[BaadAssGremlins] Re: convertible or roadster?

[Onree <onree@xxxx>]

I think these terms kind of change over time. When I was a kid in the
fifties the difference between a roadster and a convertible was that a
convertible had roll-up side windows and a back seat. A roadster was a two
or three passenger (front seat only) and could have a top, but only snap or
tie down side-curtains instead of roll-up windows. The MG TC and Jaguar
XK120 were roadsters and the Model A and '32 to '34 Ford with side curtains.
The Jeepster was advertised as a roadster, even though it had a back seat,
it had side curtains instead of glass windows.
I had a high school buddy that drove a 1950 Dodge Wayfairer Roadster. It
was like a three-passenger business Coupe without the roof. It had a canvas
manual top (pretty much shredded by the time I saw it) and canvas framed
plastic snap on side windows.
When the British sports cars went to glass side windows they continued to
call their open two-seaters roadsters, and things like the Mercedes 190 and
300 followed the name. Now the term seems to have evolved to describe any
open two-seater, like a Miata, Cadillac Allante, (which could have a bolt on
top) or those things made by Mercedes and Audi, and the new Chrysler
Crossfire, with retractable tops.

The term "hardtop" used to mean a closed car without a "B" pillar or fixed
frame around the door glass, styled like a convertible but with a fixed
roof. If it had a B pillar and a non retracting doorglass frame it was a
coupe or a sedan. My son and his air-cooled Volkswagen crowd (we could call
them bratwursters instead of ricers) says that a "hardtop" is a Beetle sedan
that doesn't have the fold back cloth sunroof, which is called a "softtop"
not to be confused with the "convertible," where the whole top folds down.
Now any American car with a steel roof is called a hardtop, since nobody has
made a true pillarless hardtop for about thirty years.
Onree


on 7/10/04 5:14 PM, Eddie Stakes at eddiestakes@xxxx did
write:

> No top, that is a convertible, a roadster is traditionally no top, unless it
> has a bolt on top. I would like to see how it would look with a top too
> though, just to see what type of frame they might have used, but it is my
> understanding this was simply a roadster, no top, good for sunny days only!
In the midwest we used to use the term "parade phaeton" for fair weather
shop built open cars like this which were not really convertibles (since
they didn't convert.) Usually a four door Cadillac or Imperial with the roof
removed and the rough edges covered or finished to look nice, sometimes even
with fake parade boots for the non-existent top. A good place for Miss
Popcorn Harvest 1966 orthe Homecoming Queen to sit on and wave to the crowd.

> Eddie Stakes
> www.planethoustonamx.com
> *Note volume of email is
> extremely heavy, expect
> 5-12 day responses
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "lumina333" <lumina333@xxxx>
> To: <BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 4:25 PM
> Subject: [BaadAssGremlins] Re: gremlin roadster
> 
> 
> That's a neat convertible...wonder what it looks like with the top up?
> --- In BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Eddie Stakes"
> <eddiestakes@xxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> Hope this photo comes thru.......
>> Eddie Stakes
>> www.planethoustonamx.com