Coupes Classic Cars

I’ll just come out and say it: two-door cars rarely make sense. Unless a vehicle is so short that it will only accommodate one door on each side, a car is almost always more practical, more useful—in short, better at being a car— with four doors.

Truth number two is that two-door cars are usually better-looking than four-door cars, and this is the reason two-door cars have always been built. A two-door is just a much better way to make a statement of style, elegance, and power with an automobile. Look at the 1936 Delahaye 135M and try to imagine making such a stunning car as a four-door; it just can’t be done. Take the massive 1933 Cadillac Aerodynamic Coupe—such an audaciously large car with only two doors simply screams that its driver is well beyond having to worry about practical matters when selecting his automobile.

The two-door cars in this section showcase the practice of coachbuilding prevalent in the early 20th century, when a customer would choose a manufacturer’s chassis, then have it equipped to his or her exact specifications, sometimes by that company or by another outside firm. Cars built by a carrosserie, or coachbuilder, are among the most spectacular and unique automobiles ever built, and we’re lucky to be able to show you some of these cars in gorgeous detail in the pages to follow.