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Notchback is a form of car body style; in different parts of the world the precise definition varies. The term is common in the United States where it refers to the typical "3-box" design of sedans.1
A notchback, unlike a hatchback or fastback, is characterized by a near-vertical drop-off from a car's roof to its trunk. All notchbacks are "three-box" designs – three clearly separate areas for engine, passengers, and cargo. Seen from the side, the section forward of the windshield can be viewed as one box; the section with doors and windows is the second; and the third box is the trunk. Because the third box extends from below the back window, the design is called a notchback.2 Although notchback is usually a synonym for sedan, many coupés have notchback-type designs as well.
Passenger sedan aerodynamics can affect many areas of a vehicle's performance, such as fuel efficiency, stability, handling, and noise levels. Notchback vehicles exhibit a complicated near-wake flow, the structure of which is still not understood.3 4
As aerodynamic efficiency becomes an ever-greater focus in automobile design, the distinct angle between rear window and decklid that characterizes the traditional "notchback" is gradually diminishingcitation needed: most of today's four-door sedans feature a long, sweeping roof line that transitions through a shallow curve into a short, more horizontal decklid—i.e. the notchback is vestigial. However, drag-reducing (e.g. streamlined) production automobile design dates from the late 1930s.
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United States
General Motors claims that the 1940 Cadillac Sixty Special introduced the "streamlined notchback" styling that influenced roof and rear deck styling of a broad range of vehicles until World War II5
The notchback design was common across U.S. automakers and automobile types. A styling trend emerged during the 1960s where rooflines on many two-door models were made smoother with steeper slope of the rear window or more arc (a style that American Motors described as a "modified fastback") whereas, many four-door sedans featured a more upright, elegant roofline.6 General Motors' intermediate-size two-door models featured a roof lines with a traditional notchback, recessed ("tunneled") rear window between the sailing roof panels. The marketing term "formal roof" was coined for the steeply-angled version seen on certain American cars of the 1980s such as the two-door Mercury Cougar and the C- and G-body cars from General Motors, and the 1985-1991 N-body cars. The "formal roof" styling of the 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme hardtop coupe "promised affordable elegance". 7
Examples
- AMC Ambassador sedans
- Chevrolet Vega 2-door sedan
- Ford Mustang coupe8
- Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
- Plymouth Barracuda coupe
- Pontiac Fiero
- Pontiac Trans Am first generation
Other uses and other countries
Notchback can also refer to liftback or hatchback vehicles, if there is a discontinuous line from roof to rear bumper.citation needed
The term first became common in British English when used for the European Mark III Ford Escort and the slightly later Ford Sierra, both of which have hatchbacks, but also a residual trunk hump.citation needed Officially (in Ford terminology) the shape of these hatchbacks was Aeroback.
In British English a "three-box" sedan9 is more generally known as a saloon.10 However "notchback" is also used.1112
Examples
 1959-1967 Ford Anglia notchback featured a reverse-rake rear window |
 European Ford Escort Mark III was a hatchback |
 European Ford Orion was the notchback version of the Escort |
 European Ford Sierra Mark I hatchback |
 European Ford Sierra Mark I notchback |
References
- ^ Dictionary of Automobile Terms Motorera.com 1998 - 2008,retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: notchback. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ Gilmore, Brendan R., Saunders, Jeffrey W., and Sheridan, John. (2001) "Time Averaged and Unsteady Near-Wake Analysis of Cars" in Vehicle Aerodynamics Design and Technology by Society of Automotive Engineers Staff, Mark Gleason, pp. 191-198. ISBN: 978-0768007473
- ^ Jenkins, Luther N. (200) An Experimental Investigation of the Flow Over the Rear End of a Notchback Automobile Configuration, abstract, retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ "1940, The Cadillac Sixty Sets Another Styling Trend" General Motors Corporation, undated, retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ "1967-1968 AMC Ambassador by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, undated, retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ "Oldsmobile's 1973-1977 Intermediates" by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, undated, retrieved 2008-05-24.
- ^ "The 1974 Ford Mustang: Notchback by Default" by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, undated,retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ Chambers Dictionary (British English): sedan Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ Chambers Dictionary (British English): saloon Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "a car with a back that extends approximately horizontally from the bottom of the rear window so as to make a distinct angle with it" Concise Oxford English Dictionary Eleventh edition, p. 977. Oxford University Press 2006. ISBN 0199296340
- ^ Barnard, R.H. (1996). Road Vehicle Aerodynamic Design. Longman. ISBN 978-0582245228.