What is brogam
The term brogham, or as the French also call it Coupe de Ville, is the name of a car body type in which the driver either sits outdoors or has a roof over his head, while a closed compartment is available to passengers.
This unusual body shape today dates back to the era of the carriage. In order to immediately notice the guests arriving at the court, it was necessary to see the coachman from a distance, so he had to be clearly visible accordingly.
At the beginning of the automobile age, the coupe de ville (also the Town Coupe in the United States) was at least a four-seater car, the back seat of which was housed in a closed compartment, similar to a railway one. Up front, there were no doors, no weather protection, and sometimes even a windshield. Later this designation was transferred to all superstructures with an open driver's seat and a closed passenger compartment.
Technical details
By analogy with the sedan, this bodywork was sometimes firmly installed, but often also intended to be opened (sliding or lifting device). For communication with the driver served as a conversation tube, which ended at the driver's ear, or a dashboard containing the most common instructions. If one of the buttons was pressed in the rear, the corresponding signal on the dashboard came on.
Often a retractable emergency roof (usually made of leather) was located in the partition, the front of which was attached to the windshield frame, less often a metal roof was available, installed instead of the emergency one.
The front seat and front door panels were usually lined with black leather, a material that was also used in fully open cars. The passenger compartment was often definitely luxuriously furnished with valuable upholstery fabrics such as brocade and inlaid wood appliqués. Often the partition housed a bar or makeup set, and over the side and rear windows there were roller blinds and a mirror.
In Great Britain these bodies were also called Sedanca de Ville, in the USA Town Car or Town Brige.
Manufacturers
Small volumes in this small segment barely allowed for serial production.
In France, there were Audineau et Cie., Malbacher and Rothschild were famous for such works, later they were also joined by Keller and Henri Binder.
Among the traditional British, these cars were of great importance, of course, especially for Rolls-Royce.
Town Cars or Town Broughams were the specialties of Brewster in the US (especially Rolls-Royce, Packard and own chassis), LeBaron or Rollston.
World fame
The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca De Ville was in the film “Yellow Rolls-Royce” - the Barker body (1931, chassis 9JS) played one of the main roles. The Rolls-Royce Phantom III also gained notoriety for its appearance in the James Bond film Goldfinger as Auric Goldfinger's car and bodyguard. Two similar cars were used for the film. The better known with chassis number 3BU168 carries Barker's Sedanca-De-Ville design. This machine still exists today and is sometimes shown at exhibitions.
