Convertible Car
A car with a folding or retractable roof is called a convertible car. It is sometimes called a Cabriolet in British English. The retractable roof of such a car is made of flexible canvas or vinyl. Steel, aluminium or plastic is also used in the roof occasionally. It all depends on the design of the roof. Such a car if made of rigid material like steel is not called a convertible and instead it is called a retractable hardtop.
Convertibles have roll up windows so that the entire car is made into a coupe. This is how it differs from a roadster. Although most of the Convertibles are 2 door models, there are a few 4 door models also. One such model is the 1960s Lincoln Continental.
In Europe this body style is frequently called cabriolet or cabrio. When the model has a rigid folding top, the body style is called Coupé Cabriolet ("CC") or coupé convertible, like for example BMW Convertible and Convertible Volvo.
In the vintage car era, the convertible was the default body style. It was not until 1910 that Cadillac introduced the first closed-body car. A combination of weak engines and public expectation that a car was analogous to a wagon meant that steel roofs were not in demand until then. Later, convertibles were made less often, possibly due in part to an unfulfilled threat made in the mid-1970s by the United States government to increase rollover safety requirements that may have made auto manufacturers hesitant to manufacture cars that would be not salable under those new restrictions. These cars were not in the market during the 1970s mostly and the 1976 Cadillac convertible Eldorado was advertised as "The last convertible in America".
The production of convertible was very low during this period. The convertible top or T-tops were considered as the alternative to the convertibles during that period. Only during the 1980’s the convertibles came back with the cars like Chrysler LeBaron and Saab 900. Another famous model of Chrysler is Chrysler Convertible Sebring. Cars like Escort xr3i and Golf gti which are sporty small cars sold the convertibles during the 1980s. The Mazda that came in 1990s consolidated the position of the convertibles during that period. And such body became the choice of the sports cars due to its style and look. Now-a-days there are many cars in the Convertible category and almost every manufacturer offer a model.
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