Editing Notchback

{{Short description|Type of car design}}
[[File:Three box notchback Fiat 124.jpg|thumb|The [[three-box styling|three-box]], notchback design of the [[Fiat 124 Coupé]]]]
[[File:Hatchback three box.jpg|thumb|A [[three-box styling|three-box]] liftback in notchback form—with its vestigial ''third box'', the [[Ford Escort (Europe)#Ford Escort Mark III (1980–1986)|European Ford Escort]] ]]

A '''notchback''' is a car design with the rear section distinct from the passenger compartment and where the back of the passenger compartment is at an angle to the top of what is typically the rear baggage compartment.<ref>{{cite web |title=Notchback definition and meaning |publisher=Collins English Dictionary |url = https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/notchback |access-date=1 April 2021}}</ref> Notchback cars have "a trunk whose lid forms a distinct deck."<ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of Notchback |url= https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/notchback |publisher=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |access-date=1 April 2021}}</ref> In profile view, the body has a step down from the roof with a downward inclined passenger compartment's rear window to meet an almost horizontal trunk lid extending to the rear of the car.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tudose |first1=Sergiu |title=Fastback Revolution: Here's Why You'll Soon Be Saying Goodbye to All Four-Door Sedans |url= https://www.autoevolution.com/news/fastback-revolution-here-s-why-you-ll-soon-have-to-say-goodbye-to-all-four-door-sedans-222034.html |work=autoevolution |date=30 September 2023 |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref>

The category may be characterized as having a [[car body configurations#three-box design|three-box design]] where the [[trunk (car)|trunk]] volume is less pronounced than the engine and passenger compartments.<ref>{{cite web |author=((Hearst Autos Research)) |title=What is a Sedan? Car Buying Tips |url= https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a31488018/what-is-a-sedan/ |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref>

Many models of [[Sedan (automobile)|sedans]], [[coupé]]s, or [[hatchback]]s could be classified as notchbacks. However, the category has limited salience outside American car manufacturers, who distinguish the three-box models from other body styles in the same model range. For example, the [[Chevrolet Vega]] range included both a notchback coupe and a [[fastback]] coupe.

==North America==
One of the first cars marketed as a notchback is the 1938 [[Cadillac Sixty Special]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/1940,_The_Cadillac_%22Sixty%22_Sets_Another_Styling_Trend |title=1940, The Cadillac Sixty Sets Another Styling Trend |publisher=General Motors: Generations of GM Wiki Timeline |access-date=7 December 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110817224323/http://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/1940,_The_Cadillac_%22Sixty%22_Sets_Another_Styling_Trend |archive-date=17 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1938-'40 Cadillac Sixty Special |url= https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2012/10/1938--40-Cadillac-Sixty-Special/3717671.html |website=hemmings.com |first=Mark J. |last=McCourt |date=23 September 2018 |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Take Me to Your Style Leader: The 1938–1942 Cadillac Sixty Special |url= https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/cadillac-sixty-special/ |website=ateupwithmotor.com |access-date=16 June 2018}}</ref>

In a major design change among U.S. automakers for the 1952 model year, a notchback version of the [[Nash Ambassador]] was introduced.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Floyd |first1=Clymer |title=The Owners Report on the 1952 Nash Ambassador |journal=Popular Mechanics |date=September 1952 |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=90–94 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jNwDAAAAMBAJ&dq=1952+Nash+Ambassador+notchback&pg=PA90 |via=Google Books|access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gunnell |first=John |title=Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975 |year=1992 |publisher=Krause Publications |page=468 |isbn=9780873412049 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EnYkzsGr450C&q=There+was+new+styling+for+the+Ambassador+and+Statesman.+A+new+notch+back+body+created+by+Italy%27s+Pininfarina+was+the+fashion+hit+of+the+marque%27s+50th+year |quote=There was new styling for the Ambassador and Statesman. A new notch back body created by Italy's Pininfarina was the fashion hit of the marque's 50th year |via=Google Books |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref> This was in contrast to the previous [[fastback]] aerodynamic body shape that made the 1949 through 1950 Nash Ambassadors the "most streamlined form on the road."<ref>{{cite web |author=((Auto Editors of Consumer Guide)) |title=1949-1951 Nash Airflyte |url= https://auto.howstuffworks.com/1949-1951-nash-airflyte.htm |website=auto.howstuffworks.com |access-date=11 January 2024 |date=6 November 2007}}</ref> The new cars had a distinctive reverse slanting [[Pillar (car)|C-pillar]] and featured boxier styling that became a design trend.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Patrick R. |title=The Nash Styling Sketchbook |date=1998 |publisher=The Olde Milford Press |isbn=9780966201901 |page=1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BPqI4GNSPNQC&dq=1952+Nash+Ambassador+notchback&pg=PA1 |chapter=1 - The Designers |via=Google Books |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McClurg |first1=Bob |title=The History of AMC Motorsports: Trans-Am, Drag, NASCAR, Land Speed and Off-Road Racing |date=2016 |publisher=CarTech |isbn=9781613251775 |page=20 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Chd-CwAAQBAJ&dq=1952+Nash+Ambassador+notchback&pg=PA20 |via=Google Books |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref>

In 1971, [[Chevrolet]] marketed the [[Car body configurations#Three-box_design|three-box sedan]] models of the [[Chevrolet Vega]] as a ''notchback'' to differentiate them from the [[fastback]] Vega models.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chevrolutionary! - 1973 Chevrolet Vega GT Millionth Edition, 1976 Chevrolet Cosworth Vega |url= https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2014/03/Chevrolutionary----1973-Chevrolet-Vega-GT-Millionth-Edition--1976-Chevrolet-Cosworth-Vega/3735391.html |website=hemmings.com |access-date=16 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How the Chevy Vega Nearly Destroyed GM |url= https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a6424/how-the-chevy-vega-almost-destroyed-gm/ |website=popularmechanics.com |access-date=16 June 2018}}</ref> For the 1973 [[model year]], the car's name was changed to "Vega Notchback".<ref>{{cite book| publisher= Chevrolet| title= Chevrolet Vega brochures- years 1971–77}}</ref>

<gallery mode="nolines" widths="250">
File:1939 Cadillac Series 60 Special rl.jpg|1939 Cadillac Series 60 Special
File:1961 AMC Rambler Ambassador 4-door pink rear.JPG| 1961 [[AMC Ambassador|Rambler Ambassador]] sedan<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=McCourt |first1=Mark J. |title=1961 Rambler Ambassador V-8 Custom "America's First Compact Luxury Car" |magazine=Hemmings Motor News |date=December 2014 |url= https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1961-rambler-ambassador-v-8-custom |access-date=1 April 2021 |quote=1961 Ambassador's reverse-slant C-pillar}}</ref>
File:71 Vega sedan.jpg| 1971 [[Chevrolet Vega]] notchback
</gallery>

== English-speaking countries ==
While many car models have notchback characteristics, the category is largely unused outside North America, with their body style being described using other terms. For example, a [[Three-box styling|three-box]] [[Sedan (automobile)|sedan]]<ref>{{cite web| url= http://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=sedan&title=21st |work=Chambers 21st Century Dictionary |language=en |title=sedan |access-date=18 April 2017}}</ref> is more generally known as a "saloon" in British English.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=saloon&title=21st | work=Chambers 21st Century Dictionary |language=en |title=saloon |access-date=18 April 2017}}</ref> "Notchback" has appeared in a few British English publications; however, it is not a term that is used in common parlance in Britain.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | quote=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. |encyclopedia=Concise Oxford English Dictionary| title= notchback |edition=Luxury |page=978 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011| editor-first1=Angus |editor-last1=Stevenson |editor-first2=Maurice |editor-last2=Waite |isbn=9780199601110 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sYScAQAAQBAJ&q=notchback}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Barnard |first=R.H. |title=Road Vehicle Aerodynamic Design |publisher=Longman |year=1996 |isbn=9780582245228}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Car body style]]
* [[Ponton (automobile)|Ponton Styling]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Automobile configuration}}

[[Category:Automotive styling features]]

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[[es:Carrocería#Notchback]]