Notchback

Notchback is a styling term describing a car body style, a variation of three-box styling where the third distinct volume or "box" is less pronounced — especially where the rear deck (third box) is short or where the rear window is upright. Generally, the notchback refers to the distinct angle of the rear window in relation to the vehicle's more horizontal roofline and its rear decklid.

The term is derives from the noun, notch meaning v-cut or indentation — though as a styling term it eludes precise definition and can overlap other styling designations. The term can apply to a sedan, coupé, liftback or hatchback configuration — especially where the third box of the three-box styling remains articulated, though perhaps barely — as with the third generation European Ford Escort. Notchback may highlight a design's sharp or abrupt roof/rear-window angle. Examples include the European Ford Anglia and U.S. Mercury Montclair that also included a rear window that could be lowered for "breezeway" ventilation.

The styling term also may overlap the marketing use of the term notchback, for example where the term differentiates models within a range, for example the Chevrolet Vega Notchback (sedan) from the Vega Hatchback. The compact Ford Mustang although labeled a hardtop coupe, exhibited "long hood - short deck" notchback styling that was common on 60's compact coupes.

North America

General Motors claims that the 1940 Cadillac Sixty Special introduced the "streamlined notchback" styling that influenced roof and rear deck styling of a broad range of vehicles until World War II The notchback design was common across U.S. automakers and automobile types starting in the early 1960s.

Chevrolet used the notchback descriptor on the Chevrolet Vega two-door thin-pillar sedan, officially changing its name for the 1973 model year to - Vega Notchback. Oldsmobile used the so-called "formal roof" styling on the 1970 Cutlass Supreme hardtop coupe described in marketing literature as having "promised affordable elegance".

In the 80s, short deck - formal roof, compact and mid-size notchback coupes and sedans made a return such as the Ford LTD Crown Victoria, and the C- and G-body cars from General Motors, and the 1985-1991 N-body cars.

American Motors described a "modified fastback"), a styling trend re-emerged in the late 1960s where roof lines on many two-door models were made smoother with a slope of the rear window or more arc (a style that whereas, many four-door sedans featured a more upright roofline such as the Rambler Ambassador

Examples

International

In British English a three-box sedan is more generally known as a saloon. Although the term appears in a few British English publications (see refs), "notchback" is not a term that is used in common parlance in Britain.

Examples

Gallery

See also

References

Category:Car body styles