Typically, the greenhouse is fairly tall, comprising more than a third of total body height. This sort of proportion tends to work against any "sportiness" that stylists might wish to impart to a design.
An alternative is to reduce that proportion. The price paid might be cramped headroom for passengers and reduced outside visibility for the driver.
Below are examples to serve as food for your thoughts.
This is an example of an expensive sporting car by a major Italian coachbuilder. Its tall greenhouse proportions are fairly typical of Italian 1950s golden age styling.
General Motors' sports car also had a comparatively tall greenhouse.
So did the later sporty Camaro.
Now for examples of short greenhouses. This Voisin had an underslung chassis and low lower body. Its greenhouse proportion is low, adding to the racy appearance.
This later Voisin features a more normal lower body height, but the short greenhouse imparts sportiness.
Unlike the Pegaso, this Italian body has a low greenhouse. Perhaps that's because it's an actual race car.
The famous-in-their-day "step down" Hudson sedans had racy looks due to shaping as well as greenhouse proportions.
Lower bodies were rather brick-shaped, but the low greenhouse counteracted that impression. I owned one, and can assure you that the windshield was too low for easily viewing close-by stoplights.
I was in Hawaii recently (early 2022) and was struck by the racy, sporty look of the plentiful Mustang and Camaro rental convertibles I saw. Blunt lower bodies are common nowadays thanks to rules by European bureaucrats. But the extreme windshield rake and very short greenhouse oddly combine to enhance an aggressive, sporty appearance.
The same can be said for the fixed-top version.
1 comment:
Interesting! The 1932 Martin Walter Daimler Double Six 40/50 Sport Saloon comes to mind & I'm sure that there are other examples.
Post a Comment