fastback, germ. schrägheck - sloping back) - the collective name for various types car bodies having a sloping roof shape, smoothly, without a step passing into the trunk lid. In addition, in the past, in some countries, the term "fastback" denoted a separate type of body; today, such a designation is often used by collectors, and often more widely than in the years of the existence of such cars.

Definition

Currently, the term "fastback" is usually used precisely to separate a car with a sloping roof and a fixed rear window from hatchbacks, often to emphasize its sports orientation. It is by this principle that a fastback is called a car Mercedes-Benz CLS, which bears the commercial designation "four-door coupe". On the other hand, history also knows the opposite examples, when hatchbacks wore the commercial designation "fastback" in order to emphasize the sporting orientation of the model, so this issue is debatable and largely depends on the policy of the manufacturer. This contradiction can be resolved in this way [ ] :

• the term "fastback" in the meaning body shape describes any car with a sloping roof - for example, some hatchbacks and liftbacks, sedans like the Pobeda, or station wagons like the 1983 Audi 100 Avant;
• the term "fastback" in the meaning body type can mean, among other things, a body shaped like a hatchback, but without a door in the rear wall, with a fixed rear window and a conventional trunk lid under it.

Fastback Aerodynamics

In the 1920s and 1930s, the creators of cars with a teardrop-shaped rear, as a rule, pursued a purely utilitarian goal - to improve streamlining by reducing aerodynamic drag. This is what was declared as the main advantage of fastback in popular science publications of the 1930s and 1940s. Over time, it became obvious that, from the point of view of aerodynamics, drop-shaped bodies are essentially unpromising for production cars: although, compared with the angular forms of mass models of those years, they really gave a tangible gain in streamlining, there are no reserves for its further improvement in relation to a general purpose car. had.

Back in the 1930s, the Swiss specialist in the field of aerodynamics, Wunibald Kamm, found a better solution - the so-called "kammback", the same eight-meter perfectly streamlined "drop", but brought to an acceptable length due to the "chopped off" tail, replaced by a vertical rear wall of the body . This body shape not only had a good streamlining, but also created a downforce that improves the grip of the car's tires on the road, contributing to traffic safety. However, for design reasons, the mass distribution of such bodies did not occur for a long time, since they did not fit into the prevailing ideas about the appearance of the car. Serious interest in Kamm's work woke up only during the gasoline crisis of the 1970s. Some of the early comebacks of those years, such as the Citroën SM and Citroën CX, still roughly reproduced the fastback's contours, retaining its characteristic sloping roofline and long sedan-like rear overhang, and differing from typical fastbacks only by being more advantageous in terms of in terms of aerodynamics, a smaller angle of inclination of the rear wall of the body (only a few crossovers, such as the Honda Crosstour and BMW X6, as well as specific luxury-sports five-door cars like the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, have this shape among modern cars), but over time they began to evolve into another direction - towards the hatchback with a “chopped off” rear overhang and a vertical rear wall of the body.

In certain eras, cars were produced whose bodies were officially called fastbacks, or to which it has become customary to apply this term today.

Early developments

The first body of this type (but not yet called by this term) was created back in 1911 by the French designer L. For. His car on the serial chassis of the company "Gregoire" (Gregoire) had an “egg-shaped” (according to the original terminology) rear part of the body, which gave it a good streamlining for those years, in addition, it was noted that the car practically did not form a dust plume during movement, which was typical of the then bodies with a flat rear wall. However, in those years, this body type did not take root due to its unusualness and poor combination of such a rear end shape with the design of cars of those years.

1930-1950s

In the mid-1930s, in an effort to improve the aerodynamics of the car, production models with a drop-shaped rear body, such as the Czechoslovakian Tatra T77 and Tatra T87 (designer - Hans Ledwinka (Eng. Hans Ledwinka)). In the long tail of a drop-shaped body, inconvenient for accommodating passengers, these models had an engine installed. There are also cars of the "classic" layout with this body shape.

Under the influence of the pioneering fastbacks of the 1930s, the body shape of mass models began to change - the rear wall from a vertical one becomes tilted forward, the contours are rounded. However, most designers have gone no further than this.

Fastbacks peaked in popularity in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when they were available in production program many American manufacturers (Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac and others) and were quite widespread in Europe - Pobeda M-20 (designer - Veniamin Samoilov), Borgward Hansa 2400, Ford Vedette and others.

The name "fastback" itself appeared in the United States in the late 1930s and was originally branded. Most cars with this bodywork were not called that at the time; only now this term is often extended to all similar cars of this era. So, "Victory" in all reference books is designated as a sedan, although the term "fastback" itself was known in the USSR and was subsequently used in relation to it in a number of popular publications; in relation to Chevrolet cars, the term for a body with a teardrop-shaped rear was the word "aerosedan" (Aerosedan), used in the name of a number of models; Pontiac used designations Streamliner and Torpedo; Ford did not single out the bodies of this type used on the 1937-1948 models. In general, the style of cars of those years today is often collectively denoted by the word Streamline (eng. "flow line").

Meanwhile, by the mid-1950s, the production of mass models with a body of this type was basically curtailed: fashion trends had changed, and its low functionality was also revealed.

So, the blank rear wall of the body with a small, strongly inclined glass gave poor visibility, the teardrop shape of the body reduced the space above back row seats, access to the trunk was inconvenient (for many first-generation fastbacks, it was generally carried out from inside the car, through the back of the rear sofa, for example, SAAB 92). As a result, the fastback body on general purpose vehicles was quickly replaced by the classic type of three-volume sedan almost completely. Thus, the bodies, conventionally called in our time by the general term fastback, turned out to be a kind of transitional link from the two-volume sedan of the 1930s with a vertical rear wall of the body (GAZ M-1) to the three-volume sedan of the 1950s (GAZ-21).

After the mid-1950s, the drop-shaped rear was retained by some rear-engined cars for which this shape was to some extent justified, especially when it was necessary to place a relatively high rear end. inline engine, which was not easy to fit into the contours of a rather low three-volume sedan or coupe, as well as individual sports and imitating models, like the Porsche 356, more by tradition than for any practical reasons.

1960s-1970s

In the 1960s, the desire to improve the appearance and, to a lesser extent, the aerodynamics of production cars led designers again to sloping roof bodies.

Back in the late 1950s, in the USA, then in Europe, cars began to appear with two-door coupe or hardtop bodies, having a very long roof smoothly turning into the trunk - these were still three-volume bodies, but the general trend was towards visually more streamlined shapes they look good on them. In the early 1960s, these bodies began to be called fasttop or sportsroof. Thus, the Ford Galaxie model "1963 1/2" (that is, introduced in the middle of the 1963 model year) with a "two-door hardtop" body had a rectangular roof with a more sloping C-pillar than that of a sedan and a brand name sportsroof. This car was originally built specifically for homologation in NASCAR Stock Car Racing. Subsequently title sportroof was transferred to Ford fastbacks.

The first true fastback in this era was the 1963 American Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray. It was no longer the entire rear part of the body that was drop-shaped, but only the rear part of the roof, recessed into the usual angular base of the body.

The Sting Ray began a new surge in the popularity of fastbacks, however, for most of them, the rear end was still not teardrop-shaped, but simply sloping, or smoothly lowering in the rear end. In fact, the new generation fastbacks were a product of the evolution of the body type fast top, in which the roof was extended back so that it almost reached the rear wall of the trunk.

Such a body thanks to the fashion for powerful and fast cars was very popular in the USA in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s (for example, the Ford Mustang and many muscle cars) and caused numerous imitations in Europe and Asia (for example, the Ford Capri). It is this type of body that begins to be associated with sportiness, as a result of which it practically displaces sports models with a drop-shaped rear in Europe (in practice, often more streamlined). As a rule, it was a two-door sports car, which was also called sports coupe or Berlinetta.

Through the use of very large, strongly curved rear windows on fastbacks of this generation, visibility problems were solved quite satisfactorily. So, fastback Plymouth Barracuda model 1964 had the largest at that time in the world rear glass. The main problem remained the low practicality of the trunk with this roof configuration; although its volume was potentially large, access to luggage was inconvenient. The introduction of a folding rear seat back, as on the same Barracuda, helped to solve this problem only partially.

Subsequently, this body line received an additional door in the back and became an analogue of European hatchbacks, which in Europe evolved from station wagons, therefore they were mainly five-door and had a three-window sidewall, while American ones were predominantly three-door (or, in American style, two-door) and with a four-window sidewall. In the United States, for the first time, the term began to be used in relation to such bodies. Sport Utility, which means "sport practicality". Currently, it is associated primarily with comfortable SUVs (SUVs).

It was during these years that the term "fastback" began to be used as the opposite of the term "hatchback" and denoting a car with the same body shape, but without a door in the rear wall. During the first peak of the popularity of fastbacks, such a contrast did not make sense, since hatchbacks in those years had not yet become widespread. In fact, the fastbacks of the 1960s were a kind of transitional link to the full-fledged hatchbacks of the 1970s.

In Europe, a certain number of fastback cars also appeared, for example, Citroen CX and Volkswagen Passat B1, but they still remained relatively rare exotic: the hatchback with a lifting door in the rear was already beginning to become the European mainstream.

Meanwhile, the requirement to further improve the aerodynamics of cars in the 1970s caused a new wave of research, during which the optimal from this point of view and taking into account optimal placement passengers and cargo body shape "aerodynamic wedge" with a high and abruptly breaking back wall. This form of automobile vehicle was implemented in the 1980s and became widespread thereafter.

present tense

In the 2010s, starting with the Mercedes-Benz CLS (2010), the fashion for bodies with a smoothly lowering sloping rear wall of the body, usually used on expensive sports cars, is reviving in Europe. Examples include Audi A7 Sportback, BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. Unlike the Mercedes that pioneered this trend, which was a real four-door fastback with a conventional trunk lid, these cars have a glazed fifth door in the back and are actually liftbacks, although manufacturers prefer to use original terms for them, such as the same sportback.

Two-door sedan

A kind of ordinary sedan that is practically not found in the modern automotive industry. From the last "tudόr" (English Two-door; this is the obsolete name of this type of body) differs only in the number of side doors. Everything else is like in a regular sedan: full rear seats, normal (not shortened) wheelbase trunk separated from the passenger compartment. That is why the two-door versions of the "three-ruble notes" of BMW are, strictly speaking, sedans, although the Bavarians themselves have called them nothing more than a coupe all their lives.

Typical examples: BMW 3 Series Coupe, ZAZ-968 "Zaporozhets".

hardtop

A kind of two- or four-door closed body without B-pillars and with frameless side windows. A hardtop can be a sedan, coupe, hatchback, and station wagons designed using this technology have been in the history of the auto industry (for example, the 1958 Ambassador 4-door Hardtop Wagon). Cars with similar bodies gained particular popularity in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century in the USA, but by the 80s they had become rare. Due to the fact that it is difficult for a body without central pillars to provide sufficient rigidity, and without this the car cannot meet modern standards passive safety. Today, only luxury coupes like the Mercedes-Benz S-Coupe are produced in the hardtop version.

Typical examples: Mercedes-Benz CL-class, Chevrolet Impala 4-Door hardtop 1960

liftback

A type of hatchback: a three- or five-door body with a sloping roof, a trunk lid integrated with the rear window, and a long rear overhang. The difference between a classic hatchback and a liftback is best illustrated by the silhouettes of two Skoda models: the Fabia and the Rapid. Fabia is distinguished not only by an almost vertical rear wall, but also by an extremely short rear overhang, while in Rapid it is such that, coupled with the trunk lid protruding back, it visually makes the car related to a sedan. In the domestic auto industry (unlike, for example, the American one), the term liftback has not taken root. Although the release of AvtoVAZ models Lada Granta The liftback is sure to instill a new tradition.

Typical examples: Skoda Octavia, Izh-2125 "Combi".

Fastback

A body of this type is distinguished, firstly, by the roof line, smoothly and steplessly turning into rear racks and a trunk lid, and secondly, a rigidly integrated rear window. Such cars appeared in the 30s, when the fashion for aerodynamic "teardrop" bodies was born, and they gained maximum distribution in the 40s and 50s. Do not stay away from global trends and domestic auto industry: it was the Pobeda that was the fastback, although the Gazites themselves designated it as a sedan.

Typical examples: GAZ-20 "Victory", Volkswagen Passat B1 fastback.

Photo: Sven Storbeck/Wikimedia.org

open bodies

Landole

In short, this type of body is also called "lando" - from the French pronunciation of the name of the German city of Landau, where in the 18th century they began to produce carriages with an opening cloth top over the rear seats. In the 20th century, according to the same principle, they began to design open cars, and named them accordingly. As in the case of carriages, cars in the back of the "Landaulet" were available only to the wealthiest people ...

Typical examples: Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman Landaulet MY 1964, Maybach 62S Landaulet MY 2009

Phaeton

Body with a soft folding top and four side doors without B-pillars and lifting windows. The peak of distribution of such cars occurred in the second half of the 20s - the first half of the 30s of the last century. After that, they were forced out of the market by more practical cars: convertibles that had lowering side windows. The body "phaeton" also had the first Soviet serial a car: GAZ-A.

Typical examples: Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton, ZIS-110B.

Brougham

Actually, English word Brougham is correctly pronounced "bruem", but in Russian, as is often the case, the wrong pronunciation has taken root. Distinctive feature brogama - removable roof above the front seats (and it may be completely absent) and a completely closed body in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe rear seats. Modifications to "brogues" at one time had exclusively luxury cars: Bugatti, Rolls-Royce, etc. After the Second World War, however, such cars were no longer produced: even in the "Lux" class, it was time to more practical machines. But the very word Brougham was mentioned in the names of the models until the 90s. In particular, in the terminology of Cadillac, it has become synonymous with the most luxurious models.

Most motorists are accustomed to the fact that there are sedans and station wagons. Later, a hatchback becomes a common body option - the first domestic hatchbacks were the Nines and Eights of the VAZ. The body of the Moskvich Izh Kombi car would be more correctly called a liftback, and the VAZ in the body of this type has recently begun to produce Lada Grants. Maybe the "Granta Liftback" got its name due to the fact that hatchbacks in model range enterprises are already represented in other families (Kalina, Priora). We will look at exactly how a liftback differs from a hatchback, as well as from a fastback, which is actually a sedan.

What is a liftback

The most interesting thing is that the liftback is a kind of hatchback: the trunk lid is combined with the rear window and is called the “fifth door”. But if you look at the liftback from the side, the car can be confused with a sedan - the rear ledge resembles luggage compartment, covered with a narrow metal strip (VAZ-21099). Actually, Skoda Fabia is a hatchback, while Skoda Rapid offered to the buyer in the back of a liftback. From the image in the photo you can understand what exactly is the main difference. And until recently, the domestic auto industry did not use the term "liftback", although cars in such a body were previously produced (Izh-2125 Kombi).

There are three body types that are two-volume: hatchback, liftback and station wagon. All of them differ only subjectively. ledge on tailgate can be reduced, and we will get a hatchback from a liftback. And to get a station wagon, you need to lengthen the rear overhang. In off-road station wagons, a semi-frame body structure can be used, but this does not change the essence - there are always two isolated volumes, as well as a rear “odd” door. Other two-volume bodies, except for the three listed, cannot exist (a curious exception is the Start minibus).

Sedan Variations

Four doors, one luggage and one engine compartment- it would seem that this scheme is the most rational. This is how you can characterize the body of cars, which was called "sedan". In fact, sedans are both four-door and two-door. The last of these options differs from the coupe body in this way: in a sedan, the rear seats are separated from the front ones at a considerable distance, not like inside a coupe. The coupe roof is usually sloping at the rear, and the sofa has to be placed very close to the front seats. Typical examples of a two-door sedan: BMW 3-series, "Zaporozhets" ZAZ-968.

By itself, the body class "sedan" in any case is three-volume. Let's say the side silhouette of such a body resembles a hatchback, as shown in the figure. Then, we see in front of us nothing but a fastback. In total, it turns out that a fastback is a sedan in which the rear window and trunk lid do not form an angle (they are on the same plane). A typical fastback sedan is the GAZ M-20 Pobeda.

In the 70s, two-door fastback sedans became classics of the American automobile industry. Such a body can be made stronger than a similar four-door sedan, so the so-called muscle cars are mostly assembled in a two-door body. Such cars are often referred to as the word "coupe", which is completely wrong from a formal point of view. Erroneous names (for example, "Ford Granada Coupe") have taken root perfectly in reality.

Mercedes, unlike the American auto industry, has never produced two-door sedans or fastbacks. Here the gradation of models looks like this: four-door sedans, then coupes and roadsters. Actually, even the B-class appeared in the arsenal of Mercedes not so long ago, and in its own way driving performance these cars are inferior to A-class cars. Probably, a two-door fastback sedan, released under the Mercedes or BMW brand, would look interesting. But a sports car in the view of a European is a coupe car, and family car, in turn, should be endowed with four doors.

Two-door sedan originally from the USSR

There are technologies using which it is not easy to make B-pillars. In such cases, preference is given to the following options: coupe, two-door sedan, three-door hatchback or liftback. In order for the structure to be strong, the body must be three-volume (sedan, coupe). If we are talking about a mass car, suitable option remains a sedan with two doors.

The project of the Zarya car, which appeared in 1966, was developed by specialists from the Severodonetsk auto repair base. The body of this machine, made of fiberglass, was mounted on a metal frame. Unfortunately, it was not possible to implement the project to the end, that is, to reach significant output volumes. The production technology of fiberglass parts turned out to be too time-consuming. But the car shown in the photo, and others " plastic cars”, developed in the USSR at different times, were just two-door sedans. Which is 100% consistent with the ideology discussed above.

Fastback

Two-volume passenger body with two or four side doors and two rows of seats. It is a kind of coupe, but designed to carry passengers. The roof smoothly slopes back like a hatchback, and the trunk is isolated from the passenger compartment like a sedans.

Often a fastback is confused or equated with a hatchback, but despite their external similarity, they have a striking difference - the fastback does not have a back door, instead of it there is a trunk lid, thus. it is impossible to equate them, because the hatchback only got its name from having a tailgate (see Hatchback)

This type of body was especially widespread along with the craze for aerodynamic forms in the 30s. The main advantages are the isolation of cargo from passengers like a sedan and at the same time better aerodynamics compared to it. Currently, it is practically not used.

liftback

Three-volume passenger body with two or four side doors and two rows of seats. It has a "stepped" structure, like a sedan (at first glance, it is almost impossible to distinguish a liftback from a sedan), but luggage compartment not isolated from the passenger compartment by a stationary partition, but combined.

The trunk lid on the rear wall of the body starts from the roof and, by analogy with a hatchback, is called a door. but at the same time, when closed, one can hardly call it a door. That. This body is a cross between a sedan and a hatchback. It arose as a result of the desire of engineers to connect together best qualities these two bodies: the visual presence of a sedan and the functionality of a hatchback.

For two-door version this body do not confuse it with a coupe, because. in this case, as in the cases with the sedan, the liftbacks have rear seats performed in full size. And it serves to transport passengers and goods, and rather large ones, for which he needs a back door.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Term fastback (English) fastback, German schragheck= inclined rear) refers to various types of car bodies that have a special sloping roof shape, smoothly, without a step, passing into the trunk lid. In addition, in the past, in some countries, the term "fastback" denoted a separate type of body - today this designation is often used by collectors, and often more widely than in the years of the existence of such cars.

In general, we can say that there are different versions of which cars should be classified as fastbacks and which should not.

Definition

In general, any car with a sloping roofline, such as most hatchbacks, can be referred to by this term; however, as stated in the definition by the American magazine Road & Track, not every hatchback is a fastback, and the converse is not true.

However, there is also an opinion that a fastback involves a rigidly fixed rear window and a conventional trunk lid, so a hatchback according to this version cannot be a fastback. In principle, this formulation of the question is true for cars of the 1970s, among which there were outwardly very similar hatchbacks with a door in the back and fastbacks with a fixed rear window and a small trunk lid that continued the roof line - there was a need to somehow separate them.

Currently, the term "fastback" is usually used precisely to separate a car with a sloping roof and a fixed rear window from hatchbacks, often to emphasize its sports orientation. It is by this principle that a fastback is called a car Mercedes-Benz CLS, which bears the commercial designation "four-door coupe". On the other hand, history also knows the opposite examples, when hatchbacks wore the commercial designation "fastback" - also, in order to emphasize the sporting orientation of the model, so this issue is debatable and largely depends on the policy of the manufacturer.

Generally speaking, this contradiction can be resolved in the following way:

• The term "fastback" in the meaning body shape describes any car with a sloping roof - for example, some hatchbacks and liftbacks, sedans like the Pobeda, or station wagons like the 1983 Audi 100 Avant.
• The term "fastback" in the meaning body type can mean, among other things, a body shaped like a hatchback, but without a door in the rear wall, with a fixed rear window and a conventional trunk lid under it.

Fastback Aerodynamics

In the twenties and thirties, the creators of cars with a teardrop-shaped rear, as a rule, pursued a purely utilitarian goal - to improve streamlining by reducing aerodynamic drag. This is what was declared as the main advantage of fastback in popular science publications of the thirties and forties.

Meanwhile, over time, it became obvious that, from the point of view of aerodynamics, drop-shaped bodies are essentially unpromising for production cars: although, compared with the angular forms of mass models of those years, they did give a tangible gain in streamlining, there were reserves for its further improvement in relation to a general car. they had no appointment.

The fact is that the drop-shaped form is almost ideal in terms of streamlining only with the “correct” proportions of the body, approximately like an aircraft fuselage or engine nacelle. Taking into account the minimum height of the car suitable for the location of passengers, achieving such proportions would require bringing its length to 8 ... 9 meters - a very difficult requirement in practice. So, back in the late thirties, Mercedes built a racing Mercedes-Benz T80 according to this scheme, which, with a length of 8,240 mm and a height of 1,740 mm, had the “correct” proportions of the drop and an aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.18, unique even by today's standards - but it was achieved at the cost of a complete lack of practicality in terms of everyday operation. While maintaining a reasonable length of a teardrop-shaped car, its height would have to be reduced to as unacceptable as an eight-meter length, less than 1 meter, like Peltzer's racing Stars.

If, however, the "drop" is shortened, preserving the nature of its contours, but not the contour of a perfectly streamlined body itself, adjusting the proportions to the need to accommodate passengers in the body - as the creators of the Tatra and Zhuk did - the aerodynamic resistance is growing rapidly due to the appearance of air flow separations with the formation of vortices along the entire contour of the roof. And if, next to the still very angular bodies of the mid-thirties, the decrease in aerodynamic drag was very noticeable, then compared to the rather streamlined three-volume sedans of the late thirties - early forties, with their characteristic "licked" contours, the effect was no longer too significant - especially if the drop-shaped rear part was connected to the front part made according to the requirements of fashion, and not aerodynamics, moreover, in the case of a “classic” layout car, burdened with numerous slots for the passage of cooling air, which by no means benefit streamlining. As a result, the effect of the use of a drop-shaped body turned out to be generally more decorative - at the same time, the conditions for accommodating passengers in it were significantly worse than in a body that had a more traditional shape, which played a role in the decline in the popularity of tear-shaped bodies already in the first half of the fifties, when "torpedo-shaped" pseudo-streamlined contours went out of fashion, giving way to new design trends (see below).

Second significant disadvantage fastback from the point of view of aerodynamics - the occurrence of a significant lifting force when air flows around it, which worsens the stability of the car when driving with high speed due to reduced grip of its tires with asphalt. Fastbacks are also more sensitive to side wind.

Back in the thirties, the Swiss specialist in the field of aerodynamics Wunibald Kamm found a better solution - the so-called "kammback", the same eight-meter perfectly streamlined "drop", but brought to an acceptable length due to the "chopped off" tail, replaced by a vertical rear wall of the body. This body shape not only had a good streamlining, but also created a downforce that improves the grip of the car's tires on the road, contributing to traffic safety. However, for design reasons, the mass distribution of such bodies did not occur for a long time, since they did not fit into the prevailing ideas about the appearance of the car. Serious interest in Kamm's work woke up only during the gasoline crisis of the seventies. Some of the early comebacks of those years, such as the Citroën SM and Citroën CX, still roughly reproduced the fastback's contours, retaining its characteristic sloping roofline and sedan-like long rear overhang, and differing from typical fastbacks only by being more advantageous in terms of in terms of aerodynamics, a smaller angle of inclination of the rear wall of the body (only some crossovers, like the Honda Crosstour and BMW X6, as well as specific luxury-sports five-door cars like the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, have this form of modern cars) - however, over time, they began to evolve into another direction - towards the hatchback with a “chopped off” rear overhang and a vertical rear wall of the body.

In certain eras, cars were produced whose bodies were officially called fastbacks, or to which it has become customary to apply this term today.

Early developments

The first body of this type (but not yet called by this term) was created back in 1911 by the French designer L. For. His car on the serial chassis of the company "Gregoire" (Gregoire) had an “egg-shaped” (according to the original terminology) rear part of the body, which gave it a good streamlining for those years, in addition, it was noted that the car practically did not form a dust plume during movement, which was typical of the then bodies with a flat rear wall. However, in those years, this body type did not take root due to its unusualness and poor combination of such a rear end shape with the design of cars of those years.

1930s - 1950s

In the mid-1930s, in an effort to improve the aerodynamics of the car, serial models with a teardrop-shaped rear body appeared, such as the Czechoslovak Tatra T77 and Tatra T87 (designer - Hans Ledvinka, Hans Ledwinka). In the long tail of a drop-shaped body, inconvenient for accommodating passengers, these models had an engine installed. There are also cars of the "classic" layout with this body shape.

Under the influence of the pioneering fastbacks of the thirties, the body shape of mass models began to change - the rear wall from a vertical one becomes tilted forward, the contours are rounded. However, most designers have gone no further than this.

The peak of popularity of fastbacks came at the end of the forties - the beginning of the fifties, when they were in the production program of many American manufacturers (Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac and others) and were quite widespread in Europe - Pobeda M-20 (designer - Veniamin Samoilov) , Borgward Hansa 2400, Ford Vedette and others.

GAZ Pobieda in a street of Mtskheta - Georgia 2.jpg

Soviet fastback "Victory" GAZ M-20, 1946-1958.

1948 Pontiac Streamliner Deluxe - Flickr - exfordy (1).jpg

Pontiac Streamliner model 1948.

2007-09-08 02 Borgward Hansa 2400 (Ausschn, ret).jpg

European fastback Borgward Hansa 1952-1955.

Ford V8 Vedette (1952) , Dutch license registration DL-21-65 pic7.JPG

1952 European fastback Ford Vedette.

The name "fastback" itself appeared in the United States in the late thirties and was originally branded. Most cars with such a body were not called that at that time - only in our time this term is often extended to all similar cars of this era. So, "Victory" in all reference books is designated as a sedan, although the term "fastback" itself was known in the USSR and was subsequently used in relation to it in a number of popular publications; in relation to Chevrolet cars, the term for a body with a teardrop-shaped rear was the word " aerosedan» - Aerosedan, used in the name of a number of models; Pontiac used designations Streamliner and Torpedo; Ford did not single out the bodies of this type used on the 1937-1948 models. In general, the style of cars of those years today is often collectively denoted by the word Streamline (eng. "flow line").

Meanwhile, by the mid-1950s, the production of mass models with a body of this type was basically curtailed: fashion trends had changed, and its low functionality was also revealed.

So, the blank rear wall of the body with a small, strongly inclined glass gave poor visibility, the drop-shaped body reduced the space above the rear row of seats, access to the trunk was inconvenient (for many first-generation fastbacks, it was generally carried out from inside the car, through the back of the rear sofa - for example, SAAB 92). As a result, the fastback body on general purpose vehicles was quickly replaced by the classic type of three-volume sedan almost completely. Thus, the bodies, conventionally called in our time by the general term fastback, turned out to be a kind of transitional link from the two-volume sedan of the 1930s with a vertical rear wall of the body (GAZ M-1) to the three-volume sedan of the 1950s (GAZ-21).

After the mid-fifties, the drop-shaped rear of the body was retained by some rear-engined cars, for which this form was to some extent justified, especially if it was necessary to place a relatively high in-line engine in the rear of the body, which was not easy to fit into the contours of a rather low three-volume sedan or coupe , as well as individual sports and imitating models, like the Porsche 356 - already more by tradition than for any practical reasons.

1960s - 1970s

In the 1960s, however, the desire to improve the appearance, and only to a small extent aerodynamics, of production cars again led designers to bodies with a sloping roof. The post-war development of fastbacks in the United States is characterized by a “space” exterior of the body, expressed by fins in the rear and numerous streamlined elements - a consequence of a breakthrough in the space industry in the country. coupe or hardtophaving a very long roof smoothly turning into the trunk - these were still three-volume bodies, but the general trend towards visually more streamlined forms can be clearly seen on them. In the early 1960s, such bodies began to be called fast top or sportroof. Thus, the Ford Galaxie model "1963 1/2" (that is, introduced in the middle of the 1963 model year) with a "two-door hardtop" body had a rectangular roof with a more sloping C-pillar than that of a sedan and a brand name sportsroof. This car was originally built specifically for homologation in NASCAR Stock Car Racing. Subsequently title sportroof was transferred to Ford fastbacks. The first true fastback in this era was the 1963 American Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray. It was no longer the entire rear part of the body that was drop-shaped, but only the rear part of the roof, recessed into the usual angular base of the body. The Sting Ray began a new surge in the popularity of fastbacks, however, for most of them, the rear end was still not teardrop-shaped, but simply sloping, or smoothly lowering in the rear end. In fact, the new generation fastbacks were a product of the evolution of the body type fast top, in which the roof was extended back so that it almost reached the rear wall of the trunk. Due to the fashion for powerful and fast cars, such a body was very popular in the USA in the second half of the 1960s - early 1970s (a typical example is the Ford Mustang and many muscle cars) and caused numerous imitations in Europe and Asia (for example, the Ford Capri ). It is this type of body that begins to be associated with sportiness, as a result of which it practically displaces sports models with a drop-shaped rear in Europe (in practice, often more streamlined). As a rule, it was a two-door sports car, which was also called sports coupe or Berlinetta.

Through the use of very large, highly curved rear windows on fastbacks of this generation, visibility problems were solved quite satisfactorily. For example, the 1964 Plymouth Barracuda fastback had the largest rear window in the world at that time. The main problem was the low practicality of the trunk with this roof configuration - although its volume was potentially large, access to luggage was inconvenient. The introduction of a folding rear seat back, as on the same Barracuda, helped to solve this problem only partially. Subsequently, this body line received an additional door in the back and became an analogue of European hatchbacks - which in Europe evolved from station wagons, therefore they were mainly five-door and had a three-window sidewall, while American ones were predominantly three-door (or, in American style, two-door) and with a four-window sidewall. In the United States, for the first time, the term began to be used in relation to such bodies. Sport Utility, which means "practical sportiness"- in our time, it is associated primarily with comfortable SUVs (SUVs). It was during these years that the term "fastback" began to be used as the opposite of the term "hatchback" and denoting a car with the same body shape, but without a door in the rear wall - during the first peak of the popularity of fastbacks, such a contrast did not make sense, since hatchbacks in those years not yet widely adopted. In fact, the fastbacks of the sixties turned out to be a kind of transitional link to the full-fledged hatchbacks of the seventies.

In Europe, a certain number of fastback cars also appeared, for example, Citroen CX and Volkswagen Passat B1, but they still remained relatively rare exotics - hatchbacks with a lifting door in the rear were already beginning to become the European mainstream.

Meanwhile, the requirement to further improve the aerodynamics of cars in the seventies caused a new wave of research, during which the body shape, optimal from this point of view and taking into account the optimal placement of passengers and cargo, was revealed - an “aerodynamic wedge” with a high and abruptly breaking rear wall. This form of automobile car was implemented in the eighties and became widespread thereafter.

Modern stage

In recent years, starting with the Mercedes-Benz CLS (2010), there has been a resurgence of fashion in Europe for bodies with a smoothly lowering sloping rear wall, usually used on expensive sports cars - examples include the Audi A7 Sportback, BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. Unlike the Mercedes that pioneered this trend, which was a real four-door fastback with a conventional trunk lid, these cars have a glazed fifth door in the back and are actually liftbacks, although manufacturers prefer to use original terms for them, such as the same sportback.

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An excerpt characterizing Fastback

- Is that your sword? he shouted. The girls jumped back. Denisov, with frightened eyes, hid his shaggy legs in a blanket, looking around for help at his comrade. The door let Petya through and closed again. There was laughter outside the door.
- Nikolenka, come out in a dressing gown, - Natasha's voice said.
- Is that your sword? Petya asked, “or is it yours?” - with obsequious respect he turned to the mustachioed, black Denisov.
Rostov hurriedly put on his shoes, put on a dressing gown and went out. Natasha put on one boot with a spur and climbed into the other. Sonya was spinning and just wanted to inflate her dress and sit down when he came out. Both were in the same, brand new, blue dresses - fresh, ruddy, cheerful. Sonya ran away, and Natasha, taking her brother by the arm, led him into the sofa room, and they started talking. They did not have time to ask each other and answer questions about thousands of little things that could interest only them alone. Natasha laughed at every word that he said and that she said, not because what they said was funny, but because she had fun and was unable to restrain her joy, expressed in laughter.
- Oh, how good, excellent! she said to everything. Rostov felt how, under the influence of the hot rays of love, for the first time in a year and a half, that childish smile blossomed in his soul and face, which he had never smiled since he left home.
“No, listen,” she said, “are you quite a man now? I'm awfully glad you're my brother. She touched his mustache. - I want to know what kind of men you are? Are they like us? Not?
Why did Sonya run away? Rostov asked.
- Yes. That's another whole story! How will you talk to Sonya? You or you?
“How will it happen,” said Rostov.
Tell her, please, I'll tell you later.
- Yes, what?
- Well, I'll tell you now. You know that Sonya is my friend, such a friend that I would burn my hand for her. Here look. - She rolled up her muslin sleeve and showed on her long, thin and delicate handle under her shoulder, much higher than the elbow (in the place that is sometimes covered by ball gowns) a red mark.
“I burned this to prove my love to her. I just kindled the ruler on fire, and pressed it.
Sitting in his former classroom, on the sofa with pillows on the handles, and looking into Natasha's desperately animated eyes, Rostov again entered that family, children's world, which had no meaning for anyone except for him, but which gave him one of the best pleasures in life; and burning his hand with a ruler, to show love, seemed to him not useless: he understood and was not surprised at this.
– So what? only? - he asked.
- Well, so friendly, so friendly! Is this nonsense - a ruler; but we are forever friends. She will love someone, so forever; but I don't understand it, I'll forget it now.
- Well, so what?
Yes, she loves me and you so much. - Natasha suddenly blushed, - well, you remember, before leaving ... So she says that you forget it all ... She said: I will always love him, but let him be free. After all, the truth is that this is excellent, noble! - Yes Yes? very noble? Yes? Natasha asked so seriously and excitedly that it was clear that what she was saying now, she had previously said with tears.
Rostov thought.
“I don’t take back my word in anything,” he said. - And besides, Sonya is so charming that what kind of fool would refuse his happiness?
“No, no,” Natasha screamed. We already talked about it with her. We knew you would say that. But this is impossible, because, you know, if you say so, you consider yourself related word, it turns out that she seemed to say it on purpose. It turns out that you still forcibly marry her, and it turns out not at all.
Rostov saw that all this was well thought out by them. Sonya struck him yesterday with her beauty. To-day, seeing her for a glimpse, she seemed even better to him. She was a lovely 16-year-old girl, obviously passionately loving him (he did not doubt this for a minute). Why should he not love her now, and not even marry her, thought Rostov, but now there are so many other joys and occupations! "Yes, they thought it up perfectly," he thought, "one must remain free."
“Very well,” he said, “we’ll talk later.” Oh, how glad I am for you! he added.
- Well, why didn’t you cheat on Boris? the brother asked.
- That's nonsense! Natasha screamed laughing. “I don’t think about him or anyone, and I don’t want to know.
– That's how! So what are you?
- I AM? Natasha asked, and a happy smile lit up her face. - Have you seen Duport "a?
- Not.
- Did you see the famous Duport, the dancer? Well, you won't understand. I'm what it is. - Natasha, rounding her arms, took her skirt, as if dancing, ran a few steps, turned over, made an antrash, beat her leg against her leg and, standing on the very tips of her socks, walked a few steps.
- Am I standing? behold, she said; but she couldn't stand on tiptoe. "So that's what I am!" I will never marry anyone, but I will become a dancer. But do not tell anyone.
Rostov laughed so loudly and merrily that Denisov felt envious from his room, and Natasha could not help laughing with him. - No, it's good, isn't it? she kept saying.
- Well, do you want to marry Boris anymore?
Natasha flushed. - I don't want to marry anyone. I'll tell him the same when I see him.
– That's how! Rostov said.
“Well, yes, it’s all nonsense,” Natasha continued to chat. - And why is Denisov good? she asked.
- Good.
- Well, goodbye, get dressed. Is he scary, Denisov?
- Why is it scary? Nicholas asked. - Not. Vaska is nice.
- You call him Vaska - strange. And that he is very good?
- Very good.
“Well, come and drink some tea.” Together.
And Natasha stood up on tiptoe and walked out of the room the way dancers do, but smiling the way happy 15-year-old girls smile. Having met Sonya in the living room, Rostov blushed. He didn't know how to deal with her. Yesterday they kissed in the first moment of the joy of meeting, but today they felt that it was impossible to do this; he felt that everyone, both mother and sisters, looked at him inquiringly and expected from him how he would behave with her. He kissed her hand and called her you - Sonya. But their eyes, having met, said “you” to each other and kissed tenderly. With her eyes, she asked him for forgiveness for the fact that at Natasha's embassy she dared to remind him of his promise and thanked him for his love. He thanked her with his eyes for the offer of freedom and said that one way or another, he would never stop loving her, because it was impossible not to love her.
“How strange, however,” said Vera, choosing a general moment of silence, “that Sonya and Nikolenka now met like strangers. - Vera's remark was just, like all her remarks; but, like most of her remarks, everyone became embarrassed, and not only Sonya, Nikolai and Natasha, but also the old countess, who was afraid of her son’s love for Sonya, which could deprive him of a brilliant party, also blushed like a girl. Denisov, to Rostov's surprise, in a new uniform, pomaded and perfumed, appeared in the living room as dandy as he was in battles, and so amiable with ladies and gentlemen, which Rostov did not expect to see him.

Returning to Moscow from the army, Nikolai Rostov was adopted by his family as the best son, hero and beloved Nikolushka; relatives - as a sweet, pleasant and respectful young man; acquaintances - as a handsome hussar lieutenant, a clever dancer and one of the best grooms in Moscow.
The Rostovs knew all of Moscow; the old count had enough money this year, because all the estates were mortgaged, and therefore Nikolushka, having got his own trotter and the most fashionable trousers, special ones that no one else in Moscow had, and boots, the most fashionable, with the most pointed socks and little silver spurs, had a lot of fun. Rostov, returning home, experienced a pleasant feeling after a certain period of time trying on himself for the old conditions of life. It seemed to him that he had matured and grown very much. Despair for an examination that was not consistent with the law of God, borrowing money from Gavrila for a cab, secret kisses with Sonya, he recalled all this as about childishness, from which he was immeasurably far away now. Now he is a hussar lieutenant in a silver cape, with soldier George, preparing his trotter for a run, along with well-known hunters, elderly, respectable. He has a familiar lady on the boulevard, to whom he goes in the evening. He conducted a mazurka at a ball at the Arkharovs, talked about the war with Field Marshal Kamensky, visited an English club, and was on you with one forty-year-old colonel, whom Denisov introduced him to.
His passion for the sovereign somewhat weakened in Moscow, since during this time he did not see him. But he often talked about the sovereign, about his love for him, making it feel that he still did not tell everything, that there was something else in his feeling for the sovereign that could not be understood by everyone; and wholeheartedly shared the feeling of adoration common at that time in Moscow for Emperor Alexander Pavlovich, who at that time in Moscow was given the name of an angel in the flesh.
During this short stay of Rostov in Moscow, before leaving for the army, he did not get close, but, on the contrary, parted ways with Sonya. She was very pretty, sweet, and obviously passionately in love with him; but he was in that time of his youth, when it seems that there is so much to do that there is no time to do it, and the young man is afraid to get involved - he values ​​\u200b\u200bhis freedom, which he needs for many other things. When he thought of Sonya during this new sojourn in Moscow, he said to himself: Eh! there are still many, many of these will be and are there, somewhere, still unknown to me. I still have time, when I want, to make love, but now there is no time. In addition, it seemed to him that something humiliating for his courage in women's society. He went to balls and sororities, pretending to do so against his will. Running, an English club, a revelry with Denisov, a trip there - that was another matter: it was decent for a young hussar.
At the beginning of March, the old Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov was preoccupied with arranging a dinner in an English club for the reception of Prince Bagration.
The count in a dressing gown walked around the hall, giving orders to the club housekeeper and the famous Feoktist, the head cook of the English club, about asparagus, fresh cucumbers, strawberries, calf and fish for Prince Bagration's dinner. The count, from the day the club was founded, was its member and foreman. He was entrusted from the club with organizing a celebration for Bagration, because rarely anyone knew how to organize a feast in such a wide hand, hospitably, especially because rarely anyone knew how and wanted to put their money if they were needed for a feast. The cook and housekeeper of the club, with merry faces, listened to the count's orders, because they knew that under no one, as under him, it was better to profit from a dinner that cost several thousand.
- So look, scallops, put scallops in the cake, you know! “So there were three cold ones? ...” the cook asked. The Count considered. “It can’t be less, three…mayonnaise times,” he said, bending his finger…
- So you will order the big sterlets to take? the housekeeper asked. - What to do, take it, if they do not yield. Yes, you are my father, I had and forgot. After all, we need another entree on the table. Ah, my fathers! He grabbed his head. Who will bring me flowers?
- Mitinka! And Mitinka! Ride on, Mitinka, to the Moscow region, ”he turned to the manager who had come in at his call,“ jump to the Moscow region and tell the gardener to dress up Maximka’s corvée. Tell them to drag all the greenhouses here, wrap them in felt. Yes, so that I have two hundred pots here by Friday.
Having given more and more different orders, he went out to rest with the countess, but remembered something else he needed, returned himself, returned the cook and housekeeper, and again began to give orders. At the door was heard a light, masculine gait, the rattling of spurs, and a handsome, ruddy, with a blackening mustache, apparently rested and well-groomed by a quiet life in Moscow, entered the young count.
- Ah, my brother! My head is spinning,” said the old man, as if ashamed, smiling in front of his son. - If only you could help! We need more songwriters. I have music, but can I call the gypsies? Your military brethren love it.
“Really, papa, I think Prince Bagration, when he was preparing for the battle of Shengraben, was less busy than you are now,” said the son, smiling.
The old count pretended to be angry. - Yes, you talk, you try!
And the count turned to the cook, who, with an intelligent and respectable face, looked observantly and affectionately at father and son.
- What kind of youth is it, Feoktist? - he said, - laughs at our brother old people.
- Well, Your Excellency, they only want to eat well, but how to collect everything and serve it is none of their business.
- So, so, - the count shouted, and merrily grabbing his son by both hands, he shouted: - So that's it, I got you! Now take a double sleigh and go to Bezukhov, and say that the count, they say, Ilya Andreevich was sent to ask you for fresh strawberries and pineapples. You won't get anyone else. It’s not there yourself, so you go in, tell the princesses, and from there, that’s what, you go to Razgulay - Ipatka the coachman knows - find you there Ilyushka the gypsy, that’s what Count Orlov then danced, remember, in a white Cossack, and bring him here to me.
“And bring him here with the gypsies?” Nicholas asked laughing. - Oh well!…
At that moment, with inaudible steps, with a businesslike, preoccupied, and at the same time Christian meek air that never left her, Anna Mikhailovna entered the room. Despite the fact that every day Anna Mikhailovna found the count in a dressing gown, every time he was embarrassed in front of her and asked for an apology for his costume.
“Nothing, Count, my dear,” she said, meekly closing her eyes. “And I’ll go to the Earless,” she said. - Pierre has arrived, and now we will get everything, count, from his greenhouses. I needed to see him. He sent me a letter from Boris. Thank God, Borya is now at headquarters.
The count was delighted that Anna Mikhailovna was taking part of his orders, and ordered her to pawn a small carriage.
- You tell Bezukhov to come. I'll write it down. What is he with his wife? - he asked.
Anna Mikhailovna rolled her eyes, and deep sorrow expressed on her face ...
“Ah, my friend, he is very unhappy,” she said. “If it’s true what we heard, it’s terrible. And did we think when we rejoiced so much at his happiness! And such a high, heavenly soul, this young Bezukhov! Yes, I feel sorry for him from the bottom of my heart and will try to give him the consolation that will depend on me.
- Yes, what is it? both Rostovs, the elder and the younger, asked.
Anna Mikhailovna sighed deeply: “Dolokhov, Marya Ivanovna’s son,” she said in a mysterious whisper, “they say he completely compromised her. He took him out, invited him to his house in St. Petersburg, and now ... She came here, and this rip off her head, ”said Anna Mikhailovna, wanting to express her sympathy for Pierre, but in involuntary intonations and with a half-smile showing sympathy rip off her head, as she named Dolokhova. - They say that Pierre himself is completely killed by his grief.
- Well, all the same, tell him to come to the club - everything will dissipate. The feast will be a mountain.
The next day, March 3, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 250 members of the English Club and 50 guests were waiting for dinner for the dear guest and hero of the Austrian campaign, Prince Bagration. At first, upon receiving the news of the battle of Austerlitz, Moscow was perplexed. At that time, the Russians were so accustomed to victories that, having received the news of the defeat, some simply did not believe, others were looking for explanations for such a strange event in some unusual reasons. In the English Club, where everything that was noble, having the right information and weight, gathered, in the month of December, when the news began to arrive, nothing was said about the war and about the last battle, as if everyone had agreed to keep silent about it. People who gave direction to conversations, such as: Count Rostopchin, Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, Valuev, gr. Markov, Prince. Vyazemsky, did not show up at the club, but gathered at home, in their intimate circles, and the Muscovites, who spoke from other people's voices (to which Ilya Andreevich Rostov belonged), remained for a short time without a definite judgment on the cause of the war and without leaders. Muscovites felt that something was not good and that it was difficult to discuss these bad news, and therefore it was better to remain silent. But after a while, as the jurors were leaving the deliberation room, the aces appeared, giving opinions in the club, and everything spoke clearly and definitely. Reasons were found for the incredible, unheard of and impossible event that the Russians were beaten, and everything became clear, and the same thing was said in all corners of Moscow. These reasons were: the betrayal of the Austrians, the bad food of the troops, the betrayal of the Pole Pshebyshevsky and the Frenchman Lanzheron, the incapacity of Kutuzov, and (they spoke slowly) the youth and inexperience of the sovereign, who entrusted himself to bad and insignificant people. But the troops, Russian troops, everyone said, were extraordinary and performed miracles of courage. Soldiers, officers, generals were heroes. But the hero of the heroes was Prince Bagration, who became famous for his Shengraben affair and retreat from Austerlitz, where he alone led his column undisturbed and fought off twice as strong an enemy all day. The fact that Bagration was chosen as a hero in Moscow was also facilitated by the fact that he had no connections in Moscow and was a stranger. In his face, due honor was given to the fighting, simple, without connections and intrigues, Russian soldier, still associated with the memories of the Italian campaign with the name of Suvorov. In addition, in giving him such honors, the dislike and disapproval of Kutuzov was best shown.
- If there was no Bagration, il faudrait l "inventer, [it would be necessary to invent it.] - said the joker Shinshin, parodying the words of Voltaire. Nobody spoke about Kutuzov, and some scolded him in a whisper, calling him a court turntable and an old satyr. Throughout Moscow repeated the words of Prince Dolgorukov: “molding, sculpting and sticking around”, who consoled himself in our defeat with the memory of previous victories, and Rostopchin’s words were repeated that the French soldiers should be excited to fight with high-flown phrases, that the Germans should be logically argued, convincing them that it's more dangerous to run than to go forward, but that Russian soldiers only need to be restrained and asked: be quiet! From all sides more and more stories were heard about individual examples of courage shown by our soldiers and officers at Austerlitz. He saved the banner, he killed 5 Frenchmen , that one loaded 5 guns. They also talked about Berg, who did not know him, that he, wounded in his right hand, took a sword in his left and went forward. Nothing was said about Bolkonsky, and only How close those who knew him regretted that he died early, leaving a pregnant wife and an eccentric father.