Light 4s and Light 6s
Discussion
I'm a little confused (and often am).
I think I am right in saying that cars described as Light 4 or Light 6 had four and six side windows respectively.
Then Vauxhall in the thirties had a Big 6 . Was this just a longer Light 6 and did its name have anything to do with having a 6 cylinder engine?
When did car manufacturers stop using these terms to describe the type of body and why? And while I'm asking questions... Did any car manufacturer use the term Light 2 if they had no rear side windows?
Thanks a lot
Bob
I think I am right in saying that cars described as Light 4 or Light 6 had four and six side windows respectively.
Then Vauxhall in the thirties had a Big 6 . Was this just a longer Light 6 and did its name have anything to do with having a 6 cylinder engine?
When did car manufacturers stop using these terms to describe the type of body and why? And while I'm asking questions... Did any car manufacturer use the term Light 2 if they had no rear side windows?
Thanks a lot
Bob
You are (understandably!) confusing a model name (Light Four) with a general industry description (a four-light body).
Bodywork - in the pre-war era especially but you still occasionally see it in the present day - was described with reference to the number of side windows, especially to differentiate between four-door saloons without rear quarter windows (four windows per side, so 'four-light') and those with quarter windows (six windows per side, 'six-light'). They're old terms carried over from the days of literal coachbuilding with horse-drawn vehicles. This was when there were very defined, and much more understood, differences between, say, a roadster, a coupe, a tourer, a cabriolet, a saloon and so on, all of which were also traditional coachbuilding terms.
Meanwhile, in the 1930s Vauxhall rationalised its range into two chassis, each offered with two sizes of six-cylinder engine. There was the AS-type (101in wheelbase) with 1.5- and 1.7-litre engines and the BX-type (111in wheelbase) with 2.4- and 3.2-litre engines. Each pair was respectively sold as the Light Six and the Big Six, with buyers able to choose the engine that suited their budget as far as the horsepower tax went. But the 'Six' referred to the cylinder count, not the body. You could have a six-light Light Six, but also a two-door coupe or a 2-door roadster.
You saw this quite often in this period, with manufacturers offering the same engine (or different engines of the same tax rating) in different chassis. Austin offered both the 'Heavy Twelve', which was a big hefty lump of a car designed in the early 20s and popular as a taxi, and the more modern 'Light Twelve', which also existed in 'Light Twelve-4' and 'Light Twelve-6' versions by offering engines with different cylinder counts but the same tax rating.
Citroen sold the 4-cylinder Traction Avant here as the Light 15 or the Big 15, with the 'Light' version having a shorter wheelbase, narrower track and narrower cabin. There was also the Citroen Big Six, which had a six-pot engine with a lengthened nose on the body and wheelbase of the Big 15.
If you thought the modern BMW range was confusing with how a 4-Series Gran Coupe is a four-door version of a two-door version of a four-door saloon, that's nothing on what the pre-war motor industry could come up with!
Bodywork - in the pre-war era especially but you still occasionally see it in the present day - was described with reference to the number of side windows, especially to differentiate between four-door saloons without rear quarter windows (four windows per side, so 'four-light') and those with quarter windows (six windows per side, 'six-light'). They're old terms carried over from the days of literal coachbuilding with horse-drawn vehicles. This was when there were very defined, and much more understood, differences between, say, a roadster, a coupe, a tourer, a cabriolet, a saloon and so on, all of which were also traditional coachbuilding terms.
Meanwhile, in the 1930s Vauxhall rationalised its range into two chassis, each offered with two sizes of six-cylinder engine. There was the AS-type (101in wheelbase) with 1.5- and 1.7-litre engines and the BX-type (111in wheelbase) with 2.4- and 3.2-litre engines. Each pair was respectively sold as the Light Six and the Big Six, with buyers able to choose the engine that suited their budget as far as the horsepower tax went. But the 'Six' referred to the cylinder count, not the body. You could have a six-light Light Six, but also a two-door coupe or a 2-door roadster.
You saw this quite often in this period, with manufacturers offering the same engine (or different engines of the same tax rating) in different chassis. Austin offered both the 'Heavy Twelve', which was a big hefty lump of a car designed in the early 20s and popular as a taxi, and the more modern 'Light Twelve', which also existed in 'Light Twelve-4' and 'Light Twelve-6' versions by offering engines with different cylinder counts but the same tax rating.
Citroen sold the 4-cylinder Traction Avant here as the Light 15 or the Big 15, with the 'Light' version having a shorter wheelbase, narrower track and narrower cabin. There was also the Citroen Big Six, which had a six-pot engine with a lengthened nose on the body and wheelbase of the Big 15.
If you thought the modern BMW range was confusing with how a 4-Series Gran Coupe is a four-door version of a two-door version of a four-door saloon, that's nothing on what the pre-war motor industry could come up with!
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