Hi Folks, I bet all the other old-timers will agree with me that at
least in traditional American lore (don't know about any other):
1. A Roadster in the Model A through '37 Ford days was a two-door,
two-seat (might also have a rumble seat) folding-top sweetheart with
snap-in clear plastic sidecurtains, NO roll-up glass windows in the
doors. The great examples were the drop-dead gorgeous stock '32, '34
and '36 Ford Roadsters. Through '36 the windshield of a Roadster folded
down; the '37 Roadster's didn't.
2. A Convertible in the same era was a car with a folding-top that had
roll-up glass windows in the doors. But Ford used the word Cabriolet
for the two-seat, and Convertible for four-seaters up to '37, and from
'38 the word Convertible only. The '39 was the last two-seat
Convertible, after that four-seaters only.
3. Ford made Phaetons up to '38, a four-door, four-seat version of the
Roadster, again with sidecurtains.
In summary, Roadster meant snap-in sidecurtains and until '37, a
fold-down windshield. Convertible/Cabriolet meant roll-up glass windows
in the doors and fixed windshield. All the above info from "The V-8
Album" published by the Early Ford V-8 Club of America, comprising Ford
Archive materials.
Nowadays, the car companies of the world have run roughshod all over
these classical terms, and like to call their little sportscars with
roll-up windows "Roadsters". But, the old-timers will never fully
recognize and accept this bastardization of the ancient and venerable
term from the '30s. Cheers from Ardun Bill in the Great Dismal Swamp,
Chesapeake, VA
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