dreary 380 (2005-2008), Mitsubishi reverted to window frames and
chunky pillars.
Standard and Spezial coachwork on the Mercedes-Benz 300d (W189, 1957-1962).The "standard" four-door hardtop was available throughout the run while the four-door Cabriolet D was offered (off and on) between 1958-1962 and the Spezials (landaulets, high-roofs etc), most of which were for state or diplomatic use, were made on a separate assembly line in 1960-1961.The standard "greenhouse" (or glasshouse) cars are to the left, those with the high roof-line to the right.
Few European manufacturers attempted four-door hardtops and one of the handful was the 300d (W189, 1957-1962), a revised version of the W186 (300, 300b & 300c; 1951-1957) which came to be referred to as the "Adenauer" because several were used as state cars by Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967; chancellor of the FRG (West Germany) 1949-1963).Although the coachwork never exactly embraced the lines of mid-century modernism, the integration of the lines of the 1950s with the pre-war motifs appealed to the target market (commerce, diplomacy and the old & rich) and on the platform the factory built various Spezials including long wheelbase "pullmans", landaulets, high-roof limousines and four-door cabriolets (Cabriolet D in the Daimler-Benz system).The high roofline appeared sometimes on both the closed & open cars and even then, years before the assassination of John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963), the greenhouse sometimes featured “bullet-proof” glass. As well as Chancellor Adenauer, the 300d is remembered also as the Popemobile (although not then labelled as such) of John XXIII (1881-1963; pope 1958-1963).
A tale of two rooflines: 1955 Chrysler C-300 (top left), 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Coupé (top right), Rover 3.5 Coupé (bottom left) and Rover 3.5 Saloon (bottom right).
On sale only in 1955-1956, the restrained lines of Chrysler’s elegant “Forward Look” range didn’t last long in the US as extravagance overtook Detroit but the influence endured longer in Europe, both the Mercedes-Benz W111 (1961-1971) & W112 Coupes (1962-1967) and the Rover P5 (1958-1967) & P5B (1967-1973) interpreting the shape.In the UK, Rover (a company with a history or adventurism in engineering which belies its staid image) tried to create a four-door hardtop as a more rakish version of their P5 sedan (3 Litre (P5, 1958-1957) & 3.5 Litre (P5B 1967-1973)) but were unable to perfect the sealing around the windows, something which later afflicted also the lovely two-door versions of the Jaguar & Daimler XJ. Rover instead in 1962 released a pillared version of the P5 with a lowered roof-line and some different interior fittings and named the four-door the "Coupé" which puzzled those who had become used to "coupes" being two-door machines but etymologically, Rover was correct.
Pillars, stunted pillars & "pillarless"
1959 Lancia Appia Series III
Actually,
although an accepted part of engineering jargon, to speak of the classic
four-door hardtops as “pillarless” is, in the narrow technical sense,
misleading because almost all used a truncated B-pillar, ending at the
belt-line where the greenhouse begins. The
stunted device was required to provide a secure anchor point for the rear door's hinges (or latches for both if suicide doors were used) and in the case of the latter, being of frameless
construction, without the upright, the doors would be able to be locked in
place only at the sill, the physics of which presents a challenge because even
in vehicles with high torsional rigidity, there will be movement. The true pillarless design was successfully executed
by some but those manufacturers used doors with sturdy window frames,
permitting latch points at both sill and roof, Lancia offering the
configuration on a number of sedans including the Ardea (1939-1953), Aurelia
(1950-1958) & Appia (1953-1963). The
approach demanded a more intricate locking mechanism but the engineering was
simple and on the Lancias it worked and was reliable, buyers enjoying the ease
of ingress & egress. It's sad the company's later attachment to front wheel drive (FWD) ultimately doomed Lancia because in every other aspect of engineering, few others were as adept at producing such fine small-displacement vehicles.
1961 Facel Vega II (a two door hardtop with the unusual "feature" of the rear side-glass being hinged from the C-pillar).
Less
successful with doors was the Facel Vega Excellence, built in two series between
1958-1964.Facel Vega was a French
company which was a pioneer in what proved for almost two decades the
interesting and lucrative business of the trans-Atlantic hybrid, the combination
of stylish European coachwork with cheap, refined, powerful and reliable American engine-transmission
combinations.Like most in the genre,
the bulk of Facel Vega’s production was big (by European standards) coupés (and
the odd cabriolet) and they enjoyed much success, the company doomed only when
it augmented the range with the Facellia, a smaller car.Conceptually, adding the smaller coupés &
cabriolets was a good idea because it was obvious the gap in the market existed
but the mistake was to pander to the feelings of politicians and use a French
designed & built engine which proved not only fragile but so fundamentally
flawed rectification was impossible.By
the time the car had been re-engineered to use the famously durable Volvo B18
engine, the combination of the cost of the warranty claims and reputational
damage meant bankruptcy was impending and in 1964 the company ceased operation.The surviving “big” Facel Vegas, powered by a
variety of big-block Chrysler V8s, are now highly collectable and priced
accordingly.
1960 Facel Vega Excellence EX1
Compared
with that debacle, the problem besetting the Excellence
was less serious but was embarrassing and, like the Facellia's unreliable engine, couldn’t be fixed.The Excellence was a
four-door sedan, a configuration also offered by a handful of other
trans-Atlantic players (including Iso, DeTomaso & Monteverdi) and although volumes were low, because the platforms were elongations of those used on
their coupés, production & development costs were modest so with high prices,
profits were good.Facel Vega however
attempted what no others dared: combine eye-catching suicide doors, frameless side glass and coachwork which was truly pillarless, necessitating latching &
locking mechanisms in the sills.With the
doors open, it was a dramatic scene of lush leather and highly polished burl
walnut (which was actually painted metal) and the intricate lock mechanism was
precisely machined and worked well… on a test bench.Unfortunately, on the road, the
pillarless centre section was inclined slightly to flex when subject to lateral
forces (such as those imposed when turning corners) and this could release the
locks, springing the doors open.Owners reported
this happening while turning corners and it should be remembered (1) lateral
force increases as speed rises and (2) this was the pre-seatbelt era.There appear to be no confirmed reports of
unfortunate souls being ejected by centrifugal force through an suddenly open door (the author Albert Camus (1913–1960) was killed when the Facel Vega HK500 two-door coupé in which he was a passenger hit a tree, an accident unrelated to doors) but clearly the risk was there.Revisions to the mechanism improved the security but the problem was
never completely solved; despite that the factory did offer a revised second
series Excellence in 1961, abandoning the dog-leg style windscreen and toning
down the fins, both of which had become passé but in three years only a handful
were sold.By the time the factory was
shuttered in 1964, total Excellence production stood at 148 EX1s (Series One; 1958-1961)
& 8 EX2s (Series Two; 1961-1964).
The Mercedes-Benz R230 SL: Lindsay Lohan going topless (in an automotive sense) in
2005 SL 65 AMG with folding roof lowered (left), Ms Lohan's SL 65 AMG (with folding roof erected) later when on sale (centre)
& 2009 SL 65 AMG Black Series with fixed-roof (right).
At the time, uniquely in the SL lineage, the R230 (2001-2011) was available with both a retractable hard top and
with a fixed roof but no soft-top was ever offered (the configuration continued in the R231 (2012-2020) while the R232 (since 2021) reverted to fabric).Having no B pillar, most of the R230s were
thus a hardtop with a hard-top but the SL 65 AMG Black Series (2008–2011, 400 of which were built, 175 for the US market, 225 for the RoW) used
a fixed roof fabricated using a carbon fibre composite, something which
contributed to the Black Series weighing some 250 kilograms (550 lb) less
than the standard SL 65 AMG. A production of 350 is sometimes quoted but those maintaining the registers insist the count was 400. Of the
road-going SLs built since 1954, the Black Series R230 was one of only three
models sold without a retractable roof of some kind, the others being the
original 300 SL Gullwing (W198, 1954-1957) and the “California coupé” option offered
between 1967-1971 for the W113 (1963-1971) "Pagoda" roadster (and thus available only
for the 250 SL (1966-1968) & 280 SL (1967-1971)).The "California coupé" (a nickname from the market, the factory only ever using "SL Coupé") was simply an SL supplied
with only the removable hard-top and no soft-top, a folding bench seat included
which was really suitable only for small children.The name California was chosen presumably because
of the association of the place with sunshine and hence a place where one could
be confident it was safe to go for a drive without the fear of unexpected rain.Despite the name, the California coupé
was available outside the US (a few even built in right-hand drive form) and although
the North American market absorbed most of the production, a remarkable number seem to exist in Scandinavia.
A classic roadster, the C3 Chevrolet Corvette L88: Convertible with soft-top lowered (top left), convertible with hard-top in place (top right), convertible with soft-top erected (bottom left) and coupé (roof with two removable panels (T-top)) (bottom right). The four vehicles in these images account for 2.040816% of the 196 C3 L88 Corvettes produced (80 in 1968; 116 in 1969) and the L88 count constitutes .000361% of total C3 production.