Coupé (carriage) explained

A coupé was a four-wheeled carriage with outside front seat for the driver and enclosed passenger seats for two persons.^[1] The name coupé comes from the French past participle of couper, "cut".^[2]

The coupé carriage body style originated from the berline horse-drawn carriage. The coupé version of the berline was introduced in the 18th century as a shortened ("cut") version with no rear-facing seat.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} Normally, a coupe had a fixed glass window in the front of the passenger compartment. The coupe was considered an ideal vehicle for women to use to go shopping or to make social visits.^[7]

Types

The grand coupé with a curved body was the first common form of this carriage. Around 1830, the small coupé appeared, of four wheels, a closed squared body, with seats for two passengers. The coachman's seat, at the front and outside, rests on a chest. The small coupé is suspended on two pincer springs at the front and half-pincer springs at the rear, connected by a transverse spring. The small coupé was the model of the French fiacre.

There are a number of coupé types, including but not limited to:

• Town coupé: a prestigious two-seater carriage, reserved for ceremonies.
• Mail coupé: derived from the English-style mail coach, and retained the exterior seats and trunks.
• Chariot: a type of curved light coupé.
• Brougham: a type of squared small coupé.
• Three-quarter coupé or Clarence: a coupé with a projecting glass front and seats for four passengers inside.
• Landaulet: the coupé form of the landau. There are also the brougham-landaulet and the three-quarter landaulet.
• Dorsay: a boat-shaped double-suspension coupé.

The coupé also refers to the front part of a composite carriage, such as a diligence (Continental-style stagecoach).

See also

• Coach (carriage)
• Coupe (car)

Notes and References

1. Pleasant W. Johnson Johnson's Encyclopædia of Transportation 1892 p. 252 "COUPÉ. A four-wheeled close carriage, for two persons inside..."
2. Web site: Coach Building Terminology . 2004 . Coachbuilt.com . 14 July 2018.
3. Book: Haajanen, Lennart W. . Illustrations by Bertil Nydén . 2003 . Illustrated Dictionary of Automobile Body Styles . McFarland . 0-7864-1276-3 . 2002014546 . 16, 18, 20, 50.
4. David Traver . Adolphus . Club Coupes - If you think you know what a Club Coupe is, think again . March 2007 . Hemmings Classic Car . 30 March 2020 . Coupé (some designers still insist on the 'koo-pay' pronunciation) is the French verb meaning 'to cut,' and it was first applied to 19th Century carriages, where the rear-facing seats had been eliminated, or cut out..
5. Book: Haajanen, Lennart W. . Illustrated Dictionary of Automobile Body Styles . Second . 2017 . McFarland . 978-0-7864-9918-2 . 52–53, 57. 14 July 2018. "When the Berline body was shortened the Berline Coupe, or just Coupe, resulted."
6. Web site: Royal carriages. . 14 April 2018.
7. Book: Stratton, Ezra . World on Wheels . 2014-09-04 . Ezra Stratton . New York . 1878 . 0-405-09006-4 . Chapter VIII. French carriages, including historical associations . 242 . For the use of ladies making calls or engaged in shopping, no better carriage has yet been invented. . 7004294M.