Talk:Runabout (car)

Runabout vs Roadster

What is the difference between a runabout and a roadster? // Liftarn

Roadsters are usually sports cars, while runabouts are basically small economy cars. The '32 Ford roadster might not really have qualified as a sports car (at least not in stock form), but it might have been a bit big to be considered a runabout... I think... Respectfully, SamBlob 15:04, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

UK usage

I have no refs to back it up, but the article should mention that the term is still in use in the UK. Doesn't describe a body style as such, more a type of usage: typically as the second (smaller?) car of a two-car family, perhaps used for short trips (shopping, school run), where the 'main' vehicle was used for commuting/holidays/etc -- EdJogg (talk) 13:09, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Done. Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 04:20, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

Cadillac the best runabout - one man's opinion, though.

I have lost the notes I took from the St. James Parish Library in Montego Bay; I hope to go back there this week to look at two books that I got info from. One of them is Early Cars by Michael C. Sedgwick; as I remember the book calling the early Cadillacs the best runabouts.

However, thanks to Google, I have found snippets of the book from which I have compiled this quote:

"Peak revolutions are a mere 400 a minute as against the De Dion's 2000 — 'one chug per telegraph pole,' as the wiseacres had it. An immense silencer reduces these chugs to distant and dignified puffings, but the two-speed epicyclic transmission gives little scope for a brisk performance. 'Low' is very low indeed, and only a really flat road allows the use of high gear, on which 20 MPH can be attained. The Oldsmobile remains strictly a town runabout, albeit a very good one, and these little cars are a peculiarly American phenomenon, which persisted up to 1908, the single-cylinder Cadillac [figure 18] being the best of them. Despite the Oldsmobile's known reliability, the maker's handbook launches out on the first page of text with the alarming suggestion: 'Let us first remove the body'! A little known contemporary American runabout, the Gale, even featured tilting bodywork in the interest..." - Sedgwick, Michael (1962). Early Cars. Putnam. p. 36. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

The late Mr. Sedgwick was an acknowledged expert on motor cars, but, as presented here, the idea that the single-cylinder Cadillac was "the best of them" is still just one man's opinion. Is this source enough to claim the Cadillac as the best runabout, or are other similar opinions needed? Would the exercise that won Cadillac the Dewar Trophy reinforce this opinion?

Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 02:53, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

A runabout!

I'll steal it! No-one will ever know! Dan11Backslide (talk) 17:39, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

Georgano (1973)

I suspect that the missing Georgano (1973) source may be Georgano, G. N.; Baechler, Glenn (1973). The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-08351-1., but I don't have enough access through Gbooks to find out. If somebody has a copy to hand or can see more of it online could you please check and add it to the bibliography? Optimistically pinging SamBlob Thanks, Wham2001 (talk) 14:59, 7 July 2022 (UTC)

I believe this article can be combined with Runabout (carriage).

Their histories intersect as both were popular in the 1910s and were built on the same foundational shape.

I don't think it is wise for readers to have to read two near-identical articles when they can be combined into one comprehensive chronological article. The Fonz (talk) 20:09, 12 August 2022 (UTC)