Landaulet

Mercedes-Benz 300d landaulet

A landaulet or landaulette is a car body style similar to a limousine, but with the passenger section covered by a convertible top. It was based on a carriage of similar style that was a cut-down (coupé) version of a landau. Landaulets are usually used by public figures in formal processions.

Description

Landaulet carriage at Łańcut Castle

A landaulet carriage is a cut-down (coupé) version of a landau carriage The landaulet retained the rear half of the landau's two-part folding top.^[1]

Like many other coachbuilding styles, the term landaulet was transferred from horse-drawn carriages to motor carriages.^[2][3] A landaulet automobile has a passenger enclosure with a folding roof over the rear seats.^[4] A separate section is at the front for the driver.^[5][6] The condition of the driver's section may range from having no weather protection at all, as was often the case with early landaulets,^[2][6] to being fully enclosed.^[7]

A landaulet is a chauffeured vehicle. Since the Second World War, conventional use has been largely restricted to formal processions by dignitaries when the dignitary's security can be assured. Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, and Pope Benedict XVI used landaulets based on Mercedes-Benz automobiles.

21st-century landaulets

Maybach 62 landaulet at Dubai Airport

The Maybach division of Daimler AG showed a landaulet concept car at the Middle East International Auto Show in November 2007.^[8] They added the landaulet to their 2009 model line.^[9] The Maybach division has since been discontinued.^[10]

Gallery

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  1816 Carriage

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  1898 Panhard-Levassor Landaulet type AL 1898

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  1908 De Dion-Bouton

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  1908 Matheson landaulet

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  Lancia Flaminia for the President of the Italian Republic

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  The Sunshine Special, the official state car used by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, preserved at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborne, Michigan

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  1954 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV

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  Queen Elizabeth II in a landaulet in Duisburg, Germany

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  1966 Rolls-Royce Phantom V

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  Mercedes-Benz 600 landaulet

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  Mercedes-Benz S500

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  Peugeot 607 Paladine

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  VAZ-212183 Lada Niva/Bronto Landole

See also

• Landau (automobile)
• Landau (carriage)
• Town car – the opposite with front seats open and the rear compartment closed

Notes

References

• Clough, Albert L. (1913). A dictionary of automobile terms. The Horseless Age Company. LCCN 13003001. Retrieved 1 September 2014. 
• Georgano, G. N., ed. (1971). "Glossary". Encyclopedia of American Automobiles. New York, NY USA: E. P. Dutton. pp. 215–217. ISBN 0-525-097929. LCCN 79147885. Landaulet (or landaulette). A closed car, the rear portion of which could be opened in fine weather. 
• Haajanen, Lennart W. (2003). Illustrated Dictionary of Automobile Body Styles. Illustrations by Bertil Nydén. Jefferson, NC USA: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1276-3. LCCN 2002014546. 
• Left Lane News, Staff of (2008-10-10). "Left Lane News: 2009 Maybach 62S Landaulet". Left Lane. Left Lane News. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-10-19. Daimler added the Maybach Landaulet – an open-top version of its Maybach 62 S – to its lineup for 2009. 
• Line22 SRL, Staff of (8 November 2007). "Maybach Landaulet Study". Car Body Design. Rome, Italy: Line22 SRL. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2012-06-02. Maybach has revealed the Landaulet Study, an exclusive one-off based on the Maybach 62 S that revives the classic landaulet theme, with a soft top for the passengers compartment. 
• Merriam-Webster, Staff of (January 1991). "P". The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories. Springfield, MA US: Merriam-Webster. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-0-87779-603-9. LCCN 91029965. Retrieved 2012-06-02. The motor landaulet was essentially an enclosed sedan or coupe with a folding top at the extreme rear quarter, over the rear seat. 
• Society of Automobile Engineers, Nomenclature Division (August 20, 1916). "What's What in Automobile Bodies Officially Determined" (pdf). The New York Times (New York, NY USA). Nomenclature Division, Society of Automobile Engineers. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved 2012-05-31. Landaulet—a closed car with folding top, seats for three or more inside, and driver's seat outside. 
• Stein, Jess, ed. (1975) [1968]. The Random House College Dictionary (Revised ed.). New York, NY USA: Random House. p. 753. ISBN 0-394-43600-8. landaulet, n. an automobile having a convertible top for the back seat, with the front seat either roofed or open. 
• Taylor, Alex III (28 November 2011). "Mercedes puts Maybach out of its misery". CNN Money. Archived from the original on 22 April 2014. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Landaulets.

• Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman Landaulet Exterior, Interior and Exhaust Sound in Full 3D HD on YouTube by hirudov. Retrieved 2013-08-04