Characteristics
Personal luxury cars are characteristically two-door coup?s or convertibles with two-passenger or 2+2 seating. They are distinguished on the performance end from GT and sports cars by their greater emphasis on comfort and convenience; on the luxury end Cheap Chase Roullier Jersey , by appointments, features, and style over actual vehicle performance. With great variability within the market, however, this is not absolute but a general trend.
The vast majority of personal luxury cars are mass produced rather than coach built, and typically share many mechanical components with high volume sedans to reduce production costs. However, they have additional styling elements and sometimes “baroque” designs. They are typically equipped with as many additional features as possible, including special trim packages Cheap Matt Ioannidis Jersey , power accessories (e.g., windows, locks, seats, antenna), leather upholstery, heated seats, etc.
Origins
The antecedents of the modern personal luxury car are the highly expensive Cheap Ha Ha Clinton-Dix Jersey , often custom-bodied sporting luxury cars of the 1920s and 1930s. Typically made by Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Duesenberg, Mercedes-Benz , Lincoln, Cadillac Cheap Preston Smith Jersey , and others, these extremely stylish prestige cars were favored by film stars, aristocrats, playboys, and gangsters for projecting dashing and extravagant images. Two extreme examples were the Duesenberg Model SJ and Mercedes-Benz SSK, extremely fast and expensive automobiles which eschewed both pure luxury and absolute sports performance in favor of a distinctive combination of style, craftsmanship, and power: these combined to produce cars that became status symbols.
The Great Depression and World War II temporarily eroded the market for these expensive bespoke cars before post-War recovery saw a reemergence in Europe. On the sedate end of the spectrum appeared such erect yet swift two-door sedans as the H.J. Mulliner bodied Cheap Brandon Scherff Jersey , straight-6 powered Bentley Continental R Type. On the other, performance oriented GTs, relatively comfortable low-slung cars intended for high-speed, long-distance travel. Italian marques such as Ferrari and Maserati took the GT lead, offering distinctive, often custom-bodied two-seat and 2+2 coupes powered by exotic alloy-lightened engines straight off the race track. In between could be found such combinations of luxury and performance as the Mercedes-Benz 300SL and 190SL, BMW 507 , Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint and DKW 1000Sp.
Luxury and reliability over sport
With both custom luxury cars and GTs beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest Cheap Josh Doctson Jersey , the 1950s saw a growing trend in both the United States and Europe towards mass-market “specialty cars” catering primarily to drivers coveting the image of bespoke machinery without its cost. Joining them were affluent buyers who could afford the genuine article but disliked the inconvenience of complex service and repair, especially in areas where exotic car dealerships were few and far between. Many of both classes were also interested in such modern conveniences as automatic transmission, air conditioning, power steering, and other comfort options not generally offered on GTs or sports cars of the day.”[3]
Factory customs
The result was a burgeoning market for so-called “factory customs,” models using standard or mostly standard engines and other mechanical components, but with unique styling. A prominent early example was the 1953 open top Cadillac Eldorado, where customized styling gave it a price tag nearly twice that of a standard Cadillac convertible despite nearly identical underpinnings.