1.
Car classification
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Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for innumerable purposes including regulation, description and categorization, among others. This article details commonly used classification schemes in use worldwide, vehicles can be categorized in numerous ways. Regulatory agencies may also establish a vehicle classification system for determining a tax amount, in the United Kingdom, a vehicle is taxed according to the vehicles construction, engine, weight, type of fuel and emissions, as well as the purpose for which it is used. Other jurisdictions may determine vehicle tax based upon environmental principles, such as the user pays principle, another standard for road vehicles of all types that is used internationally, is ISO 3833-1977. In the United States, since 2010 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety uses a scheme it has developed that takes into account a combination of both shadow and weight. The United States Federal Highway Administration has developed a scheme used for automatically calculating road use tolls. There are two categories depending on whether the vehicle carries passengers or commodities. Vehicles that carry commodities are further subdivided by number of axles and number of units, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has developed a classification scheme used to compare fuel economy among similar vehicles. Passenger vehicles are classified based on a total interior passenger. Trucks are classified based upon their gross vehicle weight rating, heavy duty vehicles are not included within the EPA scheme. A similar set of classes is used by the Canadian EPA, in Australia, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries publishes its own classifications. This is a table listing several different methods of vehicle classification. Straddling the boundary between car and motorbike, these vehicles have engines under 1.0 litre, typically only two passengers, and are sometimes unorthodox in construction. Some microcars are three-wheelers, while the majority have four wheels, microcars were popular in post-war Europe, where their appearance led them to be called Bubble cars. More recent microcars are often electric powered, the size of ultracompact cars will be less than minicars, but have engine greater than 50cc displacement and able to transport 1 or 2 persons. Ultracompact cars cannot use standard, because of strict safety standards for minicars. The regulation about running capacity and safety performance of cars will be published in early autumn. Today, there are smaller than ultracompact cars, called category-1 motorized vehicles which it has 50cc displacement or less
2.
Convertible
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A convertible or cabriolet is an automobile body style that can convert between an open-air mode and an enclosed one, varying in degree and means by model. Convertibles evolved from the phaeton, an open vehicle without glass side windows that sometimes had removable panels of fabric or other material for protection from the elements. Historically, a retractable roof consisted of a frame covered with a folding. A lesser seen detachable hardtop provided a more weatherproof and secure alternative, as technology improved, a retractable hardtop which removes and stows its own rigid roof in its trunk appeared, increasingly becoming the most popular form. A semiconvertible also known as a coach has a retractable or removable top which retains fully framed windows on its doors. A landaulet is a convertible with a fully enclosed front cabin. Other common terms include cabriolet, cabrio, soft top, and drop top, and where the roof is more than emergency weather protection, open two-seater, rag top, spider. The erected top secures to the frame header with manual latches, semimanual latches. The folded convertible top is called the stack, a tonneau cover provides a solution. A range of materials is available for soft tops, automakers had problems in securing raw materials to fulfill orders after World War II, including canvas in various shades for convertible tops and limiting their manufacture. Polyvinyl chloride material was used for many convertible tops, the material consists of two layers, a top layer made of PVC, which has a specific structure depending on the vehicle model, and a lower layer made of fabric. Side windows were not existent in open cars, which may have detachable side screens, rear windows have evolved similarly, with plastic rear windows appearing as late as the first-generation Porsche Boxster. Plastic windows can degrade, fade, yellow, and crack over time, a windblocker or wind deflector minimizes noise and rushing air reaching the occupants. Mazda pioneered a version on the RX7 convertible which featured an integral rigid opaque panel that folded up from behind the front seats, current convertibles feature windblockers of various designs including detachable fold-up designs, vertically retractable glass, minimal flaps – or other integrated wind controlling systems. According to the responsible for the 2008 Chrysler Sebring, its windblocker reduces wind noise by roughly 11 to 12 dB. Mercedes and Audi currently offer a heating duct to the area of the seat on SLK, SL. Windblockers are also available on the aftermarket for use on convertibles that do not have them, the Volvo C70 retractable hardtop includes a door-mounted side-impact protection inflatable curtain which inflates upward from the interior belt-line – vs. downward like the typical curtain airbag. The curtain has an extra stiff construction with double rows of slats that are offset from each other
3.
Limousine
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A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car generally driven by a chauffeur and with a partition between the driver and the passenger compartment. Limousines often have a lengthened wheelbase, although usually associated with luxury vehicles, the word Limousine is also simply a generic term in some countries for a standard sedan bodystyle. It was originally an automobile with open drivers seat. In modern use, a limousine is a sedan or saloon car. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder and these are called stretch limousines and are traditionally black or white. Limousines are usually liveried vehicles, driven by professional chauffeurs, as the most expensive form of automobile ground transportation, limousines are culturally associated with wealth or power and are commonly cited as examples of conspicuous consumption. Among the less wealthy, limousines are often hired during special events, while some limousines are owned by individuals, many are owned by governments to transport senior politicians, by companies to transport executives and guests. Most stretch limousines, however, operate as livery vehicles, providing competition to taxicabs. Builders of stretch limousines purchase stock cars from manufacturers and modify them, few stretch limousines are sold new to private individuals. In addition to luxuries, security features such as armoring and bulletproof glass are available, the first automobile limousine, built in 1902, was designed so the driver sat outside under a covered compartment. The word limousine is derived from the name of the French region Limousin, an alternate etymology has the chauffeur wearing a Limousin-style cloak in the open drivers compartment, for protection from the weather. The first “stretch limousine” was created in Fort Smith, Arkansas and these cars were primarily used to transport famous “big band” leaders, such as Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, and their bands and equipment. These early stretch limousines were often called “big band buses”, in 1916, the Society of Automobile Engineers defined a limousine as, a closed car seating three to five inside, with drivers seat outside. A berline was defined as a limousine having the seat entirely inclosed. In German-speaking countries, a Limousine is simply a sedan, while a car is called Stretch-Limousine. The limousine body style has a partition separating the driver from the passenger compartment. This partition usually contains a glass window so that conversations between passengers in the rear compartment may be kept private. Communication with the driver is either by opening the window in the partition or by using an intercom system
4.
Carriage
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A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn, litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for passenger use and for comfort or elegance. It may be light, smart and fast or heavy, large, Carriages normally have suspension using leaf springs, elliptical springs or leather strapping. A public passenger vehicle would not usually be called a carriage – terms for such include stagecoach, charabanc, working vehicles such as the wagon and cart share important parts of the history of the carriage, as does too the fast chariot. The word carriage is from Old Northern French cariage, to carry in a vehicle, a carriage is sometimes called a team, as in horse and team. A carriage with its horse is a rig, an elegant horse-drawn carriage with its retinue of servants is an equipage. A carriage together with the horses, harness and attendants is a turnout or setout, a procession of carriages is a cavalcade. Some horsecarts found in Celtic graves show hints that their platforms were suspended elastically, four-wheeled wagons were used in prehistoric Europe, and their form known from excavations suggests that the basic construction techniques of wheel and undercarriage were established then. The earliest recorded sort of carriage was the chariot, reaching Mesopotamia as early as 1900 BC, used typically for warfare by Egyptians, the near Easterners and Europeans, it was essentially a two-wheeled light basin carrying one or two passengers, drawn by one to two horses. It is likely that Roman carriages employed some form of suspension on chains or leather straps, in the kingdom of the Zhou Dynasty the Warring States were also known to have used carriages as transportation. With the decline of these civilizations these techniques almost disappeared, the medieval carriage was typically a four-wheeled wagon type, with a rounded top similar in appearance to the Conestoga Wagon familiar from the USA. Sharing the traditional form of wheels and undercarriage known since the Bronze Age, suspension is recorded in visual images and written accounts from the 14th century, and was in widespread use by the 15th century. Carriages were largely used by royalty, aristocrats, and could be decorated and gilded. These carriages were on four wheels often and were pulled by two to four depending on how they were decorated. Wood and iron were the requirements needed to build a carriage. Another form of carriage was the pageant wagon of the 14th century, historians debate on the structure and size of pageant wagons, however, they are generally miniature house-like structures that rest on four to six wheels depending on the size of the wagon. Historians also debate whether or not pageant wagons were built with pivotal axle systems, whether it was a four- or six-wheel pageant wagon, most historians maintain that pivotal axle systems were implemented on pageant wagons because many roads were often winding with some sharp turns. Six wheel pageant wagons also represent another innovation in carriages, they were one of the first carriages to use multiple pivotal axles, pivotal axles were used on the front set of wheels and the middle set of wheels
5.
Landau (carriage)
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A landau is a coachbuilding term for a type of four-wheeled, convertible carriage. It was a city carriage of luxury type and it is lightweight and suspended on elliptical springs. It was invented in the 18th century, landau in this sense is first noted in English in 1743 and it was named after the German city of Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate where they were first produced. Lord, Hopkinson, coachmakers of Holborn, London, produced the first English landaus in the 1830s, the soft folding top is divided into two sections, front and rear, latched at the center. These usually lie perfectly flat, but the section can be let down or thrown back while the front section can be removed or left stationary. When fully opened, the top can completely cover the passengers, the landaus center section might contain a fixed full-height glazed door, or more usually a low half-door. A small landau, a coupé with a top, was called a landaulet. A brougham called a brougham-landaulet had a top collapsible from the rear doors backward, a five-glass landau was fitted with a front glass windscreen and two windows on each side. The landau reached its development by the mid-19th century. It was purely a city carriage of luxury type, the low shell of the landau made for maximum visibility of the occupants and their clothing, a feature that makes a landau still a popular choice for Lords Mayor on ceremonial occasions. The Royal Mews contains several different types of landau, seven State Landaus are in regular use, as well as being slightly plainer in ornamentation, the Semi-state Landaus are distinguished from the State Landaus in that they are postilion-driven, rather than driven from the box. The 1902 State Landau was built for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902, unlike the earlier State Landaus, it is postilion-driven. So too are the five Ascot Landaus, smaller and lighter carriages with basket-work sides, the Royal Mews also retains a miniature landau made for the children of George V and designed to be pulled by ponies. The ambassadors suite follows in another State landau, the monarch of Canada has a state landau at his or her disposal in Ottawa for ceremonial processions from Rideau Hall to Parliament Hill. The State Landau was given to Canada in 1911 and was used by the Governor General of Australia. For the Queens Plate in Toronto, the monarch and the family have a private landau owned by the Ontario Jockey Club. Driving, The Development and Use of Horse-Drawn Vehicles, London,1985, berkebile, Don H, Carriage Terminology, A Historical Dictionary, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C.1978
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