This is a recent story from my weekly syndicated column...plays well in your thread!
-Sam
The confusing world of classic vehicle semantics
SOUND CLASSICS-- BY SAM BARER
Volkswagen's new Phaeton is currently a big topic of conversation. Many of my fellow automotive journalists question if anyone will buy a $70,000 large sedan from a manufacturer associated with economical transportation. I actually am more concerned with the new VW model's name.
Derived from the sun god Helios' son's name, Phaeton is a French term traditionally used to identify four-plus seat convertibles. Certainly it's an inappropriate name for a hardtop sedan.
I don't want to sound like Andy Rooney, but at some point automotive semantics went haywire. Traditional terms are so misused, blurred, and just plain ignored, that the lack of standardization makes buying, selling and discussing cars extremely difficult.
Confusion abounds, because caveats have been created for even basic terms. A sedan has four doors, and a coupe usually has two doors -- although some modern coupes feature two extra smaller doors. Large two-door vehicles have in the past been marketed as two-door sedans, or sedanettes. At least coupes with small fold-down back seats are always called 2+2s.
The world of ragtops is more confusing than Parliamentary Procedure. Convertibles have roll-up windows and a permanent frame for a soft top, and are what British call dropheads. Convertibles can be coupes or sedans -- the last being the 1967 Lincoln Continental.
The most valuable classic open body-style is a dual cowl phaeton, which is a convertible with separate compartments for rear-seat occupants. Some European sedan or coupe-based convertibles were called cabriolets. Lincoln wins the all-time model name redundancy award with its 1940-1948 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet Convertible.
An open-top car with removable weather equipment is a roadster. Since there's no modern market for topless, side curtain-adorned cars, roadster now means a two-seat sporty convertible. Spiders (or spyder) are roadsters built on a platform not shared with a sedan. Oddly enough, the highest production spyder, the Fiat 124 Spyder, shared suspension and running gear with the 124 Sedan.
Enzo Ferrari was notorious for being hit or miss with coachwork terms. While his barchettas were indeed streamlined racers, and his berlinettas definitely coupes, his Dino 246GTS and 308GTS Spider models weren't Spiders at all, rather coupes with small removable roof panels usually known as targas. Most people assume Porsche invented the targa, but the removable center section on the Triumph TR4's surrey top preceded the 911 Targa . Incidentally, too many people think GM's t-top name was derived from the bracings supporting the two-piece panel. T-top is simply short for "targa top."
It's not just manufacturers abusing terms, as enthusiasts fling lingo around incorrectly. For instance, now people call everything a "Classic." Classic (capital "C") means the car was an expensive, important sports or luxury car made in the 1925-1948 Classic Era. I've always felt it's acceptable to call any early and truly significant vehicle in its genre a classic (lower-case "c") - such as "Shelby's Cobra is a classic American sports car." Combining "Pontiac Fiero" and "classic," however, should result in jail time.
Muscle car is probably the most abused term these days. By definition, muscle cars were economical offerings built on mid-sized American passenger car platforms with large V8 engines. Pontiac GTO, Chevy Chevelle, Olds 442 and Plymouth Road Runner are all true muscle cars. Impala, Galaxie 500 and Dodge Charger are not muscle cars, because they were full-sized platform vehicles - which is why they were the basis for NASCAR showroom stock cars. Even with a powerful engine, a four-door sedan is not a muscle car. Mustang, Camaro/Firebird and 'Cuda/Challenger were not muscle cars either, as their compact coupe platforms, base low-performance V6 engines, long option lists, and emphasis on handling classify them as pony cars.
None of the just mentioned vehicles classify as sports cars either. Some high-performance pony cars, like a Camaro Z-28 or Shelby GT350 can destroy many pure sports cars, but this isn't the litmus test. Sports cars are two seat or 2+2 vehicles utilizing light, purpose-built compact platforms for all-around performance. If comfortable and tall-geared, sports, muscle and pony cars can all be considered gran turismos or GTs.
Mechanical lingo is also used with reckless abandon. For instance big block means the engine uses a block larger than a manufacturer's standard V8 block. Chevy's 427s is a big block. Oldsmobile's 455 and Pontiac's 400 are not, because they're made from their manufacturers' standard V8 blocks.
Furthermore, all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive are not synonyms. Not all horizontally opposed engines are boxer designs, and while turbos are a type of supercharger, many supercharger types aren't turbos.
Enough! I'm going out to drive my vintage big block Corvette convertible sports car.
Sam Barer writes for Olympia-based Apex Features Syndicate. Submit questions or cars for profiles to soundclassics@apexstrategy.com.
[ 04-26-2004: Message edited by: sammyb ]</p>
Hi Guest!
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but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
