Hi Gang,
In recent posts I have seen some listers give a definition of what
is a roadster vs. a convertible. I think that the definitions were
flawed somewhat and would like to set forth what I believe the correct
answer is. I do this not for criticism but for
information's sake. As qualifications for pontificating on this
subject, I worked for Subaru of America's Test & Design center
for three and half years as a test car driver and worked elbow to elbow
with all the automotive engineering and design types. I
also am an attorney, and make my living confusing people with language,
so that qualifies me also.
1. Roadster: An open, two seat car. A roadster is a car that was
designed from the beginning as an open car. The car has
two doors, two seats, and may have an attached folding hood, an
erectable stowable hood, a removable hardtop, or no form of covering at
all. Regardless of the type of weather protection, the car was designed
from the outset to not have a fixed roof. Cars of this type include our
beloved Spridgets, MGB's, Mercedes Benz SLK's, Porsche Boxster, Plymouth
Prowler and Viper, Mazda Miata, etc. This month's Road and Track
specifically refers to the MB and the Porsche, both of which have a
folding hoods, as "roadsters".
A roadster can be made into a coupe by the design of the factory of a
fixed roof on the same body. An example of this would
be the MGA coupe, Jaguar E-type Coupe, Dodge Viper coupe. Some are
designed as coupes from the beginning (Subaru XT
coupe) The coupe, by ASE definition, has only a specified amount of
cubic feet of space behind the front two seats. Many
two doors are coupes, but not all two doors are considered coupes
because they do not meet the definition space-wise behind
the front seats.
2. Convertible: A car originally designed as a fixed roof car that has
been modified with a folding, retractable, or stowable
hood. Convertibles are basically closed cars that somebody "hacked the
roof off of". Examples would be Cadillacs,
Mustangs, VW bugs, Nissan 300zx, in short, anything that had its
fixed roof sawed off , and some sort of folding or
removable roof installed, is a convertible.
Referring to any Spridget as a "convertible" (which, incidentally,
are how my California titles read) is not correct. They are
all "roadsters" as they were all designed to be open cars, no matter if
the hood is rolled up and thrown in the boot or if it is
folded with the frame.
Some of you may ask why bother, a Spridget by any other name would
still drive as sweet. I agree, but at least let's make
sure that we refer to our roses as roses, and not as a dandelions.
Just my 2p worth, and once I became a lawyer I took to wearing Nomex
long ago so flame away if you desire.
Steve.
'79 Midget
'67 Sprite
'66 Sprite
All roadsters,
'63 Fury with convertible envy
--
_________________
| Steve McGee,
| Atty. at large
| samesq@pacbell.net
| http://home.pacbell.net/samesq/
|________________
"Only if you are unafraid of the truth will you ever find it."
|