A close-coupled sedan is an obsolete type of car body which disappeared from the United States market by World War II, though it survived elsewhere for a time. It was a four-windowed sedan with a trunk that from front to rear was almost as thin as an upright suitcase. Such a vehicle was a bit lighter, and hence less expensive, than a regular sedan of the day, which had its rear-seat passengers sitting over the differential, and had room for a wider trunk at the rear, sometimes being a compartment added on not at the factory but by specialists. The passengers in a close-coupled sedan sat a little bit forward of the differential, so they had somewhat less room.
The mechanical particular was that the rear suspension could not be a Hotchkiss drive. Ford Motor Company, which used a transverse spring suspension until 1949, could offer such a vehicle, and called its version a "Victoria" in the 1930s.
Famous quotes containing the word sedan:
“One way to do it might be by making the scenery penetrate the automobile. A polished black sedan was a good subject, especially if parked at the intersection of a tree-bordered street and one of those heavyish spring skies whose bloated gray clouds and amoeba-shaped blotches of blue seem more physical than the reticent elms and effusive pavement. Now break the body of the car into separate curves and panels; then put it together in terms of reflections.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)