TREND OF DESIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 226, 24 September 1929, Page 16

TREND OF DESIGN.

TYPES OF COACHWORK.

THE MODERN METHOD

MOVABLE ROOF POPULAR,

Discussing the most modern types of coachwork, and those most favoured in England, the motoring correspondent of the" "Times" says that generally speaking the closed body as opposed to the ordinary touring model continues to be the most popular, a position .which it will assuredly maintain, and will, if anything, improve. In Great Britain a type rapidly coming into popularity is that provided with the sun-or-shade roof. Thus, while there is the ordinary saloon class, the modern form of all-weather body—that is, coachwork which has a part or the whole of the roof movable, with' frame glass windows —is to-day taking a definite place in the range of car coachwork. With regard to the standard saloon as a type, there is not much to be said except that makers offer at extra cost a partition behind the front seat. This, if course, is not practical in the smaller car, but on medium and larger cars it is the solution to a difficulty where the owner wants his car to be chauffeur-driven as well as ownerdriven. The dickey seat on the two-seater open car is rapidly losing popularity, even though in the latest types the dickey scat has an all-weather protection. In this class the cabriolet, or as it is called the "all-weather," has not achieved the predicted success. A Two-Purpose Car. The body with the glass windows and flexible head erected, making a draughtproof closed car, constituted the twopurpose car. In fine weather the vehicle can be used as an open car with the windows completely open if so desired. There are, perhaps, two reasons why this type has not become popular. Firstly, a little initial force is necessary to raise the head, and secondly, the body must be well built to avoid draughts and has a tendency to rattle after a certain amount of use; and this means that it can neither be produced inexpensively nor sold at popular prices.

Thus we come to the body which has the roof or part of it movable. In the former case the operation is semiautomatic by gearing and the winding handle. There are several types of this all-weather sunshine saloon, or sun-or-shade body, as it is called. Another type of coach in which the roof is movable is that where it can be moved in two sections. This is more of a corn-

promise than a body in which the whole j of the roof is movable. On the other ' hand it does not interfere with the body lines. The waterproof fabric and the inside roof lining disappear as these sections are drawn back, and the in&\k of the roof, when closed, has the same appearance as that of a permanently fixed roof. In a four or car, where two movable sections are fitted it is, of course, possible for the front and back passengers to suit their individual case as to ventilation, sunshine, and protection from the weather, as both sections can be moved independently. In the case of a two-seater : . car the roof is" provided with only one section. j