[mrobby440]

Does anyone know the differences between a hardtop, coupe and sedan? I think it has something to do with the window posts ..right?

[home brew]

Coupe - two doors, usually one seat, although some had jump seats in the back.

Sedan - two doors (Ford called them tudors in the 30' and 40's) or four doors(Ford called them fordors) with two seats.

Hardtop - two doors or four doors with two seats, does not have any door pillars above the belt line. The windows do not slide in the door frame.

[Kevin45]

Coupe - two doors, usually one seat, although some had jump seats in the back.

Not necessarily so. The older Mustangs were Fastbacks and Coupes then people started calling the coupe a "squareback" or "notchback"

This is in the Hotrodding Basics Forum under Auto definitions:

coupe:
An enclosed single-compartment body with two doors and varying passenger capacity depending on seat arrangements. The SAE standard J1100 defines it as having less than 33 cubic feet (934 liters) of interior volume. Larger coupes have rear quarter windows. Coupes have fixed permanent back panels and top, as well as a luggage compartment in the rear deck. Originally it meant a vehicle which was "cut" (thus the French "coupé") by a glass partition behind the front seats so that the driver was exposed to the air while those in the back were enclosed. Also see
club coupe
drophead coupé
hatchback coupe
sport coupe
three-door hatchback coupe
two-door club coupe
two-door coupe
two-door hatchback coupe

sedan:
The term sedan originally described a conveyance seen only in movies today: a wheelless vehicle for one person, borne on poles by two men, one ahead and one behind. Automakers borrowed the word and applied it to cars with an enclosed four-door body type, permanent back panels, and top with full-width cross seats front and rear, and passenger capacity from five to seven depending on wheelbase. Longer-wheelbase models accept extra passengers in fold-down auxiliary seats. Sedans usually have quarter windows in the rear quarter in addition to windows in all four doors. Trunk racks often were standard offerings. Called saloon in U.K. According to Car and Driver, the term "sedan" refers to a fixed-roof car with at least four doors or any fixed-roof two-door car with at least 33 cubic feet (934 liters) of rear interior volume, according to measurements based on SAE standard J1100

hardtop:
A two-door or four-door vehicle without a center door post, i.e., no B-post. It gives the impression of uninterrupted glass along the side of the car. The term is derived from "hardtop convertible." Other generic names have included sports coupe, hardtop coupe, or pillarless coupe. In the face of proposed rollover standards, nearly all automakers turned away from the pillarless design to a pillared version by 1976-77.

[66barry]

I have a 48 Hudson super 8 coupe according to Hudson. Its one of the biggest damn coupes I ever saw. With the seats out we inflated a queen size mattress on the floor of the cab. I have owned a lot of 2 door sedans that were far smaller than the hudson coupe. The called them what ever they wanted. They won the NASCAR championship and half othe races in 1952 and 1953. I love NASCAR and old Hudsons. I do up date the old Hudson, only thing I kept was the sheet metal and the bumpers.

[onovakind67]

Originally Posted by 66barry

...With the seats out we inflated a queen size mattress on the floor of the cab..

Back seat wasn't big enough for the action?

[mosstrooper]

Originally Posted by 66barry

I have a 48 Hudson super 8 coupe according to Hudson. Its one of the biggest damn coupes I ever saw. With the seats out we inflated a queen size mattress on the floor of the cab. I have owned a lot of 2 door sedans that were far smaller than the hudson coupe. The called them what ever they wanted. They won the NASCAR championship and half othe races in 1952 and 1953. I love NASCAR and old Hudsons. I do up date the old Hudson, only thing I kept was the sheet metal and the bumpers.

My 39 Hudson Coupe is big too, hoping to make it onto the road this year.

[theHIGHLANDER]

Body style descriptions change over the years. Early cars may be described similar to current stuff with no similarities. Early cars can get quite confusing but if you remeber the basics it's easy. Armed with that info here goes...

2 door or Tudor (Ford)...just that, 2 doors but a body with no trunk and large rear seat area.

4 door or Fordor...same as above with 4 instead of 2

Victoria (sometimes called "Coupe Sedan")...a shorter passenger compartment 2 door with a nice "bustle" at the rear. Described in some literature as a more "intimate" passenger compartment for easy conversation.

Coupe...usually 1 seat, sometimes a "jump seat" and a trunk or storage area. Or that trunk area converted to the classic "rumble seat" where passengers traveled in the open air. Those versions also incorporated a roll down back window for driver/passenger communication.

Convertible...anything that has a convertible fabric top combined with roll up windows. Convertible coupes are also referred to as "cabriolets". 4 door convs are refered to as conv sedans.


Roadster...a single seat combined with a rumble seat, and no roll up windows. Side curtains were used to protect from inclement weather and many (most) have folding windshields for the ultimate "open air" experiance.

Phaeton...a 4 door version of the roadster with a rear seat and no windows. The most desireable being the "sport phaeton" with 2 windshieldsand cowls, also described as "dual cowl pahetons. Side curtains again are used for weather.


Later on as cars became more modern some of the names were dropped (like roadster and phaeton) as well as the models, yet some of the nomenclature was retained like "coupe" and "sedan". The term roadster was relegated to european sports cars in their early days. While some research is due here I believe the 1st "prodution" hardtop was the 39-40 Mercury Deluxe Coupe. It was a "pillarless" design as described in an above post having a clear view when all the windows were down. In more modern cars any version, 2 or 4 door that incorporates "framed" door window and a roof to floor "B" pillar can be considered a sedan. Again as described above, a "hardtop" has a clear view with all windows down. The rarest of hardtops are the Mopar and GM station wagons of the 50s. Again Mercury had a version of this in 2 and 4 door wagons called "commutors". Today nearly all 4 doors are sedans. Our favorite cars came in both versions. You may have seen LeMans/Tempest/GTO sedans, but they're rare. Most 2 door sedans were economy versions of their accessory laiden bretheren. The beloved 57 Bel Air came as both a sedan and a hardtop, 2 door and 4 door. A 2 door sedan can be desireable in a racing application due to less weight and a more rigid body. Finally, the venerable 5.0 Mustang from 79 to 93 could actually be considered a 2 door sedan with it's fully framed windows and stationary "B" pillar. I hope this long-azzed explaination was helpful to all of you reading this. Those suited to this knowledge, please feel free to add on where needed (I'm a lil foggy on the 39-40 Merc thing).

[powerrodsmike]

One addition for the early ford stuff anyway: A 4 door version of a roadster with a fabric top and back seat is also called a "touring".
Later, mikey