Some Three-Door Sports Cars

Two-passenger sports cars are impractical when it comes to carrying things besides people.  Most can handle a couple of grocery bags or even a small suitcase or two for short vacations.  But household items can be beyond their capability.  For that reason, if one is determined to buy a sports car, yet can only afford to run one car, then a sports car with extra carrying capacity might make sense.

That might be why during the last third of the last century some sports cars appeared with fixed metal tops and an aft, hatchback type door.  Three such cars are treated here.

The first example is the MGB GT hatchback produced 1965-1980. (The roadster dates from 1962. Wikipedia entry for the MGB is here.)  According to the link, Pininfarina was responsible for the GT styling.

Next is the Volvo P1800 ES, a station wagon version of the coupé sports car (background here).  The sports cars were produced 1961-1973, but the ES version lasted only two model years, 1972-1973.

The most recent of the three is the BMW Z3 M Coupé, produced 1998-2002.  The roadster was produced 1996-2002.  Wikipedia entry here.

Images below are either factory publicity or cars listed for sale, unless noted.

Gallery

* * * * * MGB * * * * *

A 1963 MGB, a roadster style but with roll-up windows.

A MGB GT with its airy passenger greenhouse.

Side view showing how neatly the Pininfarina firm grafted the coupé ingredients to the basic MGB body.

Rear quarter view showing the hatchback door.  Many years ago a co-worker let me test-drive his GT when I was sports car shopping.  I had no problem with the styling, but the cramped driver area made me veto the MGB and I bought a Porsche 914 instead.

* * * * * Volvo P1800 * * * * *

1961 Volvo P1800 Coupé, Hyman Ltd. photo.  By the time the ES came along,  P1800s had been lightly facelifted.

1973 Volvo P1800 ES.

This side view makes it quite clear that the ES is more a staton wagon than a hatchback.  The aft side window is surprisingly long: I'd be tempted to make it a two-piece affair with a forward-sloping divider aligned above the after edge of the rear wheel.

Volvo advertising clearly stressed the station wagon aspect of the ES.

* * * * * BMW Z3 * * * * *

1996 BMW Z3 sports car.

1999 BMW Z3 M Coupé.  The greenhouse grafted onto the roadster-type body seems awkward from this angle.

The design details are professionally done.  But the problem has to do with the small size of the car and the the proportions of its main elements.  For example, the long, low hoodline and comparatively tall greenhouse extending to the rear of the car do not relate well.  The dipped fenderline inherited from the roadster results in side windows that seem too large.  A rising fenderline could cure some of this, but would have been too expensive to implement: apparently the budget for the Coupé actually was quite tight.

Therefore, the Coupé has to count as a design failure.  Seen on the streets and roads, they never looked right to me.  Not surprising that only 1,112 were built.