Victoria Coupes (was Hardtop V. Sedan & More Coupes)
From: Bob Smith <limoguy1950@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 10:39:56 -0700 (PDT)
[The difference between the club coupe and the Victoria Coupe was that the Victoria Coupes had only two rear seats that had fold-up seat areas and faced one another. In the 1939 model year Chrysler manufactured 239 of the Royal/Windsor Victorias (the Windsor differed only in the interior appointments), 99 New Yorker Victorias and only 35 Imperials in that body style. Dodge and DeSoto had the Hayes bodied coupes with folding rear seats. These had a slightly different upper body configuration with the rear quarter windows that had pointed lower quarters.
Jack Pinsker, former club President of the WPC San Fernando Valley Region restored a yellow Imperial Victoria Coupe.]
Bob Smith
Bill Watson <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Chrysler's "Club Coupe" was a 6-passenger coupe with a front and rear seat. The passenger area was smaller, or as it was referred to by custom body builders in the custom era, "close coupled". The Club Coupe also had a larger trunk than the sedan. A Club Coupe was offered in the Custom Imperial series in 1951 and 1952. Another common name for the Club Coupe in the 1930's was "Victoria Coupe".
A business coupe had just the front seat. Those coupes with no room for a back seat had an extra large trunk. That style was also used for the rumbleseat coupes, putting a folding seat where the trunk was.
In 1940 Chrysler offered a business coupe with a small area behind the seat for parcels, etc. Another version of that body style offered two jump seats to make a 5-passenger coupe, the successor to the rumbleseat coupe and the predecessor to the
Club Coupe.
Of course Chrysler decided to muddy the body classifications by referring to the 2-door hardtop as s "Special Club Coupe". And when the 4-door hardtop came out in 1956 it was referred to as a "Special Sedan".
When the coupe body style faded from view in the early 1950's many manufacturers offered a "Business Sedan" - a 2-door sedan with no back seat. Instead there was a flat platform that was used to store whatever needed to be hauled around.
The problem with trying to define various names, styles, etc. is that each manufacturer used the various terms in different ways. Chevrolet offered fastback sedans in 1949-52 that they called Fleetline sedans. GM of Canada used the same bodies on their line of Chevolet-based Pontiacs and called them Sedan Coupes. And in the 1960's, particularly with the arrival of the pony car, hardtops began to be called coupes.
Bill Vancouver BC
----- Original Message -----
From: "M Turner" To: Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 7:15 PM Subject: Re: IML: Fw: Hardtop V. Sedan & More Coupes
> My mom and dad had a 1951 or '52 Chrysler Club Coupe. My dad and I had to > put new head gaskets on the bloody thing in the middle of winter when I was > about 14! (We owned a small farm in Maryland.) It had a full seat in the > back and Fluid Drive. > Vince in Boston > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > To: > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 9:29 PM > Subject: Re: IML: Fw: Hardtop V. Sedan & More Coupes > > > > I think that is called a Business Coupe. Other Coupes that held more > people were called Club Coupes. I think that a '51 or '52 Imperial Two Door > Sedan may have been called a Club Coupe. The only ones of those that
I have > EVER seen as an Imperial were in the sales brochure. I have seen examples of > these in Chryslers and Desotos. > > > > Paul > > > > In a message dated 7/13/2004 2:29:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Jim > writes: > > > > >I think a "coupe" was originally an enclosed car > > >with 2 doors and 1 seat. > > >
----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com ----------------- This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
