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"Convertible" vs "Drop Head Coupe"

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Editor_Reid said:
Maybe because the soft top has no headliner?
Click to expand...
I agree with Reid. A friend of mine owned a Jaguar XK140 DHC and it had a convertible top with an inner liner.
And what the Brits called a DHC was a Cabriolet on 50's-60's era Porsches and MB's: again, a fold-down convertible with an interior lining..
 
I don't know if this is the actual truth, but I was told (a long time ago) that the difference between a roadster and a drop head coupe was how the windshield was attached. A roadster had removable windshield stantions and the coupe had permanent, or fixed, stantions.
 
As I understand it, a roadster has side curtains whereas a convertible (American) or convertable (British) is interchangeable with Cabriolet or Drophead coupe and has wind up windows. I have not heard the headliner theory before.
 
Editor_Reid said:
Maybe because the soft top has no headliner?
Click to expand...

For example, a Jaguar XK120 came in both roadster (or "OTS" - Open Two-Seater) and drophead coupe forms. They were different models, not interchangeable names. From Wikipedia:

The XK120 was ultimately available in three body styles, all two-seaters and available either as Left (LHD) or Right Hand Drive (RHD): an open 2-seater described in the US market as a roadster (OTS); a fixed head coupé (FHC) from 1951; and a drophead coupé (DHC) from 1953.

Also from Wikipedia:

The open two-seater provided little weather protection. Its lightweight folding canvas top and detachable sidescreens stowed out of sight behind the seats.

The drophead coupé (DHC) had a padded, lined canvas top, which folded onto the rear deck behind the seats when retracted, and roll-up windows with opening quarter lights.

The terms are apparently not precise, and depend to a large degree on what the manufacturer decides to call them.

I've always keyed on the "lightweight canvas top" versus the "padded, lined canvas top" - so, more or less, a drophead coupe has a headliner - but from those definitions it appears that calling a BJ7/BJ8 a drophead coupe - because of their roll-up windows - would be valid ... except that the factory called them convertibles.
 
My understanding of the difference between a roadster and convertible is that the roadster top is removed to put it down and the convertible top stays attached.
 
Tahoe Healey's original question asked "Why is the Healey convertible not referred to as a drop head coup as other British marques?"

The answer is in the last line of these lyrics: > Odetta - Whyn Why Lyrics | SongMeanings <

Best--Michael Oritt
 
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