Brougham (car body)

1899 Peugeot Type 27 brougham

As a car body style, a brougham was initially a vehicle similar to a limousine but with an outside seat in front for the chauffeur and an enclosed cabin behind for the passengers.[2] As such, it was a version of the town car but, in strict use of the term, with the sharply squared rear end of the roof and the forward-curving body line at the base of the front of the passenger enclosure that were characteristic of the nineteenth century brougham carriage on which the car style was based.[3]

Later broughams:

• 
  Rolls-Royce Phantom II
• 
  Bugatti Type 41 Royale Coupé Napoleon

Electric cars

1915 Detroit Electric Brougham

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the brougham body style with an outside chauffeur was popular with electric cars. At that time, there were more than 200 manufacturers of these cars in the United States.[4] In the United States during the first two decades of the twentieth century, the front of the body and the chauffeur were often deleted from the design, with controls placed inside for the owner to operate the vehicle.[5][6] Despite the resulting coupé style, the result was still called a "brougham",[5] causing the term to be applied to a two-door closed vehicle similar to a coupé, especially one electrically driven.[7]

1988 Cadillac Brougham

Cadillac was the first to use the name "Brougham" on a vehicle that did not use the Brougham body style for the 1916 Cadillac Brougham, a large 7-seat sedan. Since then, the name has also been used as a model name by many manufacturers (see below) for sedans and sometimes convertibles, despite the latter not conforming to the original body style in any way.[8]

From the 1970s to the 1990s, "Brougham" was used as a trim level by General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and the Chrysler Corporation. The name has generally been used for the upper trim level of a particular model.

• Landaulet – the opposite, with a covered driver's area and a convertible passenger compartment