Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Two doors, two seats, fixed roof, and no hatch


I’m a big fan of grand touring automobiles. Those are usually luxury large coupes that were designed to swallow up miles while providing the driver and the passenger utmost comfort. Big engines, just enough room for you and yours, and the small amount of stuff two people may need for a weekend at a resort far away from home. 
But, I like my grand touring coupes in a certain specific way. First, I prefer two seats. The small useless rear seats bother me for some reason, I hate them. I also don’t love convertibles. I prefer fixed roof vehicles. And while I love hatches, I don’t want a hatch grand touring coupe. Hatches, while useful, add weight and may reduce structural strength. I also don’t think that they’re very classy. A coupe, by my own definition, is a sedan-like three-box shape but with two doors.
So today we are looking for two-passenger, two-door coupes, with a fixed hard roof, and no hatch. 
The Caveats (there are always caveats):

  • No rear- or mid-engine cars – a coupe, by my own definition, has the engine in the front. 
  • A model with rear seats deleted, such as the Mustang GT350R, doesn’t count. 
  • Just because you think a vehicle shouldn’t have rear seats (BRZ, Camaro) but has them, doesn’t count. 
  • A hatch is a cargo opening that has glass in it and/or hinges above the belt-line of the vehicle. 

Difficulty: 7.8 out of 8, harder than you think, I think. 
How This Works: Read the comments first and don’t post duplicates! Bonus points for adding photos.
Image: hagerty.com

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75 responses to “Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Two doors, two seats, fixed roof, and no hatch”

  1. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    From the 1930s to the mid 1940s American car makers made a Business Coupe. They usually didn’t have a rear seat.
    http://classicvehicleslist.com/pics/bigpics/1941-chrysler-royal-business-coupe-highly-original-fantastic-condition-2.JPG

    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Step down, Kim Kardashian– THIS is a legitimately nice ass. Dodge definitely nailed it in the 40s.

    2. salguod Avatar

      I thought of these immediately.

  2. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    Pretty much every hardtop sports car up to the 1970s. The 1963-1967 Corvette comes to mind.
    http://www.anamericanclassic.com/images/1963WTCorvCoupe/WTCorvCoupe.jpg

    1. P161911 Avatar
  3. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    2 doors – check
    fixed roof – check
    no hatch – check
    2 passenger – Strato buckets oh yeah
    http://cdn.chevyhardcore.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/28/files/2011/04/El-Camino-70.jpg

    1. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      Dang. That was going to be my clever idea.

      1. dukeisduke Avatar
        dukeisduke

        And more sporty than a Business Coupe.

      2. outback_ute Avatar
        outback_ute

        Yes I was going to nominate all utes. Lots of luggage space for very grand touring particularly with a hard lid.

        1. Alff Avatar
          Alff

          Meh. Rules and schools are tools for fools.

  4. mdharrell Avatar

    Just to clarify: (1) As long as there are only two seats, do they have to be side-by-side or can they be in a row? (2) Do the two doors have to be directly opposite one another? (3) Precisely how “sedan-like three-box” does it have to be?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e8440f0e06aa7a083129098fd22e620c5737e8a8e505f00f9f7b20609f86361.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f94a552da8938bf3e0436a41efd68f02526f43e7ee47652663163592273feb3.jpg

    1. Kamil K Avatar

      Damn, you’re just a gift that keeps on giving.

      1. mdharrell Avatar

        P161911 beat me to the punch on business coupes, so I naturally drifted to either the Leyat Hélica or the Commuter Cars Tango, but the Tango is a rear-motored hatchback.
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd86b6d8c4dd5d4d49620c83a6c376c716dbf09ee3cd6ccb5add9a39d5912930.jpg

  5. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    I would have thought the Shape of Things to Come would have been low hanging fruit.
    https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01549/triumph-tr7a_1549226c.jpg

    1. smalleyxb122 Avatar
      smalleyxb122

      I was too focused on the wrong Triumph. I was wondering whether the optional rear seats in the GT6 counted as a rear seat delete until remembering the hatch rendered the seat question moot.

  6. onrails Avatar
    onrails

    This may be cheating a bit due to the picture up there, but the 1999-2000 pre-ZO6 fixed roof coupe Corvettes are pretty rare finds. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dae85f96f8d1e49937ab00ed7ffb1b9b42659e839f732e53d2d4d37620846b34.jpg

  7. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    Since GTX got here first with the El Camino, I’ll just extend the stretching of the rules.
    http://dealeraccelerate-all.s3.amazonaws.com/fastlane/marketing_assets/157/454SS.jpg

    1. P161911 Avatar
      P161911

      Did that have 2 or 3 front seats?

      1. neight428 Avatar
        neight428

        Two, these had a console in the middle. I initially was going to go with a Ford Lightning, but they seemed to all have a fold down seatback in the middle to accommodate a third passenger.

    2. Kamil K Avatar

      Did you ever say that a pickup truck is a coupe?

      1. smalleyxb122 Avatar
        smalleyxb122

        I see a three-box shape with two doors.

      2. neight428 Avatar
        neight428

        Not personally, but it fits the criteria where something called a “coupe” by manufacturers of The Ultimate Driving Machine fails on nearly all of them. I’d say the term is up for grabs.

  8. P161911 Avatar
    1. salguod Avatar

      Seeing as this started life as a 4 door sedan, I’d bet it doesn’t count

  9. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    I would like to think that the ZIS-112 Coupe is a 2 seater.
    http://en.sovetcars.ru/netcat_files/20070721210516.jpg

  10. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    AMC AMX.
    1968_AMC_AMX_390_GO_PAC_white_s.jpg

    1. salguod Avatar

      Yep. I believe they all came with the hardtop initially. I think by the end it was optional .

  11. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    Some of these had fixed roofs.
    https://assets.hemmings.com/uimage/54548452-500-0.jpg

      1. neight428 Avatar
        neight428

        Dang.

    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Good for a trip to a resort not very far away from home!

  12. Manxman Avatar

    By your definition the grandest grand touring coupe of the 1960’s, the Jaguar E type coupe, doesn’t qualify because it has a side opening hatch? Oh, the humanity! Does the Aston Martin DB4 Zagato Coupe count?

  13. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    You’re looking for luxury large coupes? They don’t come much larger than this.
    https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDG9Vy2tEMM/VW93_JcZu5I/AAAAAAAAQDU/4Ud0LtbQip4/s1600/6w1.JPG

  14. ptschett Avatar
    ptschett

    Dodge Challenger Demon with the $1 front passenger seat option but not the $1 rear seat option.
    (It’s not really a rear seat delete if the default is not to have it, right?)

  15. WinstonSmith84 Avatar
    WinstonSmith84

    The AC Frua/AC 428 coupe was also a two seater with a fixed roof and a trunk instead of a hatch.

  16. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Jaguar E-Type: not a hatch, according to the hinges-below-the-beltline rule. I’m going to disregard the part about glass, because anyone attempting to disqualify an E-Type doesn’t belong here anyway.
    http://carteblanche.je/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jaguar-4.2-Litre-E-Type-Fixed-Head-Coupe-boot.jpg

    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      Fail on two counts
      1. Dismissing the classic car magazine staple that everyone has to like this like everyones supposed to like *insert 70s dadrock album here* E-type is pretty Hooniverse I reckon.
      2. E-Type Lightweight exists, the Hoons E-type.
      https://indnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/lightness-dawns-again-for-the-jaguar-e-type-throughout-jaguar-e-type-lightweight-replica.jpg

      1. P161911 Avatar
        P161911

        Pretty sure the lightweight was just a hardtop convertible. However, the lightweight Low Drag Coupe didn’t have a rear hatch.
        http://www.autopaedia.com/auta/Jaguar/Jaguar_E-Type/Jaguar_E-Type_Series_1_(XKE)_1961-1968_(1962__lightweight_low_drag_3.8_coupe_2d)_(01)_-CC1-.jpg

        1. crank_case Avatar
          crank_case

          I would’ve thought it’d be welded in for racing, but apparently not. It’s removeable alright, which is odd.

          1. P161911 Avatar
            P161911

            Probably so that you can remove the top and the windscreen for low drag. Sort of like this non-lightweight.
            https://www.sportscarmarket.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/72754b70fe6beee440ef38686ca1c17b.jpg

  17. Borkwagen Avatar
    Borkwagen

    Aston Martin V12 Vanquish
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Aston_Martin_Vanquish_S_-_Flickr_-_Alexandre_Pr%C3%A9vot_%281%29_%28cropped%29.jpg
    Looking back through Aston Martin’s history I’m surprised how many were actually 2+2s.

  18. mdharrell Avatar

    The Sonett II and Sonett V4 are not hatchbacks, although honestly they should have been because trying to fill the available storage space beneath that fixed rear glass is a real pain.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b656423ff38f3278e0062c357330224012bb096f259b61177ca4f55c9de1d3c3.jpg

  19. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Funny, I always think of grand tourers as 2+2s.

    1. smalleyxb122 Avatar
      smalleyxb122

      Likewise. Sports cars are 2 seats, GTs are 2+2.
      But I’m willing to play along with whatever arbitrary definition Kamil wants to use. It’s his game.

      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        I agree. The Corvette is a sports car. The Mustang, a GT. But like you said, it’s Kamil’s game.
        Speaking of car nomenclature, I think the coupe vs. sedan argument needs to be revisited. I still think of the BMW 2002 as a two-door sedan, but of the BMW E9 as a coupe (Wikipedia defines it as a Grand Tourer, by the way– and it has rear seats!). The Fox-body Mustang GT is a coupe, but the notchback LX is a sedan. There’s no such thing, in my mind, as a four-door coupe, but I don’t think a car is a coupe just because it has two doors. Perhaps this argument will be moot in 10 years when everything is a damned crossover.

  20. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    Finally found one: MG Xpower SV
    The Qvale/DeTomaso Mangusta had a removable targa and top. The Stevens’ update fixed the roof.
    My question was there a back seat in the SV… Nope.
    I finally saw a Qvale Mangusta last weekend. No one knew what it was, but my son and I being MG and Mustang fans knew right off.

  21. marmer Avatar
    marmer

    Caveat? I didn’t think that’s how you pronounce Corvette.

  22. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    1899 Renault Type B coupe – possibly the world’s first closed motorcar. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/898ffd574d478e381f64a39d965c5755644dedba973f9338746dce21f2bd1b47.jpg

  23. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I think you missed the point on “Grand Tourer”– extra seats and a hatch are everything if you’re covering long distances with style. It’s your game and your criteria, but you’re really defining a sports car.

  24. bv911 Avatar
    bv911

    Could it be that I thought of one you all haven’t??
    Jaguar XK120 coupe:
    https://uncrate.com/p/2017/11/jaguar-xk-120-se-coupe-1.jpg
    (there’s no back seat in there, right??)

    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Sports car. Not a GT. You’ve hit KK’s f’ed up definition of a grand tourer, but really given an example of an old sports car. Kudos for following the rules, though!

  25. Scroggzilla Avatar
    Scroggzilla

    Opel GT(?)

    1. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
      SlowJoeCrow

      I’d considered it but thought the fastback disqualified it, but if the Saab Sonnett made it then the Opel GT should also show up.

  26. Erik the Awful Avatar
    Erik the Awful

    Buick Reatta

  27. Letstakeawalk Avatar
    Letstakeawalk

    Opel GT.
    Although it is technically front mid-engined, I think it should pass muster. Maybe a bit low on power, but that can be remedied with upgrades if you really insist.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04d151ce6fbc2efe8b26ddf54703922de555ff81d27ba21f9d6b9a08bd9d36e1.jpg

  28. Eric Rucker Avatar

    In which I endeavor to meet the letter of the rules, without meeting the spirit of the rules.
    2003 Mazda Roadster Coupe. Because you wanted a small-engined sports car, not a big-engined grand tourer.
    Two passengers without seat deletes? Check.
    Two doors? Check.
    Fixed hard roof? Check.
    No hatch? Check.
    Front engine? Check.
    Dodge Rampage. OK, I’m not the first to use a truck, so I’ll use a front wheel drive truck.
    Two passengers without seat deletes? Check.
    Two doors? Check.
    Fixed hard roof? Check.
    No hatch? Check.
    Front engine? Check.