A coupe or coupé ( / k uː ˈ p eɪ / , also US : / k uː p / ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors.
55-641: The Muntz Jet is a two-door hardtop convertible built by the Muntz Car Company in the United States between approximately 1949 and 1954. It is sometimes credited as the first personal luxury car . Developed from the Kurtis Sport Car (KSC) that was designed by Frank Kurtis , it was produced and marketed by Earl "Madman" Muntz . The car was powered by one of two V8 engines , either a 160 hp (120 kW) Cadillac engine or
110-534: A beam axle or deDion axle system in which the wheels are linked. "Independent" refers to the motion or path of movement of the wheels or suspension. It is common for the left and right sides of the suspension to be connected with anti-roll bars or other such mechanisms. The anti-roll bar ties the left and right suspension spring rates together but does not tie their motion together. Most modern vehicles have independent front suspension ( IFS ). Many vehicles also have an independent rear suspension ( IRS ). IRS, as
165-650: A 160 hp (120 kW) Cadillac engine, and a 160 hp (120 kW) Lincoln engine. The first Jets to be constructed, in Glendale, California , had the Cadillac engine and aluminum bodies, while those built later in Illinois instead had the Lincoln engine and steel bodies. The cars were equipped with General Motors Hydramatic automatic transmissions, while a three-speed Borg-Warner manual transmission
220-399: A 160 hp (120 kW) Lincoln engine, and it was equipped with either a General Motors Hydramatic automatic transmission or a three-speed Borg-Warner manual transmission . The Jet was streamlined , featured numerous luxury appointments, and was equipped with safety features that were not standard on most cars of its day, including a padded dashboard and seat belts. Production of
275-483: A car with 2 doors and no B style are considered a true coupe. In the United States, some coupes are "simply line-extenders two-door variants of family sedans", while others have significant differences from their four-door counterparts. The AMC Matador coupe (1974–1978) has a shorter wheelbase with a distinct aerodynamic design and fastback styling, sharing almost nothing with the conventional three-box design and more "conservative" four-door versions. Similarly,
330-547: A coupe-like roofline at the rear. The low-roof design reduces back-seat passenger access and headroom. The designation was used for the low-roof model of the 1962–1973 Rover P5 , followed by the 1992–1996 Nissan Leopard / Infiniti J30 . Recent examples include the 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLS , 2010 Audi A7 , Volkswagen CC , Volkswagen Arteon , and 2012 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe . Similarly, several cars with one or two small rear doors for rear seat passenger egress and no B-pillar have been marketed as " quad coupes ". For example,
385-403: A coupé by applying this description to models featuring a hatchback or a rear cargo area access door that opens upwards. Most often also featuring a fold-down back seat, the hatchback or liftback layout of these cars improves their practicality and cargo room. The coupe carriage body style originated from the berline horse-drawn carriage . The coupe version of the berline was introduced in
440-399: A distinction can be drawn between systems where the spring also acts as a locating link and those where the spring only acts as a spring member. The AC Cobra is an example of a transverse, multi-leaf steel spring suspension that uses the leaf spring as the upper suspension arm. Alternatively, the 1963 Corvette 's rear suspension is an example where the transverse leaf spring is used only as
495-634: A figure possibly sourced to Muntz himself, are now thought to be inaccurate. An estimated 50 to 130 of these cars are still in existence. There is no owner's club for the car, although a registry of owners that has accounted for about 125 cars by serial number does exist. Three Jets are owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. By 2002, well restored Jets were selling at auction for $ 50,000 to $ 70,000. By 2016, fully restored cars had sold for over $ 100,000 at auction. In
550-594: A number of two-door sedans built as well, a bodystyle the French call a coach . The 1977 version of International Standard ISO 3833— Road vehicles - Types - Terms and definitions —defines a coupe as having two doors (along with a fixed roof, usually with limited rear volume, at least two seats in at least one row and at least two side windows). On the other hand, the United States Society of Automotive Engineers publication J1100 does not specify
605-503: A production Muntz Jet had an official top speed of 112 mph (180 km/h). Muntz himself claimed it could accelerate from 0 to 80 mph (130 km/h) in nine seconds. He also stated that the Jet could reach 150 mph (240 km/h), but automotive journalist Turk Smith, writing in 1969, expressed doubt that it could even attain 130 mph (210 km/h). In total, 198 Muntz Jets were built. Earlier estimates of 400 cars produced,
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#1732790925344660-439: A ride spring. In both examples, the leaf spring is centrally mounted, preventing displacement of the wheel on one side from affecting the wheel on the other side. In 1981, General Motors pioneered the use of a FRP plastic transverse leaf spring on the third-generation Corvette . As in the examples above, the spring used a single, central mount which isolated the left and right movements. The FRP spring reduced weight and eliminated
715-485: A rollover were proposed, limiting the development of new models. The hardtop body style went out of style with consumers while the automakers focused on cost reduction and increasing efficiencies. Saab used the term "combi coupé" for a car body similar to the liftback . A two-door car with no rear seat or with a removable rear seat intended for traveling salespeople and other vendors carrying their wares with them. American manufacturers developed this style of coupe in
770-551: A two-seat, aluminum-body sports car designed by Frank Kurtis . Muntz bought the rights to the KSC, along with its parts and tooling, from Kurtis Kraft for $ 200,000. Sam Hanks , who would later win the 1957 Indianapolis 500 , contributed to the redesign and re-engineering necessary to create the Muntz. The Jet was built with a solid hardtop . Two different V8 engines were used in the Jet:
825-490: Is a fixed-roof car with a sloping rear roofline and one or two rows of seats. However, there is some debate surrounding whether a coupe must have two doors for passenger egress or whether cars with four doors can also be considered coupés. This debate has arisen since the early 2000s, when four-door cars such as the Mazda RX-8 and Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class have been marketed as "four-door coupés" or "quad coupés", although
880-412: Is a lightweight sporty two-door car, typically with two seats but also including 2+2 cars. A club coupe is a two-door car with a larger rear-seat passenger area, compared with the smaller rear-seat area in a 2+2 body style. Thus, club coupes resemble coupes as both have two doors, but feature a full-width rear seat that is accessible by tilting forward the backs of the front seats. A hardtop coupe
935-400: Is a style of automobile characterized by two side windows and a backlight (rear window). The front windscreens are not counted. The three-window coupe has a distinct difference from the five-window coupe, which has an additional window on each side behind the front doors. These two-door cars typically have small-sized bodies with only a front seat and an occasional small rear seat. The style
990-477: Is a two-door car that lacks a structural pillar ("B" pillar) between the front and rear side windows. When these windows are lowered, the effect is like that of a convertible coupé with the windows down. The hardtop body style was popular in the United States from the early 1950s until the 2000s. It was also available in European and Japanese markets. Safety regulations for roof structures to protect passengers in
1045-413: Is a type of vehicle suspension design typically used in independent suspensions, using three or more lateral arms, and one or more longitudinal arms. A wider definition considers any independent suspensions having three control links or more multi-link suspensions. These arms do not have to be of equal length, and may be angled away from their "obvious" direction. It was first introduced in the late 1960s on
1100-417: Is allowed to pivot inside of the mounts which allows the displacement of the spring on one side to affect the other side. This mechanical communication between the left and right sides of the suspension results in an effect similar to that of an anti-roll bar . Chevrolet Corvettes, starting with the 4th generation in 1984 have combined the dual pivot mounts with FRP leaf springs . The transverse leaf spring
1155-442: Is the only component that separates the driver and/or passenger from the ground. The suspension in a vehicle helps absorb harshness in the road. There are many systems and designs that do this, such as independent suspension. This system provides many advantages over other suspension systems. For example, in solid axle suspension systems, when one wheel hits a bump, it affects both wheels. This will compromise traction, smoothness of
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#17327909253441210-646: The 4-track Stereo-Pak tape player , the predecessor of the 8-track tape player . In June 2000, Muntz's childhood home of Elgin celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Muntz Jet with a parade featuring numerous Jets and their owners. Coup%C3%A9 The term coupé was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past participle of couper , "cut". Some coupé cars only have two seats, while some also feature rear seats. However, these rear seats are usually lower quality and much smaller than those in
1265-525: The Alfa Romeo GT or Infiniti Q60 – or have little engineering in common with other vehicles from the manufacturer – such as the Toyota GT86 . Independent front suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with
1320-629: The Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Stratus coupes and sedans (late-1990 through 2000s), have little in common except their names. The coupes were engineered by Mitsubishi and built in Illinois, while the sedans were developed by Chrysler and built in Michigan. Some coupes may share platforms with contemporary sedans. Coupes may also exist as model lines in their own right, either closely related to other models, but named differently – such as
1375-535: The Rover P5 was a much earlier example, with a variant introduced in 1962 having a lower, sleeker roofline marketed as the Rover P5 Coupé. In the 1940s and 1950s, coupés were distinguished from sedans by their shorter roof area and sportier profile. Similarly, in more recent times, when a model is sold in both coupé and sedan body styles, generally the coupe is sportier and more compact. There have been
1430-473: The Society of Automobile Engineers suggested nomenclature for car bodies that included the following: Coupe: An enclosed car operated from the inside with seats for two or three and sometimes a backward-facing fourth seat. Coupelet: A small car seating two or three with a folding top and full height doors with fully retractable windows. Convertible coupe: A roadster with a removable coupe roof. During
1485-455: The differential unit does not form part of the unsprung elements of the suspension system. Instead, it is either bolted directly to the vehicle's chassis or more commonly to a subframe . The relative movement between the wheels and the differential is achieved through the use of swinging driveshafts connected via universal joints (U joints) , analogous to the constant-velocity (CV) joints used in front-wheel-drive vehicles. Suspension
1540-403: The 18th century as a shortened ("cut") version with no rear-facing seat. Normally, a coupé had a fixed glass window in the front of the passenger compartment. The coupé was considered an ideal vehicle for women to use to go shopping or to make social visits. The early coupé automobile's passenger compartment followed in general conception the design of horse-drawn coupés, with the driver in
1595-437: The 1958 Ford Thunderbird was inspired by the Jet, and quipped that "I was eight years ahead of my time" with his car. Thomas E. Bonsall credits the Jet as being the first personal luxury car . In 2000, Daily Herald journalist Jerry Turnquist called it "America's first, high performance, four-seat sports car". It is also an example of an orphan car . After production of the Jet ended in 1954, Muntz invented and manufactured
1650-566: The 2003 Saturn Ion , the 2003 Mazda RX-8 , and the 2011-2022 Hyundai Veloster . Particularly popular in Europe, many cars are designed with coupe styling, but a three-door hatchback/liftback layout to improve practicality, including cars such as the Jaguar E-Type , Mitsubishi 3000GT , Datsun 240Z , Toyota Supra , Mazda RX-7 , Alfa Romeo Brera , Ford/Mercury Cougar and Volkswagen Scirocco . A two-door car designed for driving to
1705-585: The 20th century, the term coupé was applied to various close-coupled cars (where the rear seat is located further forward than usual and the front seat further back than usual). Since the 1960s the term coupé has generally referred to a two-door car with a fixed roof. Since 2005, several models with four doors have been marketed as "four-door coupés", however, reactions are mixed about whether these models are actually sedans instead of coupés. According to Edmunds , an American automotive guide, "the four-door coupe category doesn't really exist." A berlinetta
Muntz Jet - Misplaced Pages Continue
1760-566: The Jet "one of the fastest and best-performing American cars of the time" while Muntz claimed that the 1958 Ford Thunderbird was inspired by his Jet. The Muntz Jet was built by the Muntz Car Company , which was founded by Elgin, Illinois , native Earl "Madman" Muntz . Muntz, who was born in 1914 and attended Elgin High School for three semesters before dropping out, had established a prominent reputation selling television sets and other commercial and consumer electronics. Before founding
1815-450: The Jet as having "the appearance of a streamlined, scaled-down limousine". It was available in colors such as boy blue and elephant pink. Similar in appearance to the KSC, the Muntz was more luxuriously appointed than its sports car predecessor. Some of these appointments included an all- leather "tuck-and-roll" interior, racing-style Stewart-Warner gauges, and a center console with a Muntz radio. A liquor cabinet and ice chest placed under
1870-510: The Kurtis, which gave it enough room to include a back seat and accommodate four occupants. The Jet stood 54 inches (140 cm) in height. It was built with body-on-chassis construction and had independent front suspension ( A-arms with coil springs ) and a live rear axle with leaf springs . It also featured power steering , four-wheel hydraulic brakes , dual exhausts , and a dual coil ignition . In April 1951, Norman Nicholson described
1925-617: The Mercedes-Benz C111 prototype and put into production later on their W201 and W124 series. This is the most common, widely used front suspension system in cars today. It is a very simple and effective design that uses a strut-type spring and shock absorber that work as a team that will pivot on a single ball joint. This system was popularized in British Fords in the 1950s, then adopted by BMW (1962) and Porsche (1963). Later, this space-efficient system became widespread with
1980-493: The Muntz Car Company, Muntz had worked successfully as a used-car salesman and at Kaiser-Frazer dealerships in both Los Angeles and New York City, even earning the sobriquet of "world's largest car dealer". According to automotive journalist Turk Smith, he "made and lost several fortunes" during his lifetime, and he was married to seven different women. The Muntz Jet was developed from the Kurtis Sport Car (KSC),
2035-429: The Muntz Jet occurred in Glendale, California ; Evanston, Illinois ; and Chicago before ceasing in 1954. The car sold for $ 5,500 in 1953 (about $ 51,500 in 2017), but cost $ 6,500 to produce. In total, Muntz lost approximately $ 400,000 on the venture. Only 198 Jets were built, an estimated 50 to 130 of which are still in existence. By 2016, fully restored cars had sold for over $ 100,000 at auction. Author Matt Stone called
2090-412: The ability of each wheel to address the road undisturbed by activities of the other wheel on the vehicle. Independent suspension requires additional engineering effort and expense in development versus a beam or live axle arrangement. A very complex IRS solution can also result in higher manufacturing costs. The key reason for lower unsprung weight relative to a live axle design is that, for driven wheels,
2145-480: The assessment of Autoweek writer Graham Kozak, while the Jet "lacks the cachet of the Tucker ...it stands on its own as a well-conceived, well-executed luxury convertible". According to author Matt Stone, the Muntz was "one of the fastest and best-performing American cars of the time". Turk Smith, writing in 1969, opined that a well tuned Jet "will still outperform most stock cars of today". In 1969, Muntz claimed that
2200-686: The front. Furthermore, "A fixed-top two-door sports car would be best and most appropriately be termed a 'sports coupe' or 'sports coupé'". Coupé ( French pronunciation: [kupe] ) is based on the past participle of the French verb couper ("to cut") and thus indicates a car which has been "cut" or made shorter than standard. It was first applied to horse -drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. These berlines coupées or carrosses coupés ("clipped carriages") were eventually clipped to coupés . There are two common pronunciations in English: A coupé
2255-685: The growing popularity of front-wheel drive vehicles. One problem with this system is that once the spring or the top plate becomes worn, the driver of a car with this system may hear a loud "clonk" noise at full lock (i.e. steering wheel turned to the extreme left or extreme right positions), as the strut's spring jumps back into place. This noise is often confused with CV-joint knock. Several independent suspension designs have featured transverse leaf springs. Most applications used multi-leaf steel springs, although more recent designs have used fiber reinforced plastic (FRP, typically fibers are fiberglass) springs. In addition to spring type (multi-leaf steel, FRP),
Muntz Jet - Misplaced Pages Continue
2310-455: The inner leaf friction as compared to the multi-leaf metal spring which was standard on the car. Rather than centrally mounting the transverse leaf spring and thus isolating the left and right sides of the springs, some manufacturers, starting with Fiat used two widely spaced spring mounts. This was first used on the front of the 1955 Fiat 600 and later at the rear on the Fiat 128 . The spring
2365-411: The late 1930s. The 1921 and 1922 LaFayette models were available in a variety of open and closed body styles that included a close-coupled version featuring two center-opening doors on each side that was marketed as a Four-Door Coupe. The 1927 Nash Advanced Six was available in four-door coupe body style. More recently, the description has been applied by marketers to describe four-door cars with
2420-422: The name implies, has the rear wheels independently sprung. A fully independent suspension has an independent suspension on all wheels. Some early independent systems used swing axles , but modern systems use Chapman or MacPherson struts , trailing arms , multilink , or wishbones . Independent suspension typically offers better ride quality and handling characteristics, due to lower unsprung weight and
2475-404: The number of doors, instead defining a coupé as having a rear interior volume of less than 33 cu ft (934 L). The definition of coupé started to blur when manufacturers began to produce cars with a 2+2 body style (which have a sleek, sloping roofline, two doors, and two functional seats up front, plus two small seats in the back). Some manufacturers also blur the definition of
2530-445: The open at the front and an enclosure behind him for two passengers on one bench seat . The French variant for this word thus denoted a car with a small passenger compartment. By the 1910s, the term had evolved to denote a two-door car with the driver and up to two passengers in an enclosure with a single bench seat. The coupé de ville , or coupé chauffeur, was an exception, retaining the open driver's section at front. In 1916,
2585-442: The opera with easy access to the rear seats. Features sometimes included a folding front seat next to the driver or a compartment to store top hats . Often they would have solid rear-quarter panels, with small, circular windows, to enable the occupants to see out without being seen. These opera windows were revived on many U.S. automobiles during the 1970s and early 1980s. The three-window coupe (commonly just "three-window")
2640-658: The projected cost of a Jet was $ 5,000. That year, Muntz planned to sell the car out of factory-run showrooms in Houston, Los Angeles, and New York City. With no network of dealers, Muntz Jets were sold to customers directly from the factory. The car sold for $ 5,500 in 1953, about $ 51,500 in 2017. At the same time, a Cadillac convertible sold for $ 3,987, and a comparable Lincoln for $ 3,600. A single Jet cost roughly $ 6,500 to produce, $ 1,000 more than its sticker price. Muntz himself estimated that labor costs alone for each Jet produced totaled $ 2,000. In total, he lost approximately $ 400,000 on
2695-532: The rear seat armrests were available as an option. The Jet was equipped with safety features that were not standard on most cars of its day, including a padded dashboard and seat belts. The first 26 to 40 Muntz Jets were built in Glendale, California. Production was then moved to a factory at 1000 Grey Avenue in Evanston, Illinois , where the car was built roughly between 1949 and 1952. The near cross-country move
2750-443: The ride, and could also cause a dangerous wheel shimmy when moving at high speeds. With independent suspension systems, the bump primarily affects only the contacted wheel. This offers many advantages such as greater ride comfort, better traction, and safer, more stable vehicles on the road. In automobiles, a double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate
2805-515: The venture, and after four years gave up on it. Famous owners of the Jet included Clara Bow , Vic Damone , Grace Kelly , Alfred "Lash" LaRue , and Mickey Rooney . Six Jets were fitted with a factory-installed "hop up" kit that included an Edelbrock aluminum intake and twin double-barreled Stromberg carburetors . Muntz Car Company welding chief Peter Condos claimed that two Jets were built with 331-cubic-inch (5,420 cc) Chrysler FirePower V8 engines. Writing in 1951, Norman Nicholson noted
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#17327909253442860-465: The wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle. The shock absorber and coil spring mount to the wishbones to control vertical movement. Double wishbone designs allow the engineer to carefully control the motion of the wheel throughout suspension travel, controlling such parameters as camber angle , caster angle , toe pattern , roll center height, scrub radius , scuff and more. A multi-link suspension
2915-402: Was also available as an option. Compared to its Kurtis predecessor, the Jet was heavier but also more agile and capable of a higher top speed, due to its lower drive ratio . The Muntz was 400 pounds (180 kg) heavier than the KSC, weighing almost 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg). Its wheelbase was 113 inches (290 cm), 10 inches (25 cm) longer in both overall length and wheelbase than
2970-457: Was necessitated by difficulties related to materials and transportation that plagued the original plant in Glendale. In April 1951, the Muntz Car Company was employing 40 people in its Evanston factory and producing a car a day. In approximately 1952, the company moved plants again, to 2901 North Sheffield Avenue in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood. Production ceased in 1954. In January 1951,
3025-422: Was popular from the 1920s until the beginning of World War II . While many manufacturers produced three-window coupes, the 1932 Ford coupe is often considered the classic hot rod. Some SUVs or crossovers with sloping rear rooflines are marketed as "coupe crossover SUVs" or "coupe SUVs", even though they have four side doors for passenger egress to the seats and rear hatches for cargo area access however only
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