Coupe de Ville

Coupe de Ville (North American, with silent "e" in "coupe") or coupé de ville is one of a large number of terms used to describe an automobile with an external or open-topped driver's position and an enclosed compartment for passengers. Among other names for this body style are sedanca, town car, and Brougham.

Most versions are variations on one of two main types. In one, known as the town car in North America or, in continental Europe, as the coupé chauffeur as well as the coupé de ville, the driver is separated from a fully enclosed passenger compartment by a partition; in the other, the passenger compartment is without its own doors and is accessed from the front.

Origin

The unusual body dates to medieval Europe. In order to identify incoming guests at court as friendly, it was necessary for the host to be able to identify the livery of the visiting guests' coachman from a distance. To enable the coachman to be identifiable, he was hence placed high up and in the open.

The term "coupé de ville" is known to be in use in the 19th century before the invention of the automobile. As a carriage, the coupé de ville was a variant of the coupé carriage that was nearly indistinguishable from the British clarence.

Coupe de Ville (film)

Coupe de Ville is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Joe Roth. It stars Daniel Stern, Arye Gross, and Patrick Dempsey as three very different brothers asked by their father to drive the titular Cadillac Coupe DeVille from Detroit to Miami.

Plot

Meet the Libner brothers: Marvin (Daniel Stern), the oldest, is a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. Buddy (Arye Gross), the middle child, is a timid dreamer. Bobby (Patrick Dempsey), the youngest, is a handsome rebel in reform school. As kids, they fought a lot and as adults, they barely speak to each other. In the summer of 1963, their tough and eccentric father, Fred (Alan Arkin), gives them a task: to bring a 1954 Cadillac, bought for their mother, Betty (Rita Taggart), from Detroit to Miami. As the trip goes on, the three brothers fight and begin to reconnect with each other, while trying to keep the Caddy in mint condition.

Cast