敞篷車及其家族成員

????1910年凱迪拉克（Cadillac）推出首輛封閉式車廂的轎車之前，消費(fèi)者除了敞篷車之外別無選擇。人們很快就認(rèn)識(shí)到金屬車頂所帶來的溫暖、干燥和安全，敞篷車因此被歸入旅行車一類的特別車型。即便是今天，敞篷車用于抬升和降低車篷的機(jī)械裝置以及車體的加固裝置仍然使它們比封閉式車廂的轎車車體更沉重，車內(nèi)空間更狹小，安全系數(shù)更低，工藝更復(fù)雜。

????這些問題本應(yīng)宣告敞篷車的功成身退了，但有一點(diǎn)卻令人對(duì)它難以割舍：車?yán)锏娜算逶≈柟狻⒂L(fēng)而行——儼然是年輕、自由和性感的象征。早在1923年的一則廣告里，這種魅力就得到了完美體現(xiàn)。廣告中，一個(gè)妙齡女子駕著一輛敞篷的喬丹?花花公子（Jordan Playboy），畫外音響起：“在拉勒米（美國(guó)懷俄明州東南部城市——譯注）西邊的某個(gè)地方，有位馴服野馬、手執(zhí)套馬索的姑娘。”后來，喬丹?花花公子在經(jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條中沉淪了，但敞篷車卻活力依舊。

????正因?yàn)樯钪O這種吸引力的力量，各汽車廠商一直以來都在推出形似敞篷車的車型，或在采納敞篷車要素的同時(shí)又摒棄了紡織物車頂、可伸縮車頂、可開合車頂帶來的不便，包括硬頂敞篷車，T型頂車，以及帶有乙烯基車頂、天窗和可拆卸車頂?shù)能囆汀Ｒ韵戮褪浅ㄅ褴噳?mèng)幻車型的薈萃，其中既有老款也有新款，還有某些經(jīng)典車型的現(xiàn)代版。

Droptops and their kin

????Until the introduction of the first closed-roof car by Cadillac in 1910, a convertible was about all customers had to choose from. But they quickly came to appreciate the warmth, dryness and safety provided by a metal top, and the convertible was relegated to a specialty body style like the station wagon. Even today, the mechanism used to raise and lower the top, along with body reinforcements, make them heavier, less capacious, less secure, and trickier to engineer than their fixed-roof counterparts.

????That should have spelled the end of the convertible, except for one thing: The open car with its sun-baked, wind-blown passengers became a symbol of youth, freedom, and sexuality. The appeal was perfectly epitomized as long ago as 1923 in ads showing a flapper behind the wheel of an open Jordan Playboy that begin "Somewhere west of Laramie there's a bronco-busting, steer roping girl." The Jordan Playboy didn't survive the Depression, but the ragtop did.

????Alert to the appeal, manufacturers have long built cars that look like convertibles or are open to the elements without the inconvenience of actually being a fabric-topped, fully-retractable, open-roof car. They include hard-top convertibles and T-tops, and cars with vinyl roofs, sunroofs, and detachable roofs. Herewith a gallery of convertible wannabees, old and new, along with some modern examples of the classic droptop.