Town car
Encyclopedia
Car body style
Automobiles' body styles are highly variable. Some body styles remain in production, while others become less common or obsolete. They may or may not correlate to a car's price, size or intended market classification. The same car model might be available in multiple body styles comprising a...
in which the front seats were open and the rear compartment closed, normally with a removable top to cover the front chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
's compartment. The modern Lincoln Town Car
Lincoln Town Car
The Lincoln Town Car is a full-size luxury sedan that was sold by the upscale Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company; it was produced from 1981 to the 2011 model years...
derives its name, but nothing else, from this style, although a special Lincoln built in 1922 for Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
's personal use was called a Town Car.
In Europe the style is known as Sedanca de Ville, often shortened to Sedanca or de Ville. The name Sedanca was introduced by the Spanish Count Salamanca in the 1920s..
In 1940 and 1941, a limited edition model of the Cadillac Sixty Special was named Town Car - reintroduced as a hardtop
Hardtop
A hardtop is a term for a rigid, rather than canvas, automobile roof. It has been used in several contexts: detachable hardtops, retractable hardtop roofs, and the so-called pillarless hardtop body style....
in 1949 but translated into French as Coupe DeVille and in 1956 as a four-door hardtop as Sedan DeVille.