From: Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 18:33:41 -0700
A few more hardtop thoughts, since I'm a little obsessive about them...
> second, there is a hard, steel "post" going from the floor pan to the
> roof rail; and third, the rear door hinges/mounts to this "post,"(excluding
> the 'suicide' rear door of the 1961-1969 Lincoln Continental).
Not that this is Imperial-related, except in the broader context of luxury
cars, but there were no 4-door hardtop Continentals after 1960. The
non-convertible 4-doors, from the suicide-door '61s to the last Continentals
with frameless glass in 1979, all had full B-pillars.
> On a "true" hardtop, structurally, there is no "complete B post" from the
> floor pan to the roof rail, nor is there any metal frame around the
> window(s). [Today, or in past 25 years, "Detroit' & the advertising media
> have used the term hardtop when they were actually referring to the two door
> sedan coupe, on either of 2 models: the front door is that of the old
> hardtop style, but there is a full/solid "B post" (really, a hardtop sedan
> coupe---say a 1975/6 NYB coupe...
There is no structural pillar in an NYB of this era, even with the St Regis
roof treatment. It's just vinyl trim simulating a pillar and a rivet in the
window regulator preventing the quarter window from rolling down. In other
words, it's a concealed hardtop!
> In the 1970s, FOMOCO used a variation of this body style, called the
> "Pillared hardtop sedan/coupe."
Ford was the first of the Big 3 to drop 4-door hardtops. The pillared
hardtops were really just sedans with frameless door glass, and none of the
big Fords, not even the low-line Custom 500, had framed glass from 1973 to
1979. Ford stuck with their 2-door hardtop Grand Marquis until 1978,
however.
Subaru and a few others still use this style. In fact, Subaru considers it a
styling trademark and calls it "hardtop-style doors." Only two true hardtops
remain, both from the German side of DCX (and one of them not coming for a
few more months).
Chris in LA
67 Crown 4dHT
78 NYB Salon 4dHT
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