That said, some names did persist over the decades. The word "sedan" has been applied to closed, four-door passenger cars that do not have passenger compartment storage capacity such as is found on station wagons and SUVs. Two-door cars called sedans and not something else slowly became more common during the 1930s, and "two-door sedan" was an established body type name in the USA by the 1950s. And those body designs then gradually became more coupe-like and the two-door sedan body type slowly faded away.
Today's post deals with the "Club Sedan" body found on some luxury brands during the 1930s. Wikipedia's automobile sedan's entry here says the following regarding the club sedan:
"Produced in the United States from the mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, the name club sedan was used for highly appointed models using the sedan chassis. Some people describe a club sedan as a two-door vehicle with a body style otherwise identical to the sedan models in the range. Others describe a club sedan as having either two or four doors and a shorter roof (and therefore less interior space) than the other sedan models in the range."
My sources indicate that 1930s American cars called club sedans were four-door, four-window cars rated as carrying five passengers. The same type of car was called something different by other carmakers, so the category name was not rigid. And the use of the term for two-door cars came later: fastback 1946-1950 Packards were labeled club sedans, for instance.
Side views of some club sedans by several car makers are shown below. Unless noted, they are of for-sale cars.
That nice, long hood covers a nice, long inline eight cylinder motor. It's nearly as long as the passenger compartment. Club sedan passenger compartments tended to be on the short side. Note the comparatively narrow aft side door, a sometime trait. A universal club sedan characteristic, as noted in the text above, is that the car is four-window -- leading to a wide C-pillar area, yet another trait.
Club sedans were mostly on luxury or near-luxury brands. The 90 was the top Buick line.
This is a large car, so the rear passenger area is not cramped.
Cadillac and LaSalle got new bodies for 1934, and this could easily have been called a club sedan, but wasn't. LaSalle did market a club sedan that year with a different rear side door profile. Unfortunately, I have no side view of one.
Pierce-Arrow got new bodies for 1934. Here is its '35 club sedan.
And its 1936 version, apparently on a longer wheelbase than the car's in the image above. Everything abaft of the rear end of the running board is different.
Packard also continued to market club sedans in the late 1930s. This one is from its entry-level inline eight cylinder motor line. Like the 1935 Pierce-Arrow above, entry to the back passenger seat seems cramped.
Not a club sedan by name, this Cadillac, like the one shown earlier, has the club sedan look.
Model year 1940 was Packard's last for four-door club sedans. This is the entry-level version.
And this is Packard's top-of-the line club sedan.
I didn't know about these but "club" rang a bell: 1949-1954 Ford Club Coupes. This was a two door (Ford: "Tudor") with the shorter business coupe roof but swing out instead of fixed rear windows, higher trim level, and a back seat that the business coupe probably lacked. Chevy called something similar a Sport Coupe. '49-52 Plymouths had a Club Coupe but no two doors with the longer sedan roof, but instead a fastback two door sedans, and even a three passenger no back windows coupe with no back seat or much space behind the front seat. I think these are sometimes called business coupes today but weren't actually designated as business coupes in the brochures. '53-54 Plymouths got more normal, sort of, with a "Club Sedan" which was a two door with the sedan roof (violating the whole "club" concept) and a shorter roof Business Coupe.
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