Town car
A town car is a historical automobile body style characterized by four doors, an open front compartment and an enclosed rear compartment. The front compartment may include a removable cover.[1] Customers intending to be driven by a chauffeur often chose this body style.
In Europe the style is known as Sedanca de Ville, often shortened to Sedanca or de Ville. The name Sedanca was introduced by the Spanish Count Salamanca in the 1920s.[2]
The contemporary Lincoln Town Car derives its name from this historical body style despite the fact that it does not carry a town car body by the historical definition. In 1922, Edsel Ford had a Lincoln built with a town car body for his father's personal use.[3]
Ford introduced a town car body to its Model A line in December 1928. Ford eventually manufactured 1,065 Model A town cars.[4]
In 1940 and 1941, a limited edition model of the Cadillac Sixty Special carried the Town Car name. It was reintroduced as a coupe hardtop in 1949 using the French name for the body style Coupe DeVille and in 1956 as a four-door hardtop called the Sedan DeVille.
See also
- Landaulet—the opposite with the rear convertible and the front closed
- Coupé de ville—only two doors and without a division between (open) driver and (closed) passengers
References
- ^ Georgano, G. N., ed. (1971). "Glossary". Encyclopedia of American Automobiles. New York, NY USA: E. P. Dutton. p. 217. ISBN 0-525-097929. LCCN 79-147885.
Town Car. A body style in which the passenger compartment was closed, but the driver was exposed to the weather. although from the 1920s onward a sliding roof was often provided.
- ^ Automobile Body Design. Ian Beattie. Haynes Publishing 1977. ISBN 0-85429-217-9
- ^ "About Lincoln". Dearborn, MI USA: Fore Motor Company. The Roaring '20s. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18.
One of the most famous custom-built cars that came out of Edsel Ford's leadership was the 1922 Lincoln Town Car, which was built for Henry Ford himself. Town Car derived its name from its body styling, which featured an open chauffeur's compartment and enclosed passenger compartment.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|doi_brokendate=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Gunnell, John (December 25, 2007). Standard Catalog of Ford (2nd ed.). Krause Publications. pp. 27, 29, 32. ISBN 978-0896896154. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
A Town Car model was introduced on December 13, 1928, followed during 1929 by a wood-bodied station wagon on April 25.
External links
Media related to Sedanca de Ville at Wikimedia Commons
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