Talk:Fastback
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Linkoman 19:46, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Randroide 11:05, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] well
If a car is made in europe like the above, are they really fastbacks? Since they make no distinction and call all of them hatchbacks, then wouldnt those cars be hatchbacks?
[edit] I think we need a disamiguation page.
I think we need a disamiguation page. FastBack was also a software package for backing up Macintosh computers in the early 90s, by Fifth Generation Systems. I was going to write a stub for it, but I'm not sure how. Connectionfailure 14:30, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
- Done! CZmarlin 01:34, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] UK
This sentence doesn't quite make sense: "it should be noted that no such distinction is made in the UK, and hence the body style this article discusses is also a hatchback" - tries to edit for gist66.77.124.61 04:36, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Rover & Sterling 2 door fastbacks
I have never seen a Rover(Sterling in US) two door fastback. All the ones I have seen are either four door, three box notchbacks or five door liftbacks. Was this a one off experimental model? 66.77.124.61 21:41, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Rover 800
Whether or not it's a true fastback, it was certainly called a fastback. See, for example, this magazine scan, or the well-known TV add with a German man saying to another (in German) that "in England they call it Fastback". 86.143.48.55 (talk) 15:22, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] More confusing than illuminating?
Apart from the fact that this article has languished for at least six months without any sources or citations (i.e. it's nothing more than a collection of unattributed personal opinions), it is flawed by errors and self-contradictions. E.g. the opening definition ipso facto excludes the Marlin and the Citroen as illustrated. And the arrant nonsense about the word "fastback" being an American coinage (where does that assumption come from?) unknown in the UK is just that -- nonsense. "Fastback" is in common usage there, and the design is exemplified by numerous sporting and quasi-sporting British cars from manufacturers including, but not limited to, Bentley (e.g. R Continental, colloquially known as the "fastback Continental"; current Continental GT), Aston Martin (DB2, DB4, Vantage, Vanquish etc.), Sunbeam (Rapier fastback) and Rover (the latter's 800 Fastback was launched in the UK by print advertisements headlined "FAST THERE, FAST BACK"--perhaps someone can put their hands on a copy). Even the Jensen Interceptor's shape is commonly described as "fastback" (as per http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/bv/jensen_interceptor.htm )even though in this instance the fastback is comprised entirely of glass, which also opens as a hatch.
The angle and brevity of the stubby, steeply sloping tail on Fiat's 127 runabout seems less of a "fastback" than, well, a stubby, steeply-angled tail.
Is it time to revisit the article and try to arrive at a simpler, more consistent, more helpful consensus about what a fastback is? Not that it matters one jot in the great scheme of things. But if it's here it should at least make sense.
Does "fastback" even have a legitimate place here? A waste of space? There are plenty of readily-accessible dictionary definitions.
Any thoughts? Writegeist (talk) 23:40, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
- As the OED defines a fastback as a car with a roofline that slopes continuously down at the back, surely hatchbacks/liftbacks with rooflines that slope continuously down at the back are also fastbacks, contrary to the opinion stated in the article? Writegeist (talk) 06:23, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
So your plan Writegeist is to mix the Saab 92 or Citroen GS into the same pot as the Saab 900 or Citroen GSA? Vehicles with a sloping rear section, fixed rear window, and seperate trunk are a distinct species - please outline your alternate plan for naming them. Marketing materials are not relevant - remember Mercedes called the CLS a four door coupe of all things.PLawrence99cx (talk) 02:25, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
- Thank you for responding PLawrence99cx. No "plan" - just proposing a discussion of the issue in the hope of arriving at a consensus for a definition that makes sense. As I said, I'm concerned that the "fixed rear window" distinction does not appear in any dictionary definition of the word.
- Also "fastback" has performance connotations (though once again, not according to dictionaries), yet "hatchback", with its whiff of the utilitarian, seems inappropriate for the several GT coupés with fastback roof designs that happen to incorporate an opening window (e.g. Jensen Interceptor, Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 928, TVR Tuscan, Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark I). I tend to think that a car can be a fastback and a hatchback; i.e. that the terms are not mutually exclusive. Some hatchbacks have a fastback roof line whereas others have a notchback roof line. On some fastbacks the trunk lid opens below the window, whereas on others the window opens instead, like a hatchback. Writegeist (talk) 21:49, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

