Bentley 3 Litre
The Bentley 3 Litre was a car chassis manufactured by Bentley. The company's first it was developed from 1919 and made available to customers' coachbuilders from 1921 to 1929; the Bentley was much larger than the 1368 cc Bugattis that dominated racing at the time, but double the size of engine and strength compensated for the extra weight. The 4000 lb car won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, with drivers John Duff and Frank Clement, again in 1927, this time in Super Sports form, with drivers S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis and Dudley Benjafield. Its weight and speed prompted Ettore Bugatti to call it "the fastest lorry in the world." The 3 Litre was delivered as a running chassis to the coachbuilder of the buyer's choice. Bentley referred many customers to their near neighbour Vanden Plas for bodies. Dealers might order a short cost-saving run of identical bodies to their own distinctive design. Most bodies took the simplest and cheapest form, but as it was all "custom" coachwork there was plenty of variation.
Customers included Prince George, Duke of Kent, Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie. The 3.0 L straight-4 engine was designed by ex-Royal Flying Corps engineer Clive Gallop and was technically advanced for its time. It was one of the first production car engines with 4 valves per cylinder, dry-sump lubrication and an overhead camshaft; the four valve SOHC Hemi design, with a bevel-geared shaft drive for the camshaft, was based on the pre-war 1914 Mercedes Daimler M93654 racing engine. Just before the outbreak of the war Mercedes had placed one of the winning Grand Prix cars in their London showroom in Long Acre. At the suggestion of W. O. Bentley being commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service, the vehicle was confiscated in 1915 by the British army, dismantled at Rolls-Royce and subjected to scrutiny. A notable difference to both the Mercedes and the aero engines was the cast-iron monobloc design, the Aluminium enclosed camshaft, which contributed to its durability, but having the valve-head and block in one-piece made for a complicated and labour intensive casting and machining.
This was a feature shared during that time by the Bugattis which the car was to compete with. The engine was among the first with two spark plugs per cylinder, pent-roof combustion chambers, twin carburetters, it was undersquare, optimized for low-end torque, with a bore of 80 mm and a stroke of 149 mm. Untuned power output was around 70 hp, allowing the 3 Litre to reach 80 mph; the Speed Model could reach 90 mph. A four-speed gearbox was fitted; the chassis from a Humber was designed by Frederick Tasker Burgess chief designer at Humber who had worked with W. O. during the war producing the aero engines BR1 and BR2. It should be noted that Bentley did not deliver complete vehicles, but – as was customary – provided only a rolling chassis. Only the rear wheels had brakes until 1924. There were three main variants of the 3 litre and they became known by the colours used on the radiator badge. There was a definite rule controlling badge colours but astonishingly it has since been established that given "special circumstances" the factory would indeed supply a "wrong" colour.
This was the standard model with 117.5 in wheelbase from 1921 to 1929 or long 130.0 in wheelbase from 1923 to 1929. This used a 5.3:1 high compression engine in the 117.5 in wheelbase chassis and was made from 1924 to 1929. Made between 1924 and 1929 this was the high performance model with 6.3:1 compression ratio and short 108 in wheelbase chassis. 100 mph performance was guaranteed. The 3 Litre chassis was shown at the 1919 London Motor Show, but the engine had not yet been finished, it took two years to get the engine right, with the first customer delivery in September 1921. Production lasted through 1929, by which time the car had been surpassed by Bentley's own 4½ Litre car. Experimental: 3 3 Litre: 1088 Speed Model: 513 Super Sports: 18Car rebuilt and superchargedIn the winter of 1926/7 the factory's service department created the first supercharged Bentley when chassis number 220 FR5189 had a Roots type blower fitted to its 3-litre engine; this pre-dated the Birkin supercharged Bentleys by two years.
Like the 4½ litre supercharged cars its blower was crankshaft-driven and mounted in front of the radiator between the dumb irons. Unlike them its carburettor was mounted on the left side of the engine block. A rather circuitous intake tract carries the fuel-air mixture forward from there to the blower. On 4½ litre cars the carburettor is mounted on the blower, as done on other supercharged British cars with front-mounted blowers; the oldest surviving production Bentley is 3 Litre chassis number 3. The first Bentley sold, it was delivered to its original owner in 1921. Bodied by UK coachbuilder R. Harrison & Son, chassis number 3 has engine number 4 and UK registration AX 3827. In 2011 it sold at auction for $962,500 including buyer's premium. An original, unrestored 1927 3 Litre Speed Model, chassis #1209 DE, is a part of the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA, USA; the car retains all of its original components and is the only Bentley to compete in pre-war road racing competition in the USA.
Reality television: My brother, my Bentley
Car classification
Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for various purposes including regulation and categorization, among others. This article details used classification schemes in use worldwide; this following table summarises common classifications for cars. Microcars and their Japanese equivalent— kei cars— are the smallest category of automobile. Microcars straddle the boundary between car and motorbike, are covered by separate regulations to normal cars, resulting in relaxed requirements for registration and licensing. Engine size is 700 cc or less, microcars have three or four wheels. Microcars are most popular in Europe, where they originated following World War II; the predecessors to micro cars are Cycle cars. Kei cars have been used in Japan since 1949. Examples of microcars and kei cars: Honda Life Isetta Tata Nano The smallest category of vehicles that are registered as normal cars is called A-segment in Europe, or "city car" in Europe and the United States.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines this category as "minicompact", however this term is not used. The equivalents of A-segment cars have been produced since the early 1920s, however the category increased in popularity in the late 1950s when the original Fiat 500 and BMC Mini were released. Examples of A-segment / city cars / minicompact cars: Fiat 500 Hyundai i10 Toyota Aygo The next larger category small cars is called B-segment Europe, supermini in the United Kingdom and subcompact in the United States; the size of a subcompact car is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as having a combined interior and cargo volume of between 85–99 cubic feet. Since the EPA's smaller minicompact category is not as used by the general public, A-segment cars are sometimes called subcompacts in the United States. In Europe and Great Britain, the B-segment and supermini categories do not any formal definitions based on size. Early supermini cars in Great Britain include Vauxhall Chevette.
In the United States, the first locally-built subcompact cars were the 1970 AMC Gremlin, Chevrolet Vega, Ford Pinto. Examples of B-segment / supermini / subcompact cars: Chevrolet Sonic Hyundai Accent Volkswagen Polo The largest category of small cars is called C-segment or small family car in Europe, compact car in the United States; the size of a compact car is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as having a combined interior and cargo volume of 100–109 cu ft. Examples of C-segment / compact / small family cars: Peugeot 308 Toyota Auris Renault Megane In Europe, the third largest category for passenger cars is called D-segment or large family car. In the United States, the equivalent term is intermediate cars; the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency defines a mid-size car as having a combined passenger and cargo volume of 110–119 cu ft. Examples of D-segment / large family / mid-size cars: Chevrolet Malibu Ford Mondeo Kia Optima In Europe, the second largest category for passenger cars is E-segment / executive car, which are luxury cars.
In other countries, the equivalent terms are full-size car or large car, which are used for affordable large cars that aren't considered luxury cars. Examples of non-luxury full-size cars: Chevrolet Impala Ford Falcon Toyota Avalon Minivan is an American car classification for vehicles which are designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row, have reconfigurable seats in two or three rows; the equivalent terms in British English are people carrier and people mover. Minivans have a'one-box' or'two-box' body configuration, a high roof, a flat floor, a sliding door for rear passengers and high H-point seating. Mini MPV is the smallest size of MPVs and the vehicles are built on the platforms of B-segment hatchback models. Examples of Mini MPVs: Fiat 500L Honda Fit Ford B-Max Compact MPV is the middle size of MPVs; the Compact MPV size class sits between large MPV size classes. Compact MPVs remain predominantly a European phenomenon, although they are built and sold in many Latin American and Asian markets.
Examples of Compact MPVs: Renault Scenic Volkswagen Touran Ford C-Max The largest size of minivans is referred to as'Large MPV' and became popular following the introduction of the 1984 Renault Espace and Dodge Caravan. Since the 1990s, the smaller Compact MPV and Mini MPV sizes of minivans have become popular. If the term'minivan' is used without specifying a size, it refers to a Large MPV. Examples of Large MPVs: Dodge Grand Caravan Ford S-Max Toyota Sienna The premium compact class is the smallest category of luxury cars, it became popular in the mid-2000s, when European manufacturers— such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz— introduced new entry level models that were smaller and cheaper than their compact executive models. Examples of premium compact cars: Audi A3 Buick Verano Lexus CT200h A compact executive car is a premium car larger than a premium compact and smaller than an executive car. Compact executive cars are equivalent size to mid-size cars and are part of the D-segment in the European car classification.
In North American terms, close equivalents are "luxury compact" and "entry-level luxury car", although the latter is used for the smaller premium compact cars. Examples of compact executive cars: Audi A4 BMW 3 Series Buick Regal An executive car is a premium car larger than a compact executive and smaller than an full-size luxury car. Executive cars are classified as E-segment cars in the European car classification. In the United States and several other coun
Bentley 4½ Litre
The Bentley 4½ Litre was a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 L. Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley's cars. At the time, noted car manufacturers such as Bugatti and Lorraine-Dietrich focused on designing cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a popular automotive endurance course established only a few years earlier. A victory in this competition elevated any car maker's reputation. A total of 720 4½ Litre cars were produced between 1927 and 1931, including 55 cars with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. A 4½ Litre Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928. Though the supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley's competitive performance was not outstanding, it set several speed records, most famously the Bentley Blower No.1 Monoposto in 1932 at Brooklands with a recorded speed of 222.03 km/h.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race is a 24-hour race around the Circuit de la Sarthe. The inaugural race was held 26–27 May 1923, attracted many drivers French. There were two foreign competitors in the first race, Frank Clement and Canadian John Duff, the latter winning the 1924 competition in his personal car, a Bentley 3 Litre. "Made with precision and the finest material," and with recent success, the luxurious Bentley cars attracted attention. After two years without success, Bentley convened a group of wealthy British men, "united by their love of insouciance, elegant tailoring, a need for speed," to renew Bentley's success. Both drivers and mechanics, these men nicknamed the "Bentley Boys", drove Bentley automobiles to victory in several races between 1927 and 1931, including four consecutive wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, forged the brand's reputation, it was within this context. Two cylinders were removed from the 6½ Litre model, reducing the displacement to 4.4 litres. At the time, the 3 Litre and the 6½ Litre were available, but the 3 Litre was an outdated, under-powered model and the 6½ Litre's image was tarnished by poor tyre performance.
Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin, described as "the greatest British driver of his day" by W. O. Bentley, was one of the Bentley Boys, he refused to adhere to Bentley's assertion that increasing displacement is always preferable to forced induction. Birkin, aided by a former Bentley mechanic, decided to produce a series of five supercharged models for the competition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, thus the 4 1/2 litre. The first supercharged Bentley had been a 3-litre FR5189, supercharged at the Cricklewood factory in the winter of 1926/7; the Bentley Blower No.1 was presented in 1929 at the British International Motor Show at Olympia, London. The 55 copies were built to comply with 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations. Birkin arranged for the construction of the supercharged cars having received approval from Bentley chairman and majority shareholder Woolf Barnato and financing from wealthy horse racing enthusiast Dorothy Paget. Development and construction of the supercharged Bentleys was done in a workshop in Welwyn Garden City by Amherst Villiers, who provided the superchargers.
W. O. Bentley was hostile to forced induction and believed that "to supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance." However, having lost control of the company he founded to Barnato, he could not halt Birkin's project. Although the Bentley 4½ Litre was heavy, weighing 1,625 kg, spacious, with a length of 4,380 mm and a wheelbase of 3,302 mm, it remained well-balanced and steered nimbly; the manual transmission, required skill, as its four gears were unsynchronised. The robustness of the 4½ Litre's lattice chassis, made of steel and reinforced with ties, was needed to support the heavy cast iron inline-four engine; the engine was "resolutely modern" for the time. The displacement was 4,398 cc: 100 mm bore and 140 mm stroke. Two SU carburetters and dual ignition with Bosch magnetos were fitted; the engine produced 110 hp for 130 hp for the racing model. The engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm. A single overhead camshaft actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees.
This was a technically advanced design at a time. The camshaft was driven by bevel gears on a vertical shaft at the front of the engine, as on the 3 Litre engine; the Bentley's tanks - radiator and petrol - had quick release filler caps that opened with one stroke of a lever. This saved time during pit stops; this 4½ was equipped with a canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann body. The hood structure was light but with high wind resistance; the steering wheel measured about 45 cm in diameter and was wrapped with solid braided rope for improved grip. Brakes were conventional, consisting of 17-inch drum brakes finned for improved cooling and operated by rod. Semi-elliptic leaf springs were used at rear. Fixed head coupé by Harrison 1928 The essential difference between the Bentley 4½ Litre and the Blower was the addition of a Roots-type supercharger to the Blower engine by engineer Amherst Villiers, who had produced the supercharger. W. O. Bentley, as
Transmission (mechanics)
A transmission is a machine in a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. The term transmission refers to the gearbox that uses gears and gear trains to provide speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source to another device. In British English, the term transmission refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, prop shaft and final drive shafts. In American English, the term refers more to the gearbox alone, detailed usage differs; the most common use is in motor vehicles, where the transmission adapts the output of the internal combustion engine to the drive wheels. Such engines need to operate at a high rotational speed, inappropriate for starting and slower travel; the transmission reduces the higher engine speed to the slower wheel speed, increasing torque in the process. Transmissions are used on pedal bicycles, fixed machines, where different rotational speeds and torques are adapted. A transmission has multiple gear ratios with the ability to switch between them as speed varies.
This switching may be done automatically. Directional control may be provided. Single-ratio transmissions exist, which change the speed and torque of motor output. In motor vehicles, the transmission is connected to the engine crankshaft via a flywheel or clutch or fluid coupling because internal combustion engines cannot run below a particular speed; the output of the transmission is transmitted via the driveshaft to one or more differentials, which drives the wheels. While a differential may provide gear reduction, its primary purpose is to permit the wheels at either end of an axle to rotate at different speeds as it changes the direction of rotation. Conventional gear/belt transmissions are not the only mechanism for speed/torque adaptation. Alternative mechanisms include power transformation. Hybrid configurations exist. Automatic transmissions use a valve body to shift gears using fluid pressures in response to speed and throttle input. Early transmissions included the right-angle drives and other gearing in windmills, horse-powered devices, steam engines, in support of pumping and hoisting.
Most modern gearboxes are used to increase torque while reducing the speed of a prime mover output shaft. This means that the output shaft of a gearbox rotates at a slower rate than the input shaft, this reduction in speed produces a mechanical advantage, increasing torque. A gearbox can be set up to do the opposite and provide an increase in shaft speed with a reduction of torque; some of the simplest gearboxes change the physical rotational direction of power transmission. Many typical automobile transmissions include the ability to select one of several gear ratios. In this case, most of the gear ratios are used to slow down the output speed of the engine and increase torque. However, the highest gears may be "overdrive" types. Gearboxes have found use in a wide variety of different—often stationary—applications, such as wind turbines. Transmissions are used in agricultural, construction and automotive equipment. In addition to ordinary transmission equipped with gears, such equipment makes extensive use of the hydrostatic drive and electrical adjustable-speed drives.
The simplest transmissions called gearboxes to reflect their simplicity, provide gear reduction, sometimes in conjunction with a right-angle change in direction of the shaft. These are used on PTO-powered agricultural equipment, since the axial PTO shaft is at odds with the usual need for the driven shaft, either vertical, or horizontally extending from one side of the implement to another. More complex equipment, such as silage choppers and snowblowers, have drives with outputs in more than one direction; the gearbox in a wind turbine converts the slow, high-torque rotation of the turbine into much faster rotation of the electrical generator. These are more complicated than the PTO gearboxes in farm equipment, they weigh several tons and contain three stages to achieve an overall gear ratio from 40:1 to over 100:1, depending on the size of the turbine. The first stage of the gearbox is a planetary gear, for compactness, to distribute the enormous torque of the turbine over more teeth of the low-speed shaft.
Durability of these gearboxes has been a serious problem for a long time. Regardless of where they are used, these simple transmissions all share an important feature: the gear ratio cannot be changed during use, it is fixed at the time. For transmission types that overcome this issue, see Continuously variable transmission known as CVT. Many applications require the availability of multiple gear ratios; this is to ease the starting and stopping of a mechanical system, though another important need is that of maintaining good fuel efficiency. The need for a transmission in an automobile is a consequence of the characteristics of the internal combustion engine. Eng
Bentley R Type
The Bentley R Type is the second series of post-war Bentley automobiles, replacing the Mark VI. A larger-boot version of the Mk VI, the R type is regarded by some as a stop-gap before the introduction of the S series cars in 1955; as with its predecessor, a standard body was available as well as coachbuilt versions by firms including H. J. Mulliner & Co. Park Ward, Harold Radford and Webb, Carrosserie Worblaufen and others. Other than the radiator grilles and the carburation there was little difference between the standard Bentley R Type and the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn; the R Type was the more popular marque, with some 2,500 units manufactured during its run to the Silver Dawn's 760. During development it was referred to as the Bentley Mark VII; the R Type name, now applied stems from chassis series RT. The front of the saloon model was identical to the Mark VI, but the boot was doubled in capacity; the engine displacement was 4½ litres, as fitted to versions of the Mark VI. An automatic choke was fitted to the R-type's carburettor.
The attachment of the rear springs to the chassis was altered in detail between the Mark VI and the R Type. For buyers looking for a more distinctive car, a decreasing number had custom coachwork available from the dwindling number of UK coachbuilders; these ranged from the grand flowing lines of Freestone and Webb's conservative prewar shapes, to the practical conversions of Harold Radford which including a clamshell style tailgate and folding rear seats. All R Type models use an iron-block/aluminium-head straight-6 engine fed by twin SU Type H6 carburettors; the basic engine displaced 4,566 cc with a 92 mm bore and 114.3 mm stroke. A 4-speed manual transmission was standard with a 4-speed automatic option becoming standard on cars; as of 2017, it remains the last car by Bentley to be sold with a manual transmission. The suspension was independent at the front using coil springs with semi elliptic leaf springs at the rear; the brakes used 12.25 in drums all round and were operated hydraulically at the front and mechanically at the rear via a gearbox driven servo.
The first example is the standard steel saloon built by Bentley, but a number of customers opted for a bare chassis, taken to a coachbuilder of their choice. A four door saloon with automatic transmission tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1953 had a top speed of 101.7 mph and could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 13.25 seconds. A fuel consumption of 15.5 miles per imperial gallon was recorded. The test car cost £4481 including taxes; the R-Type Continental was a high-performance version of the R-Type. It was the fastest four-seat car in production at the time; the prototype was developed by a team of designers and engineers from Rolls-Royce Ltd. and coachbuilder H. J. Mulliner & Co. led by Rolls-Royce's Chief Project Engineer, Ivan Evernden. Rolls-Royce worked with H. J. Mulliner instead of their own coachbuilding subsidiary Park Ward because the former had developed a lightweight body construction system using metal throughout instead of the traditional ash-framed bodies; the styling, finalised by Stanley Watts of H. J. Mulliner, was influenced by aerodynamic testing conducted at Rolls-Royce's wind tunnel by Evernden's assistant, Milford Read.
The rear fins stabilised the car at speed and made it resistant to changes in direction due to crosswinds. A maximum kerb weight of 34 long hundredweight was specified to keep the tyres within a safe load limit at a top speed of 120 mph; the prototype, with chassis number 9-B-VI and registration number OLG-490, which earned it the nickname "Olga", was on the road by August 1951. Olga and the first series of production Continentals were based on the Mark VI chassis, used a manual mixture control on the steering wheel boss, as these versions did not have an automatic choke; the early R Type Continental has the same engine as the standard R Type, but with modified carburation and exhaust manifolds along with higher gear ratios. The compression ratio was raised to 7.25:1 from the standard 6.75:1, while the final gear ratio was raised from 3.41 to 3.07. Despite its name, the two-door Continental was produced principally for the domestic home market, most of the 207 cars produced were right-hand drive, with 43 left-hand drive examples produced for use abroad.
The chassis was produced at the Rolls-Royce Crewe factory and shared many components with the standard R type. R-Type Continentals were delivered as rolling chassis to the coachbuilder of choice. Coachwork for most of these cars was completed by H. J. Mulliner & Co. who built them in fastback coupe form. Other coachwork came from Park Ward who built six including a drophead coupe version. Franay built five, Graber built three, one of them altered by Köng, Pininfarina made one. James Young built in 1954 a Sports Saloon for the owner of James Barclay. After July 1954, the car was fitted with an engine with a larger bore of 94.62 mm, giving a total displacement of 4.9 L. The rarity of the R Type Continental has made the car valuable to car collectors. In 2015 a 1952 R Type Continental, in unrestored condition, sold for over $1 million USD. R Type: 2323 R Type Continental: 208 Bennett, Martin. Bentley Continental: Corniche & Azure 1951-2002. Foreword by John Blatchley. Dorchester, UK: Veloce Publishing.
ISBN 978-1-84584-210-9. Retrieved 16 October 2014. Culshaw, David.
Sedan (automobile)
A sedan — saloon — is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for engine and cargo. Sedan's first recorded use as a name for a car body was in 1912; the name comes from a 17th century development of a litter, the sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows and carried by porters. Variations of the sedan style of body include: close-coupled sedan, club sedan, convertible sedan, fastback sedan, hardtop sedan, notchback sedan and sedanet/sedanette; the current definition of a sedan is a car with a closed body with the engine and cargo in separate compartments. This broad definition does not differentiate sedans from various other car body styles, but in practice the typical characteristics of sedans are: a B-pillar that supports the roof two rows of seats a three-box design with the engine at the front and the cargo area at the rear a less steeply sloping roofline than a coupé, which results in increased headroom for rear passenger and a less sporting appearance.
A rear interior volume of at least 33 cu ft It is sometimes suggested that sedans must have four doors. However, several sources state that a sedan can have four doors. In addition, terms such as sedan and coupé have been more loosely interpreted by car manufacturers since 2010; when a manufacturer produces two-door sedan and four-door sedan versions of the same model, the shape and position of the greenhouse on both versions may be identical, with only the B-pillar positioned further back to accommodate the longer doors on the two-door versions. A sedan chair, a sophisticated litter, was an enclosed box with windows used to transport one seated person. Porters at the front and rear carried the chair with horizontal poles. Litters date back to long before ancient Egypt and China. Sedan chairs were developed in the 1630s. Reputable etymologists suggest the name of the chair probably came through Italian dialects from the Latin sedere meaning to sit; the same experts report that the first recorded use of sedan for an automobile body occurred in 1912 when a new Studebaker model was described by its manufacturers as a sedan.
The same American dictionary provides this description: "Sedan an enclosed automobile for four or more people, having two or four doors". There were enclosed automobile bodies before 1912. Long before that time the same enclosed but horse-drawn carriages were known as broughams in the United Kingdom, they were berlinas in France and Italy. Both names are still used there for sedans. There is an unsubstantiated claim that the body of a particular 1899 Renault Voiturette Type B was the first motor vehicle, a sedan, it was a two-door two-seater vehicle with an extra external seat for a footman/mechanic. Georgano claims the earliest usage matching a modern definition of a sedan was a 1911 Speedwell sedan manufactured in the United States. In American English and Latin American Spanish, the term sedan is used. In British English, a car of this configuration is called a saloon. Hatchback sedans are known as hatchbacks. Super saloon is used to describe a high performance saloon car where sports saloon would have been used in the past.
Saloon has been used by British car manufacturers in the United States, for example, the Rolls-Royce Park Ward. In Australia and New Zealand sedan is now predominantly used, they were simply cars. In the 21st century saloon is still found in the long-established names of particular motor races. In other languages, sedans are known as berlina though they may include hatchbacks; these names, like sedan, all come from forms of passenger transport used before the advent of automobiles. In German sedans are berlines or limousines and limousines are stretch-limousines. In the United States notchback sedan distinguishes models with a horizontal trunklid; the term is only referred to in the marketing when it is necessary to distinguish between two sedan body styles of the same model range. Several sedans have a fastback profile, but instead of a trunk lid, the entire back of the vehicle lifts up. Examples include the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, Audi A5 Sportback and Tesla Model S; the names "hatchback" and "sedan" are used to differentiate between body styles of the same model.
Therefore the term "hatchback sedan" is not used, to avoid confusion. There have been many sedans with a fastback style. Hardtop sedans were a popular body style in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. Hardtops are manufactured without a B-pillar leaving uninterrupted open space or, when closed, glass along the side of the car; the top was intended to look like a convertible's top but it was fixed and made of hard material that did not fold. All manufacturers in the United States from the early 1950s into the 1970s provided at least a 2-door hardtop model in their range and, if their engineers could manage it, a 4-door hardtop as well; the lack of side-bracing demanded a strong and heavy chassis frame to combat unavoidable flexing. The fashion may have delayed the introduction of unibody construction. In 1973 the US government passed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216 creating a standard roof strength test to measure the integrity of roof structure in motor vehicles to come into effect some years later.
Hardtop production
Richard Seaman
Richard John Beattie Seaman, was one of the greatest pre-war Grand Prix drivers from Britain. He famously drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937–1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W154 car, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix, he died of his injuries after his car crashed into a tree and caught fire during the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix. Seaman was born in Chichester, Sussex to William John Beattie-Seaman in a wealthy family and lived at Kentwell Hall, Long Melford in Suffolk, developing an enthusiasm for motoring from his childhood. After studying at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1934 he resolved to become a racing driver and took his MG car to the European mainland to gain experience, he won the Voiturette race of the Swiss Grand Prix event at Bremgarten at his first attempt. He won other small races for English Racing Automobiles He was successful in the 1936 season both in UK and on the Continent using a 1926 1500 cc Delage race car, developed and modified to be unbeatable at the time with Dick Seaman driving and Mercedes team chief Alfred Neubauer invited him for a trial at the Nürburgring.
Both Silver Arrows teams used to have at least one foreign driver, if available. In 1937 he signed for Mercedes-Benz against the wishes of his mother, who did not want him to drive for a "Nazi" team; the Mercedes cars, which were part of a racing program, German government subsidized were far faster, better financed, better built, more advanced and more reliable than any of the racing cars he had driven previously. He now had a chance to win Grands Prix and be one of the top drivers in the European Grand Prix championship. Having a solid start to his career with Mercedes in 1937, he excelled in the 1938 season – he won the 1938 German Grand Prix, giving the Nazi salute on the podium and becoming one of the favourite drivers of Adolf Hitler, came second in the 1938 Swiss Grand Prix. In December 1938 he married Erica Popp, the daughter of the director of BMW, again against his mother's wishes. Leading the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps during a wet race, Seaman crashed his car into a tree during lap 22.
It is thought he was using a line through a corner, only used in the dry. After the impact, the car caught fire, with the unconscious driver still inside. Seaman died a few hours as a result of his burns, at just 26 years of age. On his death bed he remarked to the Mercedes chief engineer, "I was going too fast for the conditions – it was my own fault. I am sorry". After Seaman's death, Mercedes-Benz dealerships worldwide were ordered to display his photograph in their windows. Richard Seaman was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery in London. 1934: Coppa Acerbo, Swiss Grand Prix, Czech Grand Prix 1935: DNF Frontieres GP, Coppa Acerbo, Swiss Grand Prix, Czech Grand Prix 1936: British Empire Trophy, Isle of Man, German Grand Prix, Coppa Ciano, Coppa Acerbo, DNF Coppa Acerbo, Swiss Grand Prix, JCC 200 Miles, Donington Grand Prix 1937: Tripoli Grand Prix, AVUS Grand Prix, DNF Eifelrennen GP, Vanderbilt Cup, DNF German Grand Prix, Coppa Acerbo, 1937 Italian Grand Prix, 1937 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix, DNF 1937 Donington Grand Prix Donington 1938: DNS French Grand Prix, German Grand Prix, Swiss Grand Prix, DNF Italian Grand Prix, Donington Grand Prix 1939: DNS Pau Grand Prix, DNF Eifelrennen GP, DNF Belgian Grand Prix Dick Seaman, George Monkhouse, Doug Nye: "Dick and George: The Seaman Monkhouse Letters 1936-39", Palawan Press 2002, SBN 0952300990 Chunlachakkraphong.
Dick Seaman, Racing Motorist. G. T. Foulis & Company. Biography of Dick Seaman "The master race" Richard Seaman at Find a Grave
