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Touring Car

 
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A touring car was a popular car body style
Car body style

Automobile can come in a large variety of different body styles. Some are still in production, while others are of historical interest only. These styles are largely independent of a car classification in terms of price, size and intended broad market; the same car model might be available in multiple body styles ....
 in the early 20th century, being a larger alternative to the runabout
Runabout (car)

Runabouts were a popular car body style at the beginning of the 20th Century. They were small, inexpensive, open cars. Most runabouts had just a single row of seats, providing seating for two passengers....
 and the roadster
Roadster

A roadster, also known as a spyder or spider, is a two-seater car, traditionally without a roof and no side or rear windows. Modern day two-seaters commonly have windows and feature retractable roofs ....
.






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Horatiojacksonnelson
Studebaker1920
A touring car was a popular car body style
Car body style

Automobile can come in a large variety of different body styles. Some are still in production, while others are of historical interest only. These styles are largely independent of a car classification in terms of price, size and intended broad market; the same car model might be available in multiple body styles ....
 in the early 20th century, being a larger alternative to the runabout
Runabout (car)

Runabouts were a popular car body style at the beginning of the 20th Century. They were small, inexpensive, open cars. Most runabouts had just a single row of seats, providing seating for two passengers....
 and the roadster
Roadster

A roadster, also known as a spyder or spider, is a two-seater car, traditionally without a roof and no side or rear windows. Modern day two-seaters commonly have windows and feature retractable roofs ....
. They were open cars, often fitted with convertible tops. Most early touring cars had a tonneau
Tonneau

Tonneau in modern use describes a bed cover for a pickup truck. It can be hard or soft. Hard covers optionally hinge or fold.Its original use was for an open rear passenger compartment on an automobile and, by extension, a car body style incorporating such a compartment....
 at the rear giving seating for four or more. Engines on early models were either in the front, or in a mid-body position. Touring cars evolved into the modern sedan/saloon body style.

By the mid-teens in the United States, the touring car body had evolved into a variety of types, with the four door touring car, equipped with a convertible top, being the most popular body style offered.

The majority of Model T's
Ford Model T

The Ford Model T was an automobile produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile came into popular usage....
 produced by Ford
Ford Motor Company

The Ford Motor Company is an United States multinational corporation and the world's List of automobile manufacturers#World Motor Vehicle Production by Manufacturer based on worldwide vehicle sales, following Toyota, General Motors, and Volkswagen Group....
 between 1908 and 1927 were four and then three-door models (with drivers sliding behind the wheel from passenger seat) touring cars, accounting for 6,519,643 cars sold out of the 15,000,000 estimated Model T's built. In terms of percentage, the 5-passenger touring car model was Ford's most popular body type and accounted for 44% of all Model T's (cars, trucks and chassis) sold over the model's eighteen-plus year life span; Ford's second most popular body style during the same period was its Model T based truck.

Side curtains, when available for a particular model, could be installed to protect passengers from wind and weather by snapping or zipping them into place; otherwise, drivers and passengers braved the elements. When the top was folded down, it formed a bulky mass known as the "fan" behind the back seat: "fan covers" were made to protect the top and its wooden ribs while in the down position.

The popularity of the touring car began to wane in the early 1920s when cars with enclosed passenger compartments became more affordable, and began to consistently out-sell the open cars.