A notchback is a car design with the rear section distinct from the passenger compartment and where the back of the passenger compartment is at an angle to the top of what is typically the rear baggage compartment. Notchback cars have "a trunk whose lid forms a distinct deck." In profile view, the body has a step down from the roof with a downward inclined passenger compartment's rear window to meet an almost horizontal trunk lid extending to the rear of the car.
26-417: The category may be characterized as having a three-box design where the trunk volume is less pronounced than the engine and passenger compartments. Many models of sedans , coupés , or hatchbacks could be classified as notchbacks. However, the category has limited salience outside American car manufacturers, who distinguish the three-box models from other body styles in the same model range. For example,
52-522: A concours -quality collectible. As of 2008 , data showed it as the best-selling old-car magazine in the world. Subscribers to Hemmings Classic Car were notified in a letter with their January 2025 issue that the February 2025 issue will be their last. Hemmings cited "significant inflation related to production costs," "changes in advertiser demand," "newsstand supply-chain struggles," and consumer tastes shifting to digital and social media as reasons for
78-565: A bimonthly periodical focused primarily on American collectible automobiles. From 2000 to 2003, they published the muscle car and hotrod magazine Hemmings Rods and Performance , relaunched in 2003, under new owner ACBJ, as Hemmings Muscle Machines , with muscle cars as its sole focus. In 2004, shortly after the release of Hemmings Muscle Machines , ACBJ ended publication of Special Interest Autos and began to develop its successor, Hemmings Classic Car , launched in October of that year. That
104-420: A car body is typically determined by the layout of the engine, passenger and luggage compartments, which can be shared or separately articulated. A key design feature is the car's roof-supporting pillars , designated from front to rear of the car as A-pillar, B-pillar, C-pillar and D-pillar. Common car body configurations are one-box (e.g., a van/minivan/MPV), two-box (e.g., a hatchback/SUV) and three-box (e.g.,
130-486: A large line of calendars , clothing, signs, and other items relating to automobile collecting and memorabilia, and formerly maintained a public display of 25 cars at their headquarters. The display has been permanently closed as of 2022. Richard Lentinello, executive editor of the three Hemmings-related magazines, left ACBJ in 2020. Hemmings will cease publication of Hemmings Classic Car and Hemmings Muscle Machines effective March 2025, leaving Hemmings Motor News as
156-590: A monthly magazine catering to traders and collectors of antique , classic , and exotic sports cars . It is the largest and oldest publication of its type in the United States , with sales of 215,000 copies per month, and is best known for its large classified advertising sections. The magazine counts as subscribers and advertisers practically every notable seller and collector of classic cars , including Jay Leno and his Big Dog Garage, and most collector car clubs are included in its directory. The magazine
182-399: A parametric academic model, provides an open-source wind tunnel dataset and serves as a benchmark, particularly valuable when combined with the original DrivAer Fastback (F) variation variant for aerodynamic analysis. Aero kits applied are in line with those found in motorsport categories like European DTM and American NASCAR series. Hemmings Motor News Hemmings Motor News is
208-473: A sedan. The engine under the hood and surrounding compartment is the first box. The passenger seating area is another, or second box. The last or third box is the cargo or trunk area. There is no rule as to which box needs to be where. Where the Renault Dauphine is a three-box that carries its engine in the rear and its cargo up front, the styling of the Škoda Octavia integrates a hatchback with
234-403: A sedan/saloon) designs. A one-box design, also called a monospace , mono-box or monovolume configuration —approximates in shape a single volume comprising engine, cabin and cargo areas, in part by locating the base of a vehicle's A-pillars further forward. One-box designs include light commercial vehicles , minivans , MPVs and mini MPVs . Passenger cars with a one-box design include
260-425: A single publication, with an emphasis on early post-war 1946–1960 automobiles. Other categories included the pre-1916 Brass era cars, pre-war cars, CCCA -recognized Classic cars, and cars from the 1960s through the early 1980s. Hemmings Classic Car featured photography showcasing these automobiles, including in-construction photographs of the entire restoration process, showing readers what it takes to produce
286-592: A three-box design —and most examples of the markedly bulbous styling of the ponton genre are three-box designs. In 2012, Hemmings Motor News wrote "the three-box sedan design is seen as traditional or—worse—conventional." By 2016 In the United States, the three-box sedan began to wane in popularity. In 2018, the Wall Street Journal wrote: "from gangster getaway cars and the Batmobile to
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#1732793252502312-423: Is a broad automotive styling term describing a coupé , sedan/saloon , notchback or hatchback where—when viewed in profile—principal volumes are articulated into three separate compartments or boxes: engine, passenger and cargo. Three-box designs are highly variable. Hemmings Motor News said: These three boxes, compartmentalized as they are, are used to denote distinct areas of an automobile—specifically
338-550: The Chevrolet Vega range included both a notchback coupe and a fastback coupe. One of the first cars marketed as a notchback is the 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special . In a major design change among U.S. automakers for the 1952 model year, a notchback version of the Nash Ambassador was introduced. This was in contrast to the previous fastback aerodynamic body shape that made the 1949 through 1950 Nash Ambassadors
364-443: The "most streamlined form on the road." The new cars had a distinctive reverse slanting C-pillar and featured boxier styling that became a design trend. In 1971, Chevrolet marketed the three-box sedan models of the Chevrolet Vega as a notchback to differentiate them from the fastback Vega models. For the 1973 model year , the car's name was changed to "Vega Notchback". While many car models have notchback characteristics,
390-581: The 1984 Renault Espace , 1992 Renault Twingo I , 2008 Tata Nano , 2005 Toyota Aygo / Citroën C1 / Peugeot 107 and 1997 Mercedes-Benz A-Class . Two-box designs articulate a volume for engine and a volume that combines passenger and cargo volumes, e.g., station wagon/estate or (three or five-door) hatchbacks like the Saab 900 , and minivans like the Chrysler Pacifica , 2001 Volkswagen Polo Mk4 and 1999 Skoda Fabia Mk1. Three-box design
416-519: The Peugeot abandoning that segment since 2001 when the production of Peugeot 306 ended. Other, predominantly European manufacturers followed suit, with the most recent generation of Opel Astra may no longer to be offered as the four-door notchback. Since 2018, Ford reduced sales of four-door Focus as well as Mondeo to Eastern Balkans markets. Again, Volkswagen stopped sales of Jetta in Europe around
442-480: The United States. In March 2017, subscribers of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car were notified that the May 2017 issue would be the last, citing "financial reasons" for the cancellation. Hemmings Muscle Machines , an American City Business Journals 2005 refocused continuation of Hemmings Motor News Publishing's Hemmings Rods and Performance (2000–2005). It is a bimonthly periodical focused primarily on muscle cars from
468-455: The articulation of a three-box. This style was later used by its larger Škoda Superb , which marketed as the TwinDoor, within the liftgate operable as a trunk lid or as a full hatchback. As with the third generation European Ford Escort (also a hatchback), the third box may be vestigial. And three-box styling does not need to be boxy: Car Design News calls the fluid and rounded Fiat Linea
494-434: The cancellation. Content from Hemmings Classic Car will be consolidated into Hemmings Motor News . Hemmings Classic Car subscribers will receive Hemmings Motor News instead for the remainder of their subscription after February 2025. Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car , launched in 2005 by American City Business Journals, was an automobile enthusiast magazine with content consisting solely of collector cars built outside
520-532: The category is largely unused outside North America, with their body style being described using other terms. For example, a three-box sedan is more generally known as a "saloon" in British English. "Notchback" has appeared in a few British English publications; however, it is not a term that is used in common parlance in Britain. Car body configurations#three-box design The configuration of
546-481: The humble family sedan, the basic three-box configuration of a passenger car—low engine compartment, higher cabin, low trunk in the rear—has endured for decades as the standard shape of the automobile. Until now." Sales and popularity of four-door notchback sedans/saloons began declining in Europe since mid-1990s, especially affordable ones. This is resulted in moving production of Volkswagen Jetta in Mexico, as well as
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#1732793252502572-499: The only publication in their lineup. Both publications have been dropped from the website as of November 2024. Hemmings Classic Car , launched in October 2004, was a monthly magazine and successor of Special Interest Autos (1970–January 2004), covering the topic of American , European and Japanese -built collector cars, targeting enthusiasts, owners, collectors, dealers, restorers and parts manufacturers. Hemmings Classic Car captured several distinct collector-car audiences in
598-617: The postwar era to present. Content includes original cars, restorations, modified cars and new-production muscle cars. In 1979, a team from Hemmings participated in the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash . In 1986, the same team of Terry Erich, former BMW factory motorcycle racer Justus Taylor and Hemmings editor-in-chief David Brownell entered the Great American Race , and Hemmings later became
624-556: The same time due to too long dimensions, exceeding those with International Passat B8 . A related classification is based on the style of roof in the car design. The DrivAer aerodynamics model of the Technical University of Munich classifies roof styles as (F) Fastback , (E) Estate Back , (N) Notchback / Sedan . The bodies of stock cars can be modified for motorsport purposes while retaining their main characteristics. The DrivAer high-performance (hp) configuration,
650-465: Was followed in 2005 by the addition of a new magazine, Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car . Hemmings Motor News also contains an approximately 80-page section of editorial content. Content includes coverage of collector-car shows and auctions, sports cars, touring cars, classic cars, pre-war cars and historic racing cars, as well as family-type automobiles. ACBJ, under the Hemmings banner, also sells
676-570: Was started by Ernest Hemmings in Quincy, Illinois , in 1954, then purchased by Terry Ehrich, who moved the company, Hemmings Motor News Publishing, to Bennington, Vermont , in the late 1960s. Ehrich published the magazine until his death in 2002. Hemmings Motor News Publishing was then acquired by American City Business Journals (ACBJ). Hemmings Motor News currently has 100 employees at its Bennington, Vermont headquarters. Starting in 1970, Hemmings Motor News Publishing added Special Interest Autos ,
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