Limousine Glossary New York

The following information was sourced from Serious Wheels.

Air Dam
A front spoiler intended to divert air from traveling underneath the car. Air dams can improve aerodynamics, reduce lift, and increase the airflow through the front radiator.

Antique
Technically, this refers to a vehicle built in 1914 or earlier.

A-Pillar
The support on either side of a vehicle's windshield.

Berline
A sedan

Berlinetta
Term invented by Enzo Ferrari to designate his coupe designs. Applied more broadly to any make of sports coupes.

Blower
Supercharger.

Bonnet
British term for hood.

Boot
British term for trunk lid.

Boxer
Also known as a flat engine. A motor with opposed cylinder banks; the name boxer derives from the idea of the pistons thrusting or boxing towards the opposing bank. Advantages to the boxer design include low center of gravity, improved cooling, and low height that makes the engine valuable for cars with a low profile.

B-Pillar
Pillar running behind the front window and the rear window, should the vehicle have one.

Business Coupe
Two door coupe without a rumble seat.

Cabriolet
A convertible with windows.

Cammer
An extremely high performance engine built by Ford at its Dearborn engine plant in early 1964, the SOHC 427 produced in the area of 700 horsepower in race tune. This hemi-head engine was originally designed for NASCAR, but was deemed too exotic to be sanctioned. While never appearing in a production vehicle, a number of them found their way onto the drag strips. Don Prudhomme was the first drag racer to break the 7 sec barrier in the quarter mile with this motor. Seven A/FX Mustangs were also built with the cammer engine.

Channeled
A vehicle that has had the body lowered relative to the frame.

Classic
There are two technical definitions for this, in addition to the broader sense of any vehicle with collector interest. A classic can refer to any car that is 25 years old or older. It can also refer to a range of vehicles built mostly from 1925 to 1948. The non-technical use of the term would acknowledge that an Aston Martin or Dodge Viper is a classic from the moment it is rolled out of the factory.

Concours
A car show of the very finest vehicles, or a vehicle that is up to concours standards. Typically, concours shows and levels of restoration center on such outstanding marques as Bugatti, Talbot-Lago, Duesenberg, Delahaye, Isotta Fraschini, etc.

Coupe
Closed car with two doors, and technically, less than 33 cubic feet of rear interior volume.

Coupelet
Model T two seater cabriolet.

Cycle Fenders
Fenders that closely follow the curvature of the wheel, similar to motorcycle fenders. It can apply to either front or rear fenders, but is more common in the front. One example of front cycle fenders is the Allard J2X

Destroked
An engine with a shorter throw crankshaft, usually done to increase RPM capacity or to fulfill racing restrictions on engine size.

Deuce
32 Ford

Dickey
Rumble seat

Digs
Drag races

DOHC
Double Overhead Camshaft. Two camshafts for each cylinder bank.

Drophead
British for convertible.

Dual Cowl
A type of touring car or phaeton with the cab divided into two parts, front and back, and separated by a windshield on a folding cowl.

EuroAmerican Hybrids
A class of cars featuring European design and American power. While American engines of the kind described typically produce less power per displacement than European motors, their sheer size relative to most European motors, as well as their relatively unstressed design, reliablity, and ease & economy of repair makes them obvious candidates for use in European performance cars. While the most famous hybrid is the AC Cobra, the list includes such memorable automobiles as the Iso Grifo, Detomaso Pantera and Mangusta, Bizzarrini, Monteverdi, GT40, Facel Vega, and many others.

Flathead
Introduced in the 1932, this was the first truly affordable V-8, and the beginning of Ford's long association with performance. The flathead utilized a valve in block design, and the heads were greatly simplified compared to modern overhead valve heads. Flathead engines have a distinctive look, as can be seen in a 1932 Deuce Roadster

Fordor
Four door Ford.

Frenched
Recessed head or tail lights that are smoothed into the body.

GTO
Gran Turismo Omologato, which is Italian for Grand Touring Homologated. The name was originally applied to the famed 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, and noted that enough of the vehicles had been built for FIA-sanctioned GT racing. The term was later used by Pontiac for the vehicle that launched the American muscle car phenomenon.

Gullwing Doors
Doors hinged at their top edges rather than the front or rear. The first car to use gullwing doors was the Mercedes 300SL Coupe.

Hardtop
Vehicle with no side B-pillar, meant to have the look of a convertible. Also, a removable top.

Hemi
Engine with hemispherical combustion chambers. Especially, the high performance Chrysler V-8 engines with hemi heads, which appeared in several incarnations from 1951 to 1971. The Chrysler 426 Hemi is one of the most famed production engines in American automotive history. To this day, most Top Fuel and Funny Car engines are based on the brilliant design of the 426 Hemi.

Hood
American term for front lid of vehicle, usually covering the engine.

Hood
British term for convertible top.

Huffer
Supercharger

Intercooler
A heat exchanger that cools the air or intake charge in a forced induction system.

Knockoffs
Wheels that are held in place with one large nut.

Lake Pipes
Side exhaust pipes that run under the rocker panels.

Landau
A limousine with an open front for the driver.

Landaulet
A landau with a fold down top for the rear passengers.

Lead Sled
A lowered and highly customized vehicle from the late 40s and early 50s. Perhaps the most sought after candidate for a lead sled is the 1949-1951 Mercury.

Limousine
A chauffered sedan, usually with an extended wheelbase, a separation between drivers and passengers, and numerous conveniences for the passengers.

Marque
Make or manufacturer of automobile.

Monocle Windscreen
A circular section windscreen, carried on the steering column, that offers protection only to the driver.

Monocoque
A frameless body structure that derives its strength from a stressed, sophisticated body design, rather than relying upon a frame.

Mopar
Chrysler vehicles, including Dodge, Plymouth, Imperial and Desoto.

Mouse
Small block Chevrolet motor. The original small block Chevy motor has appeared in more modified vehicles than any other motor in automotive history.

Muscle Car
This generally refers to American mid-size cars with large engines built mostly from 1964 to 1972. The first true American muscle car was the 1964 Pontiac GTO, with a 325 hp 389 4 bbl engine, and an optional 389 tri-power producing 348 hp. Although every American car manufacturer, including AMC with its venerable AMX 390, produced muscle cars during this time period, probably the last true big-block muscle cars of this genre were also Pontiacs: the extremely fast SD 455 Trans Am was produced in 1973 and 1974 in limited numbers.

Nerf Bar
Tubular bumper

NOS
New Old Stock. Parts built by the original manufacturer that have never been used.

Oversquare
An engine with a bore longer than its stroke. Most postwar motors have an oversquare design. Oversquare engines can rev higher, but at the expense of low-end torque. An oversquare engine will typically produce more horsepower and less torque than an undersquare one.

Pebble Beach
One of the world's premiere car shows.

Phaeton
A four door open-touring car.

Pony Car
A category of American cars that took its name from the Ford Mustang, one of the most successful cars in automotive history. Pony cars are small to mid sized cars emphasizing sportiness and frequently performance. Some of the cars that fall into this classification include: Ford Mustang, the early Mercury Cougars, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Challenger, and AMC's AMX. Although pony cars were not necessarily high performance, the ones equipped with the more powerful V-8s are generally classified as muscle cars, and equaled or exceeded the performance of the mid-sized muscle cars. Some of the most famous high performance pony cars include the Yenko Camaros, the Mustang 428 Super Cobra Jets, and the Hemi Cudas.

ProStreet
Vehicles that are built to be streetable, but with the look and much of the performance of all out drag cars in their displacement class. One of the most popular aspects of hotrod culture, particularly in North America.

Rat
Big block Chevrolet motor. An extremely popular motor among ProStreeters in particular.

Rumble Seat
Seat located in trunk area. The trunk lid is hinged from the rear, and folds up to form the seat back.

Sidemount
Spare tire mounted in the front fender.

Six-Pack
Same as tri-power, normally used to refer to the venerable Mopar 440 engine with three carburetors.

Sleeper
A fast car that gives no indication of its true potential.

SOHC
Single Overhead Camshaft. One camshaft for each cylinder bank.

Spyder
Two seater roadster.

Street Rod
A highly modified vehicle built prior to 1948.

Stroked
An engine with an increased stroke from a crankshaft with a larger throw. Stroked engines will typically not rev as high or as fast, but usually more than make up for it in increased torque.

Suburban
Seven passenger limousine.

Suicide Doors
Doors that are hinged at the rear.

Supercharger
A means of forced induction, i.e., using compressed air to get a higher density of oxygen in the air-fuel mixture. Supercharging utilizes power from the crankshaft to compress air. The two main types of superchargers are the Roots blowers that mount atop the engine, and are particularly popular in ProStreet cars; and Paxton-type superchargers that mount to the side of the engine, and are sometimes found in production cars.

Superleggera
Italian for super light.

Targa
A removable roof body style with a fixed roll bar style body design that runs from side to side behind the front seats.

T-Bucket
A modified Model T that is basically a chassis, a drivetrain, and a (usually) fiberglass bucket with room for two passengers. Most T-Buckets today are kit cars.

Touring Car
Four door open car without windows.

Tri-Power
Engine with three 2 barrel carburetors.

Tubbed
A vehicle that has been modified to allow enormous rear tires that don't protrude past the wheel well.

Tudor
Two door Ford sedan.

Turbocharger
Device that compresses air for forced induction, much like a supercharger, but instead of relaying on power from the crankshaft, it runs off the pressure of exhaust gases. While turbochargers are far more efficient than superchargers in that they have less parasitic drain, their operation and mechanics is less straight-forward than with supercharging. Turbocharging was very popular in the 80s, but is less common today, even in ultra-expensive exoticars. The extremely fast Porsche 911 Turbo is one exception. One problem of turbocharging is that it requires a substantial volume of exhaust gases to generate boost. This either has to come from a larger motor, such as a V-8, or a smaller motor operating at high RPMs. The need for high RPMs leads to turbo lag, and a generally unsatisfactory solution for street driving. While turbocharging is a very impressive technology that will likely regain its popularity at some point, a real awareness of its strengths and weaknesses are in order. While it far surpasses most other methods in obtaining optimal horsepower from a motor, it won't give a 4 cylinder engine the torque characteristics of an 8 cylinder.

Undersquare
An engine with the stroke longer than the bore, a design conducive to low-end torque, but usually not to horsepower. Undersquare motors were much more common in the prewar period than they are today.

Vintage
Vehicles built from 1915 to 1942

Vis a Vis
Seating arrangement where passengers face one another.

Wedge
Broadly, a common term for most head designs that don't use hemispherical combustion chamber. More narrowly, it refers to Chrysler motors, like the 413 Max Wedge, that used a more conventional wedge-shaped combustion chamber.

Wing
British for fender.

Woody
Vehicle that uses wood in its body panels.

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