They came, won our hearts and disappeared again like snow in the sun. Coupé convertibles seemed to be all the rage, but two decades later they have completely disappeared except for a few exotics. Summer is just around the corner and that is a good reason to look back at seven high-profile CCs.
A high weight, a lot of loss of space, slow, sometimes susceptible to interference and often retina-infesting compromises in aesthetic standards and values: these were the things that would eventually kill the coupé-convertible. The materials and techniques for cloth convertible roofs improved so much that the CC barely had the right to exist and except for a few misfits (Mazda RF, Ferrari’s 488, F8 Spider and Portofino, McLaren’s 600LT and 720S Spider) the CC craze is a thing of the past. Of course we haven’t forgotten the Renault Mégane CC, Lexus SC 430, Mitsubishi Colt CZC and many others, but these are seven that rose above ground level anyway, even with the roof off.
Peugeot 402 Eclipse
The CC boom of our time may have started with the Mercedes-Benz SLK, but the first real one dates from much longer ago. The 1934 Peugeot Eclipse introduced the world to the phenomenon of a hard roof that could be folded into the car. If you let go of that last criterion for a moment, know that there was an Amsterdam coachbuilder who in 1915 built something on the basis of a Lancia 35 hp chassis that he called – drum roll – Coupé-Cabriolet and whose roof was placed on the back in panels. After World War II, Ford did the trick for a while on the Fairlane Skyliner.
Peugeot 206 CC
Undoubtedly the CC of CCs is the Peugeot 206 CC. In 1998, the brand showed the 206 20♥ with folding hard top at the Geneva fair, undoubtedly with an indignant ‘Hook, that was our idea’ look at the SLK. The name was a play on words, because in French Vingt-Coeur which is pronounced like vainqueur, which means winner again. And a winner was the 206 CC, because in addition to being very nice, it was also quite practical and affordable, making this model the democratization of the CC. Its successor 207 also came with a CC, but then the heyday was already pretty much over and the 208 remained closed.
Nissan Micra CC
Perhaps the most forced CC, along with the Mitsubishi CZC that appeared a while later. Building a coupé-convertible on a car of this size is rightly a challenge and form followed not only function. In the Nissan Micra CC, form was crushed by function. Anyway, you drove open in those carefree summers at the beginning of our century and unlike in the Copen you could also lose two people in the back seat in the Micra (and also the Colt) with a bit of adjustment.
Mercedes-Benz SLK
In 1994, Mercedes-Benz launched a revival of the CC roof at the Turin stock exchange. The deep blue SLK that was there was still a concept car at the time, but two years later the production version was ready. The SLK was intended to take some wind out of the Z3 of arch-rival BMW, but mainly stood out because of its special roof. It was remarkable that BMW provided the Z4 with a hard hood at the model change, just like the SLK.
Daihatsu Copen
Perhaps the loveliest CC ever was the Daihatsu Copen, which proved that a Kei car can really be fun. And we should know that because we had him in our endurance stable for a while. In the meantime, not only the Copen, but the entire brand has long and broadly disappeared from our market, but we have by no means forgotten the nice little ball. Initially it was only right-hand drive, an LHD version came later. In 2014, a second generation Copen came, but by then Daihatsu had already disappeared from Europe.
Volkswagen EOS
In Wolfsburg they were less convinced that CC was the future, but they didn’t want to miss the boat either. So for a long time Volkswagen ran two courses. Actually, the Eos was supposed to take over from the Golf Cabrio and it did for a number of years, but in 2011, the Golf Cabrio came back, retaining the Eos, which was positioned just a little higher. Before its market introduction, the Eos was plagued by technical problems around the roof for a long time, but admittedly, that was a special construction. In addition to simply opening on its CCs, the roof panel could also retract on its own, making the Eos a CC with sliding roof.
Renault Wind
He never became a success, but that was not due to the originality. The roof of the Twingo-based Renault Wind folded 180 degrees backwards into the trunk. That required a large aft deck, resulting in a considerable trunk space. But that made the Wind a two-seater, which made it shortlisted by many potential buyers. In addition, the B-pillars and rear window remained, so that the convertible feeling was somewhat less than in other open cars. In 2013, three years after taking office, Renault blew out the candle of the Wind again.