Talk:Roadster (car)

Myrtlegroggins (talk) 07:09, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Definition
Roadster is defined as without rollup windows? So the miata is now a cabriolet? I think the any open topped 2 seater is a roadster...and rollup windows has absolutely nothing to do with it.
 * Yes, actually. That is correct. A roadster is defined as a 2 seat sports car without roll-up windows. The Miata, and any convertible sports car with roll-up windows is a cabriolet. Marshall Stax (talk) 01:26, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

"Notable vehicles include the BMW Z4, Honda S2000, Mercedes SLK, Porsche Boxster, and Toyota MR-Spyder.". There is one car in particular missing, which even carries the 'barchetta' name: the Fiat barchetta! website

I'm pretty amazed.... The 350Z, the TT, Crossfire are cars that have been make from Coupe canNOT be classified as roadster... If you had the Fiat Barchetta, you need to speak about the Alfa Spider And if you put SLK, you need to put lotus elise (this can be considered as a targas but it is wrong as it has a soft top and you can remove to back window... then, you hand up with a roadster(considering the previous definition) with a roll barre...

Don't forget the Caterham Super Seven....


 * Very few (if any) of the photos in the gallery are of "roadsters", if the first para is correct. They should either be moved to Convertible or we should change the first paragraph to indicate it is an historical use of the term.  --Chancemichaels

Origin of the word barchetta?
Barchetta redirects here and at the bottom of the page there's a few sentences on the Italian meaning, etc. I don't have a source to list but I've read that barchetta was first applied to a Ferrari 166 (produced 1948 - 1950) because the car looked like a "little boat". I guess the lines of the 166 were unusual for the time, tappered towards the road, kinda bubble like on top, and a crease in the sheet metal that ran across the tops of the wheel wells even suggested a waterline. See here for a picture. And it was definitely a roadster! I'll see if I can find a source. But perhaps the Ferrari 166 deserves to be mentioned anyway, it might be the quintessential roadster, and the car did win the Mille Miglia, LeMans and the Targa Florio, all in the same year! --RageX 19:10, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Trivia
Moved the pop culture reference here since it doesn't contribute to knowledge about roadsters:Toddstreat1

Pop culture

 * "Red Barchetta" was a popular song on the album Moving Pictures, by the band Rush

Smart Roadster
Smart Roadster is actually targa. Let's move it to targa article. Netrat_msk (talk) 18:34, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Merging roadster et al
Please see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Automobiles for a centralised discussion around merging all the roadster-related articles.  Zun aid  ©  ®  19:59, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Spyder Redirect
Spyder redirects here. Since the Can-Am Spyder isn't a roadster, there should probably be a disambiguation page; the Toyota MR-2 Spyder also comes to mind. Unfortunately, I don't know how to create a disambiguation page; if someone could point me in the right direction (say hello on my talk page), I'd be glad to do it? Dean (talk) 19:09, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Spider (disambiguation) already exists which serves the purpose. I'll put a hat note at the top of this article. Zunaid 09:03, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Why Spyder? Anyone know the origin?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.63.82.163 (talk) 04:57, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

A reference to the pramtop style roofs the cars had as the arms resembled the legs of a spider.(82.8.216.51 (talk) 00:49, 18 April 2009 (UTC))

"Spider" is how a native Italian speaker would write the word English "speeder" if they had only ever heard it spoken. "Spyder" is just a German corruption of the term "spider". A "1967 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce" could be deciphered as '1967 Alfa Romeo Speeder Fast'; Veloce being the italian word for 'fast'. A Can-AM Spyder isn't a roadster style car but it is a "speeder" car or a fast car. My source is simply from being an English speaking Italian with an interest in etymology of words in popular culture 124.171.98.239 (talk) 16:56, 20 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Wouldn't it make sense for some of this information to be in the actual article. Since references to spider/spyder link to this page with no explanation or information, the links are confusing.  A brief comment in the article, perhaps a separate section, explaining the relationship of the term spider to roadster would make sense. 99.245.248.91 (talk) 02:49, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

origin/genesis of word "roadster" itself?
... but where it comes from? when there was first use of this word in context of car, and how it's rooted culturally (semiotics) ?

83.18.229.190 (talk) 23:14, 24 February 2011 (UTC)


 * The online Oxford English Dictionary says with regard to US usage:


 * 2c. A light horse-drawn carriage
 * 2d. A type of sporty open-top car with two seats
 * 3b. A person with no permanent place of residence, a tramp or hobo
 * Etymology road and suffix ster. Ster = ". . . an agentive suffix . . ."
 * Semiotics? —?  Eddaido (talk) 20:23, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Pop culture sections
Having a section of the article called "pop culture" or "trivia" or "miscellaneous" attracts unsourced cruft and makes it a disjointed read. It's better to place significant facts within the article, such as chronologically in the history section. See WP:TRIVIA.Appearances in TV shows need sources, the same as anything else. If no third party sources ever mention Remington Steel's car, then it should not be mentioned. I realize the whole article is unsourced, so there's a lot more work to do before deleting unsourced TV cameos. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 15:21, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

The term "spider"
The article states:

An alternative explanation for the term, used principally on Italian cars, is simply the Italian transliteration of "speeder" or "speedster", originating in a reporter's crackly telephone call to Italy in 1953 about the Porsche 550 "Speedster" (a car driven by James Dean).

I've found a sales brochure for a Fiat 508 from 1934 which refers to one variant as the "spider" variant so this information (or rather speculation) is clearly false.

See here:  87.154.0.26 (talk) 23:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)