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Glossary
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A
A-Pillar
The front-most pair of structural posts supporting the roof and windshield.
Airbag
A type of adjustable suspension that contains rubber bags that are inflated and deflated with an onboard air compressor to raise or lower the vehicle's ride height. See also hydraulics.
All Weather
a 1920s term for a four door convertible sedan.
Antique
Generally, a car that's 25 years old or older, but hobbyists, car clubs, licensing bureaus and insurance companies are all free to set their own meaning of the term. As with the term "classic", there is no single set-in-stone definition.
B
B-Pillar
The pair of structural posts behind the A-Pillars and front doors.
Barn-fresh
A vehicle, usually an older antique, that is in unrestored condition, looking as if it had just been pulled out of long storage in a barn. It is becoming increasingly popular to restore the mechanics of such vehicles to safe working condition, but to leave the body and interior in this shape, as it documents the car's original appearance.
Barchetta
an open top car dedicated to racing without doors or a top and with uniform and streamlined bodywork. It could have one or two separate seats.
Barouche
a carriage term very rarely used for automobiles. The driver sat in an open front seat with two couples facing each other inside a closed cabin. There was a folding top over the rear seat.
Basement
The bottom part of the engine, consisting of the crankcase, crankshaft, connecting rods, and pistons. Also called the bottom end.
Bateau
The shape of the rear end of open-topped racers at the beginning of the 20th century, which looked like the hull of a boat. Also see Boattail.
Baquet
the literal translation is 'bath tub'. It refers to early 20th-century cars in Europe with two rows of raised seats (single seats or divans) similar to those used in turn-of-the-century horse-drawn carriages. Baquets were generally without front doors, a top, or a windshield. In the United States the term 'touring' was often used. Also see Phaeton
Beach Wagon
another term for station wagon used mostly in the northeastern United States.
Berline
A sedan.
Blueprinting
The process of rebuilding an engine to its exact design specifications. Most mass-produced engines are built with slightly less than absolute accuracy to their original designs. They work fine for normal driving and are cost-efficient, but these miniscule inaccuracies can reduce performance when the engines are used for racing. A blueprinted engine has had all of its components taken apart and machined to the exact specifications originally indicated by the designer.
Blower
A supercharger, which is a compressor that forces extra air into an engine for extra power.
Boattail
a tapered form of the rear end. The term literally describes the shape of the vehicle tail, which resembled the bow of a boat. Popular in racing. Also see Bateau
Body-on Restoration
Esentially the same as the more familiar frame-off restoration but perhaps not as thorough.
Bone-stock
An original, unmodified car.
Bore
A cylinder's bore is its diameter. When an engine is bored or overbored, the diameter of the cylinders is increased, which makes the engine's volume larger and increases its power. If an engine is "bored thirtyover", it means that the cylinder diameter has been increased by thirty thousandths of an inch. If an engine is stroked and bored, the piston stroke has also been lengthened.
Bottom end
The bottom part of the engine: crankshaft, connecting rods and pistons. Also called the basement.
Brougham
Commonly used to describe a car with a closed-in passenger compartment behind an open drivers seat.
Bullnose
a term in use in England during the 1920's to indicate a type of radiator, which supposedly resembled the nose of a bull. E.g.: Bull-nose Morris.
Business Coupe
a simple two-door coupe without a rumble seat, Everyday transport for the middle class. Often had a small storage area behind the seat.
C
Cabriolet
An early French term meaning folding top, or convertible. The term Cabriolet describes open-top cars derived from a sedan or coupe. It could also be understood to mean an open top car with two rows of seats with just two doors
Carson Top
A custom-made, one-piece, hard or rigid (non-folding), removable convertible top which may be special-made but are often created by removing the original top from a sedan or hardtop. Carson tops are frequently lowered ("chopped") by 2-3 inches.
Channeled
Most cars prior to the 1940s had their bodies placed on top of their frames. A channeled car has its body lowered over the frame, hiding the frame rails.
Chopped
A roof that's had sections removed from the pillars and welded back on in a lower position. A "two-inch chop" has had two vertical inches of metal removed. Usually a part of a custom hot rod design.
Christmas tree
A series of lights used at the start of a drag race.
Classic
As with the term "antique", there is no single definition accepted by all hobbyists, car clubs, licensing bureaus, or insurance companies. Some people use the term to describe a car that falls somewhere between their definition of "antique" and a brand new car. Others use it to describe specific models -- for example, "Classic Chevys" or Classic Fords, etc. Today, the term is applied by owners of almost any collectible car that is more than 25 years old.
Club Coupe
A two-door closed car with a small rear (club) seat.
Coach
A two door sedan.
Coach-Line
A painted accent line on the body of a car. The modern equivalent is the pinstripe.
Concours
A term that refers to a car show of very fine vehicles.
Concours d'elegance
A car show, usually open only to higher-end or luxury antique automobiles, held in a lush setting such as a country club. The literal translation is "contest of elegance".
Convertible
A car with a folding top and windows. In the US from 1927 on, the term was used to mean a car with a soft, retractable top that was hooked permanently to the bodywork, and therefore not removable like a roadster's was. Other requisites were side windows that opened and the absence of any framework above the waist of the car apart from the windshield.
Convertible Roadster
A convertible is an open car with windows; a roadster is an open car without windows. Used by Lincoln, Chrysler and a few others around 1930 to emphasize sportiness.
Convertible Victoria
A four passenger, two door, two window cabriolet.
Coupe
A two-door closed body type that is distinguished from a sedan by its sleeker body and shorter roof.
Coupe Chauffeur
An open compartment for the chauffeur followed by a closed compartment for passengers. Also known as a Brougham and a Coupe Limousine.
Coupe DeVille
French for "town coupe", Applied imaginatively to various body styles, usually a four passenger, two-door car with a permanently closed roof over the rear seats and a removable top covering the front seats.
Coupe Limousine
chauffeur-driven car with the passengers fully enclosed and the chauffeur exposed. Body has rear quarter windows.
Coupelet
a term used especially by Ford to describe a Model T two-seater Cabriolet.
C-Pillar
The third pair of structural posts behind the B-Pillars that supports the roof and rear window.
Crash box
A transmission that has no synchromesh. This type of transmission must be double-clutched to reduce wear.
Cruiser Skirts
An optional accessory similar in function to fender skirts but normally longer. Cruiser skirts fit on the outside of the body of the car and are most often used in customization work.
Customized
Refers to any modification of a car other than the restoration to the original condition. This may mean something as simple as adding a new engine or power options to changing the car so radically that its original nature is barely recognizable.
Cutting coils
A method of lowering a car's ride height by cutting out sections of the coil springs.
Cycle Fenders
usually a front and sometimes a rear fender similar to that used on a motorcycle which follows the curvature of the wheel.
D
Decked
To remove chrome trim from a custom car's trunk lid. When the chrome is also removed from the hood, the car is said to be "nosed and decked".
Deuce
A 1932 Ford.
DeVille Extension
A sliding roof over the front seat with side arms that folded back into the remaining roof thus producing a Sedanca configuration in metal rather than the usual fabric.
Dickey
A rumble seat.
Dog Leg
The corner of a wraparound windshield on a 1950s car. It's a multi-purpose term, and is also used to describe, among other things, the rear door jamb on the back door of a sedan, a sharp turn on a race course, or a manual transmission where first to second gear is an up-and-over movement of the shifter.
Double clutching
A technique used with older manual transmissions that do not have synchronizers (a "crash box" transmission). The driver puts in the clutch, moves the shifter into neutral, releases the clutch, and then puts the clutch back in and shifts to the next gear. This extra step allows the engine speed to match the speed of the gears, so the shift is smoother and prevents excess wear on the transmission.
Drag Plates
Metal plates that have a car club's name and logo identifying the vehicle and its driver as a member of that club.
Drophead Coupe
British term for the equivalent of the American convertible, or the European cabriolet.
Dropped axle
A special front axle with its wheel spindles higher in relation to the height of the axle than in a stock unit. The result is a lower ride height.
Dual Cowl
A design of touring car, which saw the cab, divided into two compartments, front and rear, separated with a rear windshield mounted on a folding cowl which covers part of the rear compartment.
Dual quads
An engine with two four-barrel carburetors.
E
Estate Car
a four-door, four-passenger car with an extended roof line plus a gate or hatch in the rear for increased cargo capacity. An early version of a station wagon.
F
Fastback
A car design where the roofline continues in a single curve from the windshield to the rear bumper.
Faux Cabriolet
A fixed-head coupe made to resemble a cabriolet.
Fencer's Mask
A term used to describe a type of radiator grille design from the 1930s which resembled a fencers mask for its shape and fine weave of the grille.
Fender Skirts
An optional accessory that fits up in the wheel well and covers most or all of the cut-outs in the fenders at the rear wheels. An alternative is cruiser-skirts.
Five-window
A 1920s or 1930s two-door coupe with side windows behind the doors. The five windows are the door windows, these quarter windows, and the rear window (the windshield isn't counted). See also three-window.
Fixed Head Coupe
A hardtop coupe.
Flamethrowers
A system that includes spark plugs mounted in the tailpipes, with a switch that the driver hits to make them fire. The plugs ignite raw fuel coming out of the exhaust, resulting in trails of flames out the tailpipes.
Flathead
An engine with its valves in the block alongside the piston, instead of in the cylinder head. The name comes from the shape of the heads.
Fordor
Ford's name for a four-door sedan.
Four on the Floor
The common term for a four-speed manual transmission with the shifting lever mounted on the floor rather than on the steering column.
Frame-Off Restoration
This is a restoration in which the entire vehicle is completely disassembled and all parts cleaned, rebuilt or replaced as necessary in order to meet the original factory specifications.
Frame-Up Restoration
This type of restoration is not as detailed as a frame-off, but usually involves restoring the paint, chrome, interior and mechanicals without completely dissembling the car.
Full Classic
A trademarked term used by the Classic Car Club of America to describe vehicles which it considers "classic cars". With some exceptions, the only Full Classics on the list are between model years 1925 and 1948, and in some instances may only be specific models rather than all cars made by an automaker that year.
G
Goat
A Pontiac GTO.
Goutte d'eau
A body with a 'tear drop' design, flowing down to the rear.
Governor
a device used with the carburetor to restrict maximum engine speed.
GP
Grand Prix or Great Prize.
Gran Turismo (GT)
An Italian term meaning Grand Touring, commonly used by US manufacturers, meaning grand touring.
Ground-up restoration
Essentially the same as the more familiar frame-off restoration but may not be as thorough.
Gullwing Doors
Gullwing doors are hinged to open vertically rather than horizontally.
H
Hard Top
A removable top to replace the soft top. It is typically made from fiberglass, although sometimes steel and usually painted the same color as the body of the car. The term can also mean a coupe or sedan that has no center or "B" pillar. When all the windows are open, there is no obstruction between the front door and the rear door.
Hemi
An engine with hemispherically shaped combustion chambers (the area of the engine where a mixture of fuel and air is burned to start the process of producing power). The shape allows for unobstructed movement of the air. The term is now a Chrysler trademark, although other companies have used similar designs.
Hood
The sheet metal panel covering the engine.
Horseless Carriage
a term defined by the Horseless Carriage Club of America applying to cars built before 1915 (See also Antique)
Horsepower
A unit of work. 550 foot-pounds per second or .745 kW
Hot Rod
A car enhanced for speed. An old car customized with a newer drivetrain and any manner of body or interior changes. Also called a "street rod".
Huffer
A supercharger.
Hydraulics
A suspension system that uses oil-filled cylinders to raise or lower the vehicle's ride height. Its popularity with many custom car fans has been usurped by newer airbag suspensions. See also airbags.
I J K L
Landau
Originally described as a limousine that had an open driver's compartment, front and back seats that face each other, and a two-part convertible roof.
Landaulet
A Landau limousine in which the section over the rear seats also opens or folds down.
Land Yacht
A term referring to oversized luxury vehicles of the late 1950s to the early 1960s, especially the huge, chrome-laden, finned vehicles of the late 1950s.
Light
a small window, as in sidelight, quarterlight, skylight, etc.
Limousine
a chauffeured sedan often with a longer wheelbase and usually with a division between the driver and the passengers. The rear compartment had luxurious features with controls for heating, radio and opening and closing the glass or wood division.
Juice Brakes
Hydraulic brakes, as opposed to mechanical ones.
Lake Pipes
Straight exhaust pipes that run along the lower edge of a hot rod, without mufflers. The name comes from their original use on cars that raced on dry lakes.
Lead Sled
A custom car, usually a late 1940s or 1950s car. Although most are customized today with plastic bodyfill, their body modifications were originally done with melted lead.
Long Block
A replacement engine including the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, heads and head gaskets. See short block.
M
Marque
A model of automobile that has been recognized as a world-class car.
Matching Numbers
A description of a car with the manufacturer's body and engine numbers matching, indicating that it's the engine originally installed in the vehicle at the factory. It's of varying importance to collectors and to a vehicle's value, but it can be useful to prove that a high-performance model is as it's presented, rather than a more ordinary trim line later modified to resemble an original muscle car.
Mill
An engine.
MM
Mille Miglia, a 1000-mile Italian road race held from 1927 to 1957.
Mopar
A Chrysler product.
Mother-in-Law-Seat
A single sideways-facing rear seat, usually found in coupes or cabriolets.
Muscle Car
Medium-size cars with large-displacement engines built between 1964 and 1972.
N
Nailhead
Buick V8 engines produced between 1953 and 1966, so named because the narrow valves resembled nails.
NOS
There are two definitions for this. One is New Old Stock, which refers to an old, original replacement auto part that has never been on a vehicle. The other is Nitrous Oxide System, which injects nitrous (also known as "laughing gas") to temporarily boost the power of an internal combustion engine, primarily in racing.
Nose
To remove chrome trim from a custom car's hood, such as the hood ornament. If the trim is also removed from the trunk lid, the car is said to be "nosed and decked".
O
O.E.M.
Stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. The term is generally used to distinguish between parts made by the original builder and the aftermarket.
Opera Coupe
A two-door hardtop with a small folding passenger seat, for easy access to the rear seat (usually offset to the right in left-hand drive cars).
P
Phaeton
French term taken from the Greek "Phaeton" who drove the chariot of his sun-god father, Helios. A small four-door open touring car.
Pinstripe
A thin line of paint in a contrasting color to the body color. Originally called a coach line.
Post-War
Refers to a North American consumer vehicle of model year 1946 or newer. Civilian car manufacturing was suspended during model years 1943, 1944 and 1945 as the automakers produced war supplies.
Pre-War
Refers to a North American consumer vehicle of model year 1942 or older. Civilian car manufacturing was suspended during model years 1943, 1944 and 1945 as the automakers produced war supplies.
Q
Quarter Window or Quarterlight
the small triangular side window to the rear most of the rear door glass, and foremost of the front door main glass.
Quick-change
A rear differential assembly that can be changed in a few minutes, when a different gear ratio is required for racing.
R
Ragtop
A convertible.
Rat Rod
A hot rod with its body left rusty, and sometimes built with a very rough chassis or mismatched parts. Some owners like the term, while others consider it derogatory.
Rib
A bow made of metal or wood that makes up part of the rigid or semi-rigid frame of a convertible top.
Roadster
The term roadster has had several meanings depending on the origin and period. One thing everyone agrees on is that they did not have a top. Most recently the term has meant sportscar, generally it's accepted to mean, small and powerful two-seater sportscar.
Roll Bar
A metal bar fashioned in such a way to protect the driver in the event the car rolls over.
Rumble Seat
An extra external seat that could be accessed by lifting a forward-opening 'trunk-like' lid in the rear of the car.
Runabout
A small, light two-seater. Runabout was mainly an American term to indicate a small open car, very basic and cheap. Predecessor to the Roadster.
S
Scrub Line
The lower edge of the car's wheels. Frame and suspension components should not be below this line, as they can come in contact with the pavement in the event of a flat tire.
Sedanca
A type of early body design in which the top extended for a quarter of a circle and covered only the passengers in the rear seats.
Shaved
A car with the door handles and side trim removed, as in "shaved handles".
Short Block
A replacement engine block containing the crank, connecting rods, and pistons, but without heads, manifolds or external components. See long block.
Six-pack
An engine intake with three two-barrel carburetors.
Sleeper
A high-performance car that doesn't look capable of what it can do.
Slicks
Wide tires made of very soft rubber with no tread, used in drag racing because they provide maximum traction during hard acceleration. Not legal for street use.
Sliding Scale
A means by which car clubs, shows, insurance companies or licensing bureaus decide vehicle acceptability by model year. While a "cut-off year" stops at a specific year (ie, nothing newer than 1948), a sliding scale uses a pre-set limit, such as 25 years, which allows in a year's worth of newer vehicles each year. For example, a 25-year sliding scale would allow model-year 1985 vehicles in 2010, and model-year 1986 vehicles in 2011.
Sport Coupe
A closed coupe with a cloth top and sometimes landau irons resembling a convertible.
Sportif
A very tight or narrow type of Phaeton.
Spyder
A light two-seater roadster (also called a Spider). The European term for the English Roadster.
SS
Super Sport
Stock
An original, unmodified car.
Stovebolt
A six-cylinder Chevrolet engine, introduced for 1929; the basic design was used in cars until the 1960s, and as long as the 1980s in some trucks. Also called the "Cast Iron Wonder", it got the name from its bolts, which resembled those used on stoves.
Street Machine
A high-performance car that's legal to drive on the street.
Stroked
An engine modified with a longer piston stroke (the distance the piston can travel up and down in its cylinder) to produce more power. Often combined with boring (increasing the diameter of the cylinder); the resulting engine is described as stroked and bored.
Suicide Doors
Doors that are hinged at the rear, rather than the front. Supposedly the name comes from the difficulty in closing them if they come open at highway speeds.
Superleggera
Super light
Suspended Pedals
Older cars had pedals that came up through holes in the floorboards. Suspended or "swing" pedals, now used on all cars, hang down from the cowl.
T
Targa
A two-door coupe with removable hard top panels over the front seat.
Three on the tree
A three-speed manual transmission with its gearshift lever mounted on the steering column.
Three Position Coupe
A Coupe de Ville which may be presented as a fully closed coupe, a deVille Coupe with the front section open or a fully collapsible convertible.
Three-window
A 1920s or 1930s two-door coupe that has no side windows behind the doors. The three windows are the two doors and the rear window (the windshield isn't counted). See also five-window.
Tonneau
Originally the rear seating area, but now the term is usually used to refer to a rear storage area.
Tonneau Cover
A soft cover used on parked roadsters to protect the cab from rain when the top is down. Also used to protect the rear storage area of a truck.
Torpedo
A long wheelbase very smooth touring car with flat panel's low doors and sides that offered no protection from the weather. They succeeded Tourers and Phaetons.
Touring Car
A four-door open design with no windows or top.
Town Cabriolet
A town car in which the covered rear section converts to an open car.
Town Car
A chauffeur-driven car with the passengers fully enclosed and the chauffeur exposed. Also known as a Sedanca de Ville or Town Brougham
Trailer Queen
A term used for a collector car that has been restored and is transported to shows in or on trailers with little or no mileage on the odometer.
Tudor Sedan
Ford's term for a two-door sedan.
Twin Six
Packard's first twelve-cylinder car introduced in late 1915 and produced until 1920. When Packard reintroduced the new V12 in 1932, the term was reused for that first year only.
U
Underslung
An automobile whose frame passed underneath the axles. Used primarily by the American Motor Company of Indianapolis from 1907 to 1914.
Unibody Construction
Refers to a body and frame that are manufactured as one component.
V
Victoria
A close-coupled two-door sedan or an enlarged coupe with a rear seat. Also a four-door open car with folding top over the rear seat only.
Vintage
Formerly a term describing cars built between 1915 and 1925 but now used broadly, especially in England, to include cars manufactured between 1920 and 1942.
Vis-a-Vis
A term used generally to describe a seating arrangement where the passengers sit facing each other.
W
Windscreen
British term for windshield.
Weymann
A patented body in which wooden frame members were joined by metal strips preventing the wood from touching and squeaking
Window Strap
Predecessor to the window crank. A strap attached to the base of a window allowing the window to be pulled up. The strap has a series of holes that can be hooked on an inside pin to hold the window at various levels.
Woody
Originally referred to vehicles made out of wood but now is a slang term for a vehicle with wood covering part of the body.
Wraparound Windshield
A 1950s styling cue where the windshield glass was curved into a relatively sharp angle, with the edges protruding past the hinges on the front door. The point is commonly known as the dogleg. Most owners of these cars go through a learning curve when it comes to getting into the car, since it's very easy to bang your knee against the dogleg.
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