Opera window

Not to be confused with quarter glass.
Opera window, with photo-etched logo, and padded Landau roof on a 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car

An opera window is a small fixed window usually behind the rear side window of an automobile.[1] They are typically mounted in the C-pillar of some cars.[2] The design feature was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s and adopted by domestic U.S. manufacturers, most often with a vinyl roof.[2]

The origin was from "opera" vehicles of around 1915 with occasional collapsible seating for extra passengers.[3] The opera window was also a feature on "formal roof" and limousine models with higher than a normal roof to accommodate passengers with top hats.[3]

  1. ^ "Oxford Dictionary: definition of Opera Window". Lexico Dictionaries. Retrieved 3 September 2020.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b "1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado". conceptcarz.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b Haajanen, Lennart W. (2017). Illustrated Dictionary of Automobile Body Styles (Second ed.). McFarland. pp. 80, 112. ISBN 978-0-7864-9918-2. Retrieved 26 November 2022 – via Google Books.