thumb|1913 [[Maxwell automobile|Maxwell Model 24-4 touring car]]
Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The cars used for touring car racing in various series since the 1960s, are unrelated to these early touring cars, despite sharing the same name.
"Tourer" is used in British English for any open car. The term "all-weather tourer" was used to describe convertibles (vehicles that could be fully enclosed). A popular version of the tourer was the torpedo, with the hood/bonnet line level at the car's waistline giving the car a straight line from front to back.
Touring car (U.S.)
Design
Touring car was applied in the U.S. to open cars (cars without a fixed roof, for example convertibles) that seat four or more people and have direct entrance to the tonneau (rear passenger area),
Most of Model T's produced by Ford between 1908 and 1927 were four and then three-door models (with drivers sliding behind the wheel from passenger seat) touring cars, accounting for 6,519,643 cars sold out of the 15,000,000 estimated Model T's built. This accounted for 44% of all Model T's sold over the model's eighteen-plus year life span, making it the most popular body style.
The popularity of the touring car began to wane in the 1920s when cars with fully enclosed passenger compartments became more affordable, and began to consistently out-sell the open cars.
Tourer in British English
Tourer is used for open cars.
The belt lines of 1930s tourers were often lowered at the front doors to suggest a more sporting character