sport coupe vs Cabriolet

[tim54889]

What are the obvious differents between a sport coupe and cabriolet? And can a sport coupe be made into a cabriolet easily? I've seen ads that call a SC incorrectly a Cabriolet. What do I look for in the ad pictures?

 

[Tiny]

Folding top and roll up windows make it a Cabriolet. No not easily

 

[Bob Johnson]

The Sport Coupe has a sun visor above the windshield the Cabriolet does not. The doors on a Sport Coupe fully enclose the windows. The Cabriolet doors are open above and in back of the door windows.

The Sport Coupe and Cabriolet have fundamentally different bodies. The Cabriolet body is a wooden structure with a sheet metal skin. The Sport Coupe is a metal structure with a metal skin. You might be able to chop the top off of a Sport Coupe and make something that would look like a Cabriolet from a distance. But it would not pass for a Cabriolet up close.

The hardest parts to find for a Cabriolet are the door and top hardware. That also makes them very expensive.

Bob

 

[jim galli]

The difference between a coupe, and a drop head coupe. Sport coupe is just a Model A coupe with canvas from the belt up instead of tin. Cabriolet, is a true convertible.

 

[Kevin in NJ]

The sport coupe is just a coupe body with a canvas top.

The cabriolet is a totally different body construction with very few parts interchangeable with the other bodies. None of the sheet metal other then the cowl pieces can interchange.

In other words, the sport coupe has all the extra work of a cabriolet with none of the advantages.

 

[ronn]

sport coupe-poor man's cabriolet...................

 

[Dave Mellor NJ]

A not too well known fact about the sport coupe is that it has a much larger back window. I found this out when I bought a larger than normal back window thinking it was possibly for a phaeton. That would make sense as the back of the roof is farther away but I found that all back windows in canvas roof cars are the same except the sport coupe. Check it out some time.This turns out to be a way to identify a sport coupe from the back.

 

[Dave Mellor NJ]

See what I mean?

 

[tmiller6]

There were two rear window sizes for the 28 Sport Coupe. The larger size came later. My October '28 Sport Coupe has a smaller window although I believe all documentation says it should be the larger style.

The way I spot the Coupe from the Cabriolet is the difference in the door windows.