What's in a name?

[Heuer]

There has always been some confusion caused by the various names attached to E-Types. The factory called the E-Types "Grand Touring Models" and referred to the convertible as the 'open car', the closed car as the 'Fixed Head Coupe'. The factory also called the convertible the 'Open Two Seater' or 'OTS' a name brought forward from the XK120. You will also find they used the term 'Open 2 Seater' and sometimes refereed to the FHC as the 'Hardtop' as distinct from the OTS with a fitted Hardtop :? . The Jaguar factory never used the terms XKE or Roadster, both of which were introduced by Jaguar Cars North America to help with marketing. For completeness here are some definitions used by sports car manufacturers:

The Cabriolet and Drop Head Coupe names originally came from the horse drawn era and typically refer to a coach with seats and a retractable hood. The name Convertible also came into use.

Cabriolet: a light, two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse, with a folding calash hood of leather, seating two persons facing forwards, one of whom is the driver. It has a large rigid apron, gracefully upward-curving shafts, and usually a rear platform between the C springs for a groom. The design was developed in France in the early nineteenth century. Now used to describe a type of car with a quality folding roof.

Coupe: A 2-door, 2- or 4-seat car with a fixed roof. Its doors are often longer than those of an equivalent sedan and the rear passenger area smaller; the roof may also be low. In cases where the rear seats are very small and not intended for regular use it is called a 2+2 (pronounced ''two plus two''). Originally, a coup? was required to have only one side window per side, but this consideration has not
been used for many years.

Fixed Head Coupe: British term for a standard coup? with a fixed solid roof, as opposed to a drophead coup?. In cases where the rear seats are very small and not intended for regular use these are sometimes called a 2+2.

Drophead Coupe: As a coup?, but with a full convertible top. British terminology, and dropping out of use for most modern cars, though luxury British makes occasionally still use it. Compare American use of 'coupe convertible'; contrast with fixed-head coup?.

Convertible: A body style with a removable or retractable roof and rear window. The convertible has roll-up side windows as contrasted with the roadster, which traditionally does not.

Roadster: Originally a two-seat open car with minimal weather protection ? no top was provided, neither any side glass. In some cases an optional hard or soft top might be offered, along with side curtains, but there was no side glass. In modern usage, the term is often used mean simply a convertible two-seat sports car, similarly to spyder.

Speedster: Porsche trade name for a Roadster.

Spyder (Spider): Similar to a roadster but originally with even less weather protection. The term originated from a small two-seat horse-cart with a folding sunshade made of four bows. With its black cloth top and exposed sides for air circulation, the top resembled a spider.

Barchetta: Italian term for a roadster.

Targa: Porsche trade name for a car with a removable roof centre section

Surrey Top: Similar to the Porsche Targa top, the Surrey Top was developed by Triumph in 1962 for the TR4

T-Top: As Porsche had copyrighted the 'Targa' name other manufacturers used this to describe their similar system

Open Two Seater (OTS): Jaguar name for their E-Type convertible.