Touring car

Touring car

[
right|thumb|250px|Horatio Nelson Jackson in his 2-seat Winton touring car, "The Vermont", drives across America]

A touring car was a popular car body style in the early 20th century, being a larger alternative to the runabout and the roadster. They were open cars, often fitted with convertible tops. Most early touring cars had a tonneau at the rear giving seating for four or more. Engines on early models were either in the front, or in a mid-body position. Touring cars evolved into the modern sedan/saloon body style.

By the mid-teens in the United States, the touring car body had evolved into a variety of types, with the four door touring car, equipped with a convertible top, being the most popular body style offered.

The majority of Model T's produced by Ford between 1908 and 1927 were four and then three-door models (with drivers sliding behind the wheel from passenger seat) touring cars, accounting for 6,519,643 cars sold out of the 15,000,000 estimated Model T's built. In terms of percentage, the 5-passenger touring car model was Ford most popular body type and accounted for 44% of all Model T's (cars, trucks and chassis) sold over the model's eighteen-plus year life span; Ford's second most popular body style during the same period was its Model T based truck.

Side curtains, when available for a particular model, could be installed to protect passengers from weather elements by snapping or zipping them into place, otherwise, drivers and passengers braved the elements. When the top was folded down, it formed a bulky mass known as the "fan" behind the back seat: "fan covers" were made to protect the top and its wooden ribs while in the down position.

The popularity of the touring car began to wane in the early 1920s when cars with enclosed passenger compartments became more affordable, and began to consistently out-sell the open cars.


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Touring car — Tour ing car An automobile designed for touring; specif., a roomy car, not a limousine, for five or more passengers. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • touring car — ☆ touring car n. an early type of open automobile, often with a folding top, seating five or more passengers …   English World dictionary

  • Touring car racing — is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily modified street cars. It is notably popular in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, and Australia. It can basically be considered a Closed Circuit, sponsored, legal form of… …   Wikipedia

  • Touring Car World Cup — Tourenwagen Weltmeisterschaft Tourenwagen Weltmeisterschaft 2009 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • touring car — noun A large open car seating four with folding top. An automobile designed for touring; specifically, a roomy car, not a limousine …   Wiktionary

  • touring car — noun large open car seating four with folding top • Syn: ↑phaeton, ↑tourer • Hypernyms: ↑car, ↑auto, ↑automobile, ↑machine, ↑motorcar …   Useful english dictionary

  • touring car — noun Date: 1903 an automobile suitable for distance driving: as a. a vintage automobile with two cross seats, usually four doors, and a folding top ; phaeton 2 b. a modern usually 2 door sedan as distinguished from a sports car …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • touring car — noun a car with room for passengers and luggage …   English new terms dictionary

  • touring car — tour′ing car n. 1) aum an early type of open automobile designed for five or more passengers 2) aum a modern two door coupe Compare GT …   From formal English to slang

  • touring car — /ˈtʊərɪŋ ka/ (say toouhring kah) noun an open car designed for five or more passengers. Also, tourer …  

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