Dave's Car ID Academy: body awareness
Hello, Junior Car Detectives! Have you ever wondered: just how does Gumshoe Dave solve these automotive mysteries? Well wonder no more, because as a benefit to you the reader I am introducing Dave’s Car ID Academy. Practice these lessons at home and soon you’ll be astounding your friends and family with your uncanny ability to identify a 1925 Kokomo Mogul Phaeton or 1958 1/3 Blobmobile Atomic Dynablast. Keep at it, and they might even begin wondering if you are well, and whether some sort of intervention might not be in order!
Tuition to this exclusive institute of higher learning is 100% included with your paid subscription, but I will be occasionally offering free lessons to random internet deadbeats. Like today’s lesson in the basics: Know Your Bodies.
Early cars had very precise nomenclature for various body styles, and as a stickler for language it chafes my hide when a particular style is mislabeled. This has gotten worse with contemporary car makers, who have invented linguistic abominations like 4-door “coupes” and the like. So here is a handy illustrated taxonomy to insure you will not accidentally invoke my wrath:
Runabout: runabouts were a very early (pre-1912 or so) style of open car. They are principally characterized by lack of doors, 2 seats, and may or may not have a retractable top.
1910 Maxwell runabout Roadster: the term “roadster” is slapped willy-nilly on pretty much anything nowadays, but with respect to old cars it meant something very specific: a two seat open car, with doors, windshield and stanchions separate from the body, and no side windows.
1925 Dodge Brothers roadster Touring / Phaeton: another couple of largely synonymous terms that have become genericized over time, but back in the day they meant an open car with a back seat, separate windshield, and no side windows. Basically the jumbo version of a roadster. They can have 2 doors or 4 doors. In the UK this body style was sometimes called a “Chummy.”
1925 Overland touring Cabriolet / Convertible: like a roadster, a cabriolet was a two seat car but had fixed windshield stanchions molded into the body, and roll up side windows.
1934 Ford cabriolet Sport Coupe: like a roadster or cabriolet, a sport coupe was a two seat open car with retractable top, but with additional feature of full frame around the door windows.
1929 Ford Model A sport coupe Convertible Sedan: the jumbo version of a sport coupe, a retractable top car with door window frames, but with a back seat.
1932 Ford B-400 convertible sedan Coupe: so far I’ve covered open, retractable top cars, now let’s get to closed body styles and one of the most misunderstood. “Coupe” specifically means a two door closed car, and early on it meant one with 2 seats or single bench. Some early car makers produced models with a back seat called an “opera coupe” or “Victoria coupe,” but a “business coupe” only has single back seat. Coupes are sometimes referred to “3 window” or “5 window” (a windshield is not considered a window), but sometimes that’s redundant. For example all 1938 Ford coupes are 5-window, so no further distinguishing is necessary; but in 1937 Ford had both 3 and 5 window options.
1936 Ford 3 window coupe 
1936 Ford 5 window coupe Sedan / Post: a sedan is the frumpiest of body styles, an enclosed car with a back seat. It can have 2 or 4 doors, and has window frames on all doors. Around 1953, they began being referred to colloquially as “post” cars, to distinguish them from hardtops.
1956 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan Hardtop: This is a body style that didn’t emerge until the early 1950s - a closed car with no frame around the door windows and no middle “post” or B pillar. Hardtops can be 2 door or 4 door. When you roll down the windows on a hardtop, there is an aesthetically pleasing unimpeded open space under the roof. Not to cause confusion, but into the 50s and 60s “coupe” became more or less synonymous with 2 door hardtop.
1956 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door hardtop
That’s it for this lecture, class dismissed. Stay tuned for more car ID tips and tricks, and keep spreading the word about DCIDS!
Happy Motoring,
Dave
TIL the sport coupe had a retractable roof. I've never seen one with the top down. I thought they were fixed.
Also - Recaption #8.
Every body style has it’s place, except 4 doors, they are parts cars.