CABRIOLET

Nowadays, a cabriolet (or 'cabrio') is a car body style that has a removable or retracting roof and rear window, known in America more commonly as "convertible". Soft tops are usually made of vinyl or canvas, and folding plastic rear windows are common. Owing to the issue of body flex, cabriolets almost always have only two doors.
Originally, a 'cabriolet' is a light, two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse, with a folding 'calash' top, seating two persons facing forwards, one of whom is the driver. The design was developed in France in the early nineteenth century. The vehicle quickly replaced the heavier hackney carriage as the vehicle for hire of choice in Paris and London. The 'cab' of taxi-cab is a shortening of "cabriolet" following the usage found in "Hansom cab". The Hansom is a cabriolet with the cabman driving from a high seat at the rear.

Contents

See also

See also

★ Cabriole

★ Carriage

★ Cart

★ Convertible

★ Taxicab