Types of Bodywork on Classic Cars of the Early 20th Century

Types of Bodywork on Classic Cars of the Early 20th Century

Originally published in 26th edition of the classic 'The Motor Manual' book this intriqueing description of car body harks back to a time long past.

Most of us will be farmiliar with car body types of Saloon and Coupe and even Two Seater but what about the 'Dickey' or the Saloon-Laudaulet'?

Let's explore these two of the more quirky body types of classic cars

Two-Seater Dickey

A popular bodywork type early in the 20th centure was the Two-Seater Dickey. Taken from the name of the rear seat, the 'dickey' seat (British English), also called a rumble seat (American English) was a fold-out seating arrangement incorporated to various levels into the rear bodywork of the car.

Designed to give additional seating capacity for occassional trips these seats were often somewhat cramped but functional. This design was popular well into the 1940s, particularly in the US market.

Saloon-Landaulet

The Landaulet is a car body style where the rear passengers are covered by a convertibel top, often the driver is separated from the rear passengers by a division such as a glass panel or panels 

This body type was partularly popular during the first half of the 20th century with many taxicabs such with as the Austin 12/4 were utilised due to separated nature of driver and passenger and were extrenely common in larger cities.

More recently Landaulets were built for special purpose roles such as formal parades and processions of public figures and heads of state where the passenger was more visible and open to the onlooking crowds.

Source

Taken from one of most popular motoring manuals of the early 20th Century. 'The Motor Manual' published by TP Ltd.