In automotive engineering, the bodywork of an automobile is the structure which protects: Engineering is the application of science to the needs of humanity. ... Jump to: navigation, search A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ...

• The occupants
• Any other payload
• The mechanical components.

In vehicles with a frame or chasis, the term bodywork is normally applied to only the non-structural panels, including doors and other movable panels, but it may also be used more generally to include the structural components which support the mechanical components.

Construction

There are three main types of automotive bodywork:

• The first automobiles were modelled on horse-drawn vehicles, and had body-on-frame construction with a wooden frame and wooden or metal body panels. Wooden-framed motor vehicles remained in production until the middle of the 20th century, for example the MG A which continued in production until 1962.

• A steel chasis or ladder frame replaced the wooden frame. This form of body-on-frame construction is still common for trucks.

• Monocoque construction, in which the metal body itself provides support as well as protection and there is no separate frame or chasis. Steel monocoque construction is now the most common form of car bodywork.

Less common types include tube frame and space frame designs used for high-performance cars. There have also been various hybrids, for example the Volkswagen Beetle had a chasis, consisting of the floor pan, door sills and central tunnel, but this chasis relied on the stiffening provided by the bodywork, a technique sometimes called semi-monocoque construction. Body-on-frame is an automobile construction technology. ... The MGA was a sports car produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1955 through 1962. ... The driver of this DAF tractor with an auto-transport semi-trailer prepares to offload Skoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For further uses of the word truck, see Truck (disambiguation). ... Monocoque (French for single shell) or unibody is a construction technique that uses the external skin of an object to support some or most of the load on the structure. ... Superleggera, also called tube-frame, is an automobile construction technology used in classic sports cars in the middle of the 20th Century. ... Simplified space frame roof with the nearest unit polygon hightlighted in blue A space frame is a truss-like, light weight rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. ... CaBBa(R) ...

Non-structural body panels have been made of wood, steel, aluminium, fibreglass and several more exotic materials. Jump to: navigation, search A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is the xylem tissue of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Jump to: navigation, search The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... Jump to: navigation, search General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... There is a disputed proposal to merge this article with glass-reinforced plastic. ...

Body styles

There are several common car body styles:

• Enclosed:
  • Sedan.
  • Saloon.
  • Hard top.
  • Coupe.
  • Limousine.
• Open or partly enclosed:
  • Roadster.
  • Convertible.
  • Cabrio.
• Rear door designs:
  • Station wagon or Estate car.
  • Hatchback.
  • Liftback.
• Other:
  • Ute.

A Ford Taurus, a typical 1990s sedan. ... Saloon can mean: Any bar, especially in the American Wild West. ... 1995 Buick Riviera coupe A coupé (from the French for cut) or coupe is a two or four-seater car with a fixed roof and two doors. ... A limousine (or limo) is a long luxury car, traditionally black in color. ... 1923 Ford Model T roadster A roadster is a two-seat, open car, traditionally without side windows (possibly with pluggable doortops), so that even with the lightweight convertible top raised the driver and passenger remain exposed to the elements. ... Saab 900 Convertible Convertible can also refer to a convertible (security) A convertible is an automobile with a folding or retracting roof. ... Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ... A hatchback is a type of automobile design, consisting of a passenger cabin which includes an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind by a hatch or flip-up window. ... A hatchback is a type of automobile design, consisting of a passenger cabin which includes an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind by a hatch or flip-up window. ... Ute may refer to: The Ute, a tribe of Native Americans of the Uto-Aztecan language family. ...

See also

• Body-on-frame, a general term covering both wooden-frame and steel-chasis vehicles.

• Car body styles for a more complete list of body styles.

• Category:Car body styles for a list of Wikipedia articles on particular body styles.