Vintage Cars: opera windows, automobile age, nelson rockefeller


Question
I work at a museum which has Nelson Rockefeller's governor's limousine (a Ghia) with "opera windows."  What are opera windows?  I have not been able to find out anywhere.
Thank you, Dorothy Rossman

Answer
Hi Dorothy,

Opera windows get their name from the days of elegant horse drawn carriages, which had small windows available to the passengers sitting well back in the coach. Presumably, they could look out but not be easily seen themselves. Sort of an elegant "porthole".

This styling feature was carried into the automobile age, even up to the 1980s, where the opera window was put into the "C" pillar, which is the upright part of the roof supporting the back glass. The A pillar is at eiether side of  the windshield, and the B pillar the middle support for the roof on either side, usually where the rear door hinge attaches.

With an opera window in the C pillar, the passenger doesn't have to lean forward to look out.

Exactly why they are called "opera" windows, I don't know. I suppose because fancy coaches took people to the opera while more common coaches took them on daily rounds during the day.