What is it about a 2-door coupe that makes it inherently sexier than a 4-door sedan? Does having two fewer doors really change the entire personality of a vehicle?
In some ways yes. From a sheer visual perspective, coupe doors are usually longer, which visually elongates the look of the body while also lowering the roofline for greater “trick” elegant proportions. In many cases, coupes will actually sport altered styling from their sedan counterparts, often with actual lowered rooflines, longer hoods, wider tracks, and frameless doors for a sleeker, sexier appearance.
Yet sometimes, especially in the past, a coupe will not feature any drastic body changes beyond the doors, even retaining the sedan’s roofline, thereby making them a “2-door sedan”. Still, no matter how hedonistic, there’s an intrinsic value about a 2-door that just gives it a more exclusive, more fun, and sometimes even sportier than a 4-door. Even if it’s a 1985 LTD Crown Victoria.
Ford of course produced far sexier and sportier coupes during this era in the Thunderbird and Mustang, but even this rather basic and stodgy fullsize 2-door sedan gives off a little more let down your hair vibe than the 4-door. If the 4-door was fittingly a Victoria, the 2-door was decidedly more of a Vicky.
Photographed: South Weymouth, Massachusetts – February 2018
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Related Reading:
1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria 4-door sedan
I remember, at their introduction, liking the appearance of these Panthers better than the GM B-bodies. The Fords lacked the “drooping at the ends” feeling that the GMs had.
I still feel that way.
I have been fortunate, owning both an 83 Grand Marquis coupe and later an 89 Crown Victoria LX four door. BOTH great automobiles. I’ve had other upscale vehicles, mostly Mercurys and Lincolns, which were IMO far superior to GM.My current daily driver, a 2007 Low mileage Town Car Signature Limited is the last gasp of traditional Lincoln luxury and class, and will likely last me until I am gone. Nothing built today is close to these beauties.
Agreed. From a side view the B-bodies looked positively droopy. I wasn’t really a fan of the bent window thin pillar 2-doors either. It was as if they were going for sporty motif but the beltline upkick with the shapeless roll in the sides just didn’t work as well as the much maligned concave window hardtops of the previous generation. The trim of the 77-79 Chevys looked as though it was made to fit universally on different vehicles and largely made of the same materials as stickers and balloons. Inside, the same theme. A down scale instrument panel with emphasis on a cluster of blank outs on most of them. Although the Fords and GMs were largely mechanically the same the Panthers just gave an aura of better quality.
These 2 door sedans did not give off any sporting images. The people that bought them were cheap and didn’t have grandchildren or friends.
Great comment. Yeah the cars themselves were solid but also unremarkable. There is something intrinsicly frumpy about the Panthers. PN said something about the door frames, maybe that’s it but yeah, they just look unattractive.
The Panthers were pretty frumpy compared to the 1977 GM B bodies. The Chevy coupe was slick and the Buick/Pontiac coupe roof was a frank copy of the Fiat 130. The detailing of the cars was American but the shape was Italian. The Panthers looked like they were designed by a committee of people who were mad at each other.
The saddest Panther was the Lincoln Mark VI coupe. It looked like an LTD that had been given a full treatment by Choo Choo Customs.
The window frames were so far inset they looked like they were designed to take storm windows.
The people who wanted a sporty 2-door sedan from Ford in the mid ’80s bought aero Thunderbirds.
These 2-door sedans and coupes did have a certain class but, yeah, the full-sized LTD was a big frumpy. Sporty in the sense that they didn’t have the practicality of 4 doors? A car for middle-aged and elderly singles and empty-nesters. I seem to remember that Barnaby Jones drove a ’79 LTD Landau coupe in the last season of his show.
2 door cars were the skinflint special these days people describe any old 2 door poverty pack sedan as a coupe to jack the asking price up calling grannys 2 door 1100cc Ford escort a sporty 2 door is pure comedy,
A 56 Crown Vic is a great looking car even this one is easy to look at.
When US brands didn’t sell more than one size, the two door was the stylish choice. The price difference with the four door on the same chassis was small. Today, all cars are sportier; a single indicates that status with a smaller car.
I think the turbine wheels (a popular factory option) and white-letter tires (NEVER seen on full-size sedans when new) are doing more to give this car a “sporty” vibe than the missing rear doors. If this was shod with fake-wire wheel covers and white stripes, it’d be every bit as full-Brougham as any box Panther 4-door or Country Squire wagon.
I always thought the ’92-up Aero-Panther would have looked good in 2-door form, but there was no market for it by then, and it was too conceptually similar to the concurrent MN12 T-Bird.
Wow ~ I’ve not seen any early Panthers like this for a long time .
These sold like hot cakes and were very popular as used cars in their day .
Nice looking in red .
-Nate
1979 Panther sales were down from 1978 fullsize Ford, then got gazumped by the 1980 recession. The cars were Lee Iacocca’s babies. He was lucky to be elsewhere when the sales reports arrived.
How’s This for red?.. (and “sporty”) 😉
I bought this 89 CV wagon around 2003 from an old man,($700) it was a darker red. I painted it this red, and of course the blue flames. Torque Thrust II wheels. Sold it a couple years later to a kid who managed to bang it all up.