Why Is This One Luxury Body Style Forbidden?

by Wallace Wyss –

If there is one style that all automakers steer away from in 2023, I’d say it is the landaulette. It gets its name from being first a landau, a French word for a folding top car. But also this was a model that the roof folded down not in front, where the chauffeur sat, but in the back where the passengers are. It’s the opposite of a sedanca de ville where the chauffeur sat in front (maybe in the rain in the early days) and the passengers were all cosseted under a solid roof in back.

Royal crest identifies this as State Limousine

Lincoln proposed a sedanca de ville in the ’60s in a concept car, but it wasn’t put into production. Cadillac beat them by proposing a sedanca de ville in the ’50s. That only made it to a concept car and ironically, though it was sent to a junkyard to be crushed, somebody recognized it and rescued it.

I just saw two postwar laundaulettes at the San Marino Concours and they both were very impressive, souvenirs of what could have been a gilded age in the ’60s if other automakers had followed suit. As it was, the two I saw were almost the last of their breed. So why don’t any automakers make them today (Mercedes had one quite recently by AMG but had fixed C-pillars so I am not sure it meets the definition of laundalette and they didn’t sell it in the US).

Six door laundaulette by Mercedes

I think it’s because it puts the occupants in the back a little too much under the spotlight. If you are walking on the sidewalk and you see one coming you automatically want to see what potentate, movie star or Captain of Industry is being chauffeured about.

Sedanca de ville show car I rank a bit below the landaulette

Well if any automaker should bring back this style, I think Rolls should, in fact they just made two models, some “one offs” (if you can call multiple cars that) that will cost $28 to $30 million each. They are removable roof models. But I say go whole hog and bring back the laundaulette. Especially you at Cadillac with the $300,000 model where the customer picks the color, trim, etc.

Hey if I win the lottery, put my order in…

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss has been a guest lecturer on car design at the Art Center College of Design. As a fine artist, he has completed over 50 paintings of Ferraris. For postcard samples write malibucsrart@gmail.com

Queen Elizabeth’s had fixed rear window frames, maybe that’s why it only sold for 2 million pounds