Coupé de Ville
Coupé de Ville (also Coupé-Chauffeur , and in the USA Town Car ) is the French name for a chauffeur- driven representative vehicle in which the driver either sits outdoors or has an emergency roof, while the passengers have a closed compartment .
The term goes back to the French verb couper (to cut) and refers to the fact that the body is separated by a partition, ie "cut in two".
This body shape, which is unusual today, goes back to the age of the carriage. In order to immediately recognize guests arriving at court, it was necessary to recognize the livery of the coachman from a distance, which is why he had to be clearly visible.
At the beginning of the automobile age, the Coupé de Ville (also known as the Town Coupé in the USA ) was a vehicle with at least four seats, the rear bench seat of which was housed in a closed compartment similar to the railroad coupé . There were no doors at the front, no weather protection, and sometimes not even a windshield. This designation was later transferred to all bodies with an open chauffeur compartment and closed passenger area.
Technical details
Similar to a chauffeur limousine, the partition was sometimes permanently attached, but often also intended to be opened (sliding or lifting device). A speaking tube that ended at the driver's ear level or an instrument panel that contained the most frequent instructions, such as “stop”, “left”, “right” or “go home”, was used to communicate with the driver . If one of these buttons in the rear was pressed, a corresponding signal lit up on the dashboard.
A pull-out emergency cover (mostly made of leather) was often housed in the partition, the front part of which was attached to the windshield frame. A metal roof that was installed instead of the emergency cover was more rarely available.
The front seat and front door panels were usually covered with black leather, a material that was also used in completely open vehicles. The passenger compartment was often lavishly furnished with valuable upholstery materials such as brocade and wood appliqués with inlays . Often a bar or a make-up set was housed in the partition and there were roller blinds and a mirror in the C-pillar above the side and rear windows .
In Great Britain these bodies were also called Sedanca de Ville , in the USA Town Car or Town Brougham ; an outdated German term is "Außenlenker" (as opposed to "Innenlenker"), a chauffeur limousine.
variants
- Landaulet de Ville (also Town Landaulet)
- Coupé de Ville with a fixed roof over the chauffeur compartment. Depending on the manufacturer, this hybrid form between limousine and coupé de ville was also referred to as a chauffeur limousine or an open drive limousine .
Manufacturer
The small number of units in this small segment hardly allowed series production. Their production by hand as a one-off production (full custom) or in a small edition with individual equipment (semi custom) was part of the offerings of most of the companies specializing in this type of production.
In France, Audineau et Cie. , Mulbacher and Rothschild known for such work, later Kellner and Henri Binder joined them. The latter both contributed a body for a Bugatti Royale (Kellner No. 41-141 and Binder a Coupé de Ville on No. 41-111).
Sedancas played an important role for the tradition- conscious British , naturally above all for Rolls-Royce. Well-known names are Barker , Hooper , HJ Mulliner or Park Ward .
Town Cars or Town Broughams were a specialty of Brewster in the USA (especially for Rolls-Royce, Packard and their own chassis), LeBaron or Rollston .
Varia
DeVille is the name of a Cadillac model from 1956 to 2005.
Trivia
In the film The Yellow Rolls-Royce , a Rolls-Royce Phantom II with Sedanca-De-Ville body by Barker (1931, chassis no. 9JS) played a leading role. A Rolls-Royce Phantom III also gained fame through its appearance in the James Bond film Goldfinger as the vehicle of Auric Goldfinger and his bodyguard Oddjob. Two similar vehicles were used for the film; the better known with the chassis number 3BU168 has a Sedanca-De-Ville body from Barker. This car still exists today and is occasionally shown at exhibitions.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c rrab.com: Rolls-Royce 40/50 hp # GOK74; Coupé de Ville by Mulbacher (1920)
- ↑ coachbuilt.com: Terminology (de Ville)
- ↑ coachbuilt.com: Terminology (Coupe de Ville)
- ↑ a b coachbuilt.com: Terminology (Town Car)
- ↑ coachbuilt.com: Terminology (de Ville extension)
- ↑ coachbuilt.com: Terminology (inner handlebars)
- ↑ starcarcentral.wordpress.com: Rolls-Royce Sedanca De Ville from The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Web links
- Explanation of the term based on a French body on a Roll-Royce chassis (last accessed on August 8, 2012)
- coachbuilt.com: Terminology (accessed August 8, 2012)
- starcarcentral.wordpress.com: Movie Car from The Yellow Rolls-Royce (accessed August 9, 2012)