• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

World's first 4-door coupe?

Share this page

Steve

Steve

Moderator
Platinum
Country flag
Offline
In their new series of ads, Mercedes Benz are claiming the world's first 4-door coupe, but Rover's P5B coupe pre-dated it by more than 30 years! I think there were others, but I can't place them just yet. Similar to Lexus' claims that they developed the headlights that turn with the front wheels that was Citroen's innovation!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Similar to Lexus' claims that they developed the headlights that turn with the front wheels that was Citroen's innovation!

[/ QUOTE ]

The Tucker Torpedo had this also. The center mounted headlight rotated with the front wheels, but I don't know if this predated the Citroen or not (1948). Also, the Buick's of the early 30's had what were called "pilot ray" headlights, and these were directional with the wheels also.
 
About 10 years ago, Nissan made the same claim with the Maxima, it was half-witted, half-baked and wholly idiotic marketing-speak then, too.
 
Its never half witted, half baked, or wholly idiotic to make such claims in commercials. Its smart. The average shmoe believes this kind of tripe as fact, and so they go out and buy that super safe and inovative Lexus because they can see that deer in the road sooner, which could never have happened before the amazing minds at lexus developed this amazing and exciting new technology. Granted those of us who are in the know think what a load of bull, how can they blantantly lie like that on a commercial. So is the way of advertising.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Um.....

[ QUOTE ]

coupe

n : a car with two doors and front seats and a luggage compartment

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University


[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, Hayfever! Guess this is where I get my knickers in a twist. I'm in the minority (apparently) that feels that we seem to be losing much of our language by arbitrarily changing the meaning of words. There's no such thing as a four door coupe! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif So the car in the ads doesn't exist.

Now there's an ad campaign for you! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

Mickey
 
[ QUOTE ]
There's no such thing as a four door coupe!
Mickey

[/ QUOTE ]

Very True. There simply is no such thing as a 4 door coupe. We now have 4 door coupes, 3 door coupes, 4 door station wagon sports cars, sports car trucks, sports car sedans, pretty much everything except a bunch of sports cars. And now everything will be coupes I suppose, even trucks and SUVs and and and...

I am thinking of buying a Peterbilt 4 door coupe sports tractor trailer.

Bruce
 
I believe the origional definition of coupé was a car with a cut down roof line (coupé is apparently french for cut). So this Rover is with a lower roof line is a coupe - depends on the definition used I guess but perhaps since the majority of coupes have been 2dr the accepted definition has changed over time.

p5bcoupc_jpg.jpg
 
I really liked MB's "falling in love again" series of commercials.

Looks like they either switched ad agencies or the same agency took up smoking crack. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/pukeface.gif


PC.
 
Coupe: Closed 2-door car with slping back.
Oxford English Dictionary.

So by definition the Benz is not a coupe (or coop as it's termed over here....in the UK a coop is a hen house) but even if they are claiming to have invented a new classification of car (and they are), the Rover pre-dates it by more than three decades.
 
How about a 4 door coupe convertible sports sedan.
 
Oh car definition has gotten so blurred and screwed up I have just given up on caring about what people chose to call their cars. There is no true roadster out there anymore, but many company's call their drop head coupes, roadsters. You couldn't even sell a roadster anymore, due to the fact that people wouldn't want a car with no top, convertible or otherwise. Any car with a back seat is a sedan, but so many company's have small sedans they call coupes, rather than two door sedans. People just call their cars things which they think sounds cool, it has nothing to do with what the reality of the matter is.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Oh car definition has gotten so blurred and screwed up I have just given up on caring about what people chose to call their cars. There is no true roadster out there anymore, but many company's call their drop head coupes, roadsters. You couldn't even sell a roadster anymore, due to the fact that people wouldn't want a car with no top, convertible or otherwise. Any car with a back seat is a sedan, but so many company's have small sedans they call coupes, rather than two door sedans. People just call their cars things which they think sounds cool, it has nothing to do with what the reality of the matter is.

[/ QUOTE ]


Well said.

Bruce /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Many cars in the Classic era used driving lights which turned with the car, such as Packard, Rolls-Royce, Duesenberg, Cadillac...The lights were mounted on a rod that was connected to the steering arms. The earliest ones I've seen were around 1928 or so.

As for the coupe vs. sedan thing, the lines have been so blurred for so long, it's irrelevent, plus modern automotive marketing folks have little knowledge of history. There have been plenty of cars to consider themselves 4 door coupes, or 2 door sedans--for that matter, not to mention sedanettes and the like. The VW Phaeton isn't a 4 seat convertible, and I can think of many spyders(or spiders) that don't fit the definition of a roadster not based on a sedan platform.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Similar to Lexus' claims that they developed the headlights that turn with the front wheels that was Citroen's innovation!

[/ QUOTE ]

The Tucker Torpedo had this also. The center mounted headlight rotated with the front wheels, but I don't know if this predated the Citroen or not (1948). Also, the Buick's of the early 30's had what were called "pilot ray" headlights, and these were directional with the wheels also.

[/ QUOTE ]
 
Its juss gets irtating when peoples slahter the english talking.

Bruce
 
[ QUOTE ]
About 10 years ago, Nissan made the same claim with the Maxima, it was half-witted, half-baked and wholly idiotic marketing-speak then, too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe you're referring to Nissan Maxima being tagged as "4DSC" -- which stood for Four-Door Sports Car, rather than coupe.

I only know this because my wife's partner in her pediatrics practice has a Maxima with the 4DSC sticker on it, and finally I looked at the fine print, and it says in small lettering "Four Door Sports Car."

Equally misleading, since a sports car, by definition, cannot be sedan-based. (This is one of the reasons Mustangs are not considered "sports cars" by most of the world.)
 
[ QUOTE ]
This is one of the reasons Mustangs are not considered "sports cars" by most of the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, I've never considered Mustangs to be sports cars but not because of their past platforms being shared with those of the Falcon or Fairmont, which were both sedans. I always considered them GT's due to their having back seats and fairly large sizes and weights, and their obvious propensity for luxury features, at least on the higher end models.

The new Mustang for once does not share it's platform with another Ford sedan, although it can be said to be somewhat closely related to that of the current Lincoln LS, but Ford claims it is so significantly altered and modified, specifically for the Mustang, that it is basically new. However, this still doesn't change the fact that the car is indeed not a sports car, it's still a GT, and I continue to have this arguement with my fellow Mustang enthusiasts on other forums who insist that it is a true American sports car.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I continue to have this arguement with my fellow Mustang enthusiasts on other forums who insist that it is a true American sports car.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have owned several Mustangs and have never considered them sports cars. The Cobra was a "Ford" sports car; the Mustang is a "pony car" that spawned a whole industry at Mercury, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Dodge, Plymouth, and AMC that built other "pony cars" in the 1960s. And now Mustang is the only pony car still being made--it was first and it is last. Why can't people be satisfied with that? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
That's the old gag. Why do chicken coupes have two doors? 'cause if they had four doors they'd be chicken sedans.
It's just like Honda's claim to the first unibody truck with their new Ridgeline . Survay says BZZZZZZ! Ford built 'em in the early sixties. Not to mention the Jeep Commanchie.
 
Back
Top