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RE: Roadster season has arrived

To: British cars list <british-cars@autox.team.net>
Subject: RE: Roadster season has arrived
From: Clayton Kirkwood <kirkwood@garlic.com>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 16:13:01 -0700
Hey TA, what do ya think about converting a LR SII to a roadster. It would 
qualify: stripped down, no frills, ragtop, same general horsepower, etc? I 
just may start calling my II a roadster. And yeah, it could be a chick car 
too...

You show up all over the place:>))

Clayton

-----Original Message-----
From:   TeriAnn Wakeman [SMTP:twakeman@cruzers.com]
Sent:   Tuesday, May 23, 2000 6:43 AM
To:     Jim & Ann Brown; British cars list
Subject:        Re: Roadster season has arrived

>Many agree with you, to the extent that I have heard the Miata referred to
>as a "Chick Car,"

Considering that until very recently the Miata was the only modern
roadster out there in the mainstream market, maybe women are more the
roadster type then men if you add the word reliable to the word roadster.

I've noticed that most of the SUV drivers around here are women too.  I
see a lot more women then men drive CJ or Wrangler jeeps around here.  I
remember chatting with the sales manager at San Jose Land Rover a few
years back.  He mentioned he sold a lot more Land Rover Defenders to
women than to men.  The men generally came in, talked off roading,
gearing & all sorts of technical stuff then bought a Discovery or a Range
Rover.  He was trying to understand why so many more women were
purchasing their most rugged lest plush model while the men ended up
purchasing the more "comfortable, plush" models.

So what do you guys drive as daily transportation? A "sporty" coupe?
Volvo? BMW, Mercedes?

>The difference between a "roadster" and a "convertible" (or "drophead," if
>you will) is often not recognized, surprisingly enough even on this list.
>:-(

Back in the olde days, a roadster used to be an open car that did not
have a coupe equivalent and had side curtains instead of roll up windows.
 Removable hard tops became OK.

Then in the early fifties Jaguar redefined roadster with their XK120.
They had the fixed head coupe, drophead coupe and their roadster
versions.  The Drophead coupe had all the trim and same basic interior
trim as the fixed head coupe.  The roadster was basically the drop head
coupe with different interior trim and less exterior trim.  The roadster
was their "basic no frills model"  Jaguar redefined roadsters to have
roll up windows.

Of the originally defined classic roadsters, I believe the TR3B was the
second to last and Morgan was the last.

The more modern definition of a roadster (Thanks to Jaguar) is an open
body car that does not have a hard top version of the same thing.  This
makes Miata a roadster and not a convertible or drophead coupe version of
a fixed head coupe.


TeriAnn
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