Yesterday, I wrote about fastback cars that had truncated trunk openings instead of full hatches, and that got me thinking about hatchbacks and hatches, which led me to think more about hatches, which led me to thinking about a particular sort of hatch I’ve always liked: the all glass hatch. I’ve owned two cars that have had this sort of hatch, and they’re the sort of thing that, on any car that has one, the glass hatch becomes one of the most interesting styling features of the car.
I also suspect that they’re also one of the cheapest ways to get a hatch on a car, too, which just makes it even cooler, if you ask me, which you didn’t. But maybe you should have? I mean, how often is the cheapest solution also the coolest? I think the glass hatch is one of these rare cases.
Let’s take a moment this morning to appreciate these clear wonders of hatchery, shall we?
I think maybe the first all-glass hatch that most people think of is the one on the back of the Volvo 1800ES, though it was hardly the first one. When Volvo decided to transform their lovely 1800S sports coupé into a sporty shooting brake, they decided to make the rear hatch all glass, which was absolutely the right choice. It just feels more dramatic, somehow, to open a whole panel of glass instead of a hatch with an inset window. I’m not sure I can explain exactly why, but I know this is true.
The glass hatch was so exciting for Volvo – a company normally known for their fairly conservative designs – that they returned to it on two later cars. The Volvo 480, which we never got here in America:
…and the Volvo C30, which did come to America. On both of these cars, that glass hatch remains one of the most exciting parts.
The Volvo 1800ES was inspired by a car I used to own, the first of the two glass hatch cars I’ve had, the Reliant Scimitar GTE:
Yeah, try not to laugh at that caption there. I mean, I failed at not laughing already, but you’re more evolved than I am.
I think in the examples I’ve just given, the all-glass hatch was chosen for stylistic reasons, and it’s powerful there. But it also offers some interesting utility options, especially for cars where having a more traditional hatch is less of an option. Like the rear-engined Hillman Imp:
By making that rear window hinged, access to the Imp’s over-transaxle cargo storage area was far more accessible; honestly, the Volkswagen Beetle should have employed a similar setup.
And on my other glass hatch’d car, my Nissan Pao, the opening rear window makes the drop-down tailgate cargo setup much more useful than a normal hatch, as it lets you put things in the back of the car that stick out a bit, like this lawnmower I shoved in my little car:
It’s so handy! And then we have the cheap angle. I think this was the impetus behind the use of glass hatches on cars like the Reliant Robin, Toyota Corolla Tercel, Ford Pinto, and AMC Gremlin:
The Gremlin was basically a quick and dirty hack job of the AMC Hornet into a smaller car, and as such it makes sense that perpetually-broke AMC would have made things cheaper and easier on themselves by just hinging the rear window of the Gremlin instead of having to design and stamp an actual hatch. It had to have a window anyway, right? This way they avoided having to design and engineer and built a whole other body panel.
I suspect this was the same logic for the hatchback version of the first-gen Toyota Tercel, which was sometimes confusingly named the Toyota Corolla Tercel. This was Toyota’s first foray into front wheel drive, which used a weird longitudinal setup with the power from the engine taking a strange U-shaped path to the wheels – though this did let Toyota easily adapt it to 4WD:
I suspect that with all of the new FWD engineering, maybe Toyota was eager to save a bit of money where they could, hence the all-glass hatch. The fact that it looked cool was a bonus, the fact that you had to lift your crap way over that high rear deck was a minus.
Ford adapted the Pinto to have an all-glass hatch in 1977, after years of it being available with a more conventional metal hatch with an inset window. Was this a cost-removal plan for the later years of the car, or was it a styling update? Or both?
Either way, I think it makes the Pinto look a lot cooler, because that’s what glass hatches do.
I know there’s more glass-hatched cars out there, and I encourage everyone in the comments to share them with one another, which will start all of your days in a wonderful manner. Try it and see!
The generation 3 GM F bodies had a glass hatch. Part of it was just covered with a body colored panel. I had one shatter on my ’89 Camaro. What a mess.
VW Up!, Fiat Mobi, ’80s Daihatu Cuore.
Also the first generation Citroen C1 / Peugeot 107 / Toyota Aygo
Yes! I thought about them but also were mentioned somewhere. I love the 107.
God I love those C30s so, so much. Don’t honestly know how good they are as cars (but it’s a Volvo, so chances are high) but damn they’re so attractive.
The separate glass hatch on the BMW F31 wagon (similar to the Pao) is one of my favorite features – so much lighter and quicker to use for grabbing a couple of small items from the back.
What about a no glass hatch? By your definsition yesterday, a hatch includes the rear window. Speaking of Volvos (sorta), does the Polestar 4 still have a hatch?
What’s wonderful of an all glass hatch? You made life a little easier for those poor smash and grab thieves. They can clearly see what you’re offering them. No more of having to pry sheet metal or pop locks. Just one good whack or a brick. I speak from experience. A bumpy blanket made it look like i was covering something valuable up. There was nothing there. Say hello to smashed glass at 6:30 AM heading to work.
There is no weird car thing that the French can’t out-weird.
The Citroen AX had a glass hatch, sort of. The hinges connected directly to two holes at the top of the frameless rear window, but the plastic bootlid/trunk was bonded on to the bottom edge of that pane of glass and just hung off it. The gas struts ensured that the glass was constantly loaded in bending.
My AX had four rear screens explode, two of them while parked in the garage.
I still find the occasional tiny cube of brown tinted glass in my toolbox, and it’s been 30 years.
The glass was still sturdier than the tin-foil they made the rest of the body out of.
Still, got to love the wine-bottle sized door pockets, very French.
In a crash it’s handy to be able to punch your way out through any panel.
I’m going to be petty and call out the shit parking job Torch pulled in his Pao. How can someone with such a tiny car fail at placing it between the lines??
Valid criticism.
It was inside the lines! Just.
He parked to one side of the space so another Pao could share the spot.
He had just done a test drive on a BMW, and was still under the influence.
I remember riding around in an Volvo 1800 with the glass hatch when I was a kid. I thought that was the coolest car and when Volvo brought the C30 over, I loved the homage to the 1800.
As an owner of the Lexus GX, and it having a glass hatch, I find it incredibly handy, especially since marking sometimes prohibits opening the barn door to get out what you need (no slight to the barn door, as I find it handy, too).
The question is do you carry cargo in your Pinto? Like, are you a glass hatch full guy or a glass hatch empty guy.
Didn’t small cars like Citroën C1 have this glhatch ?
A glass hatch on the Pinto couldn’t polish that turd.
My first glass hatch was a SAAB Sonnet III in 1971.
Ironically it was ripped from the car by a 80 mph wind gust one day.
Landed in our very rough Colorado driveway (all natural huge rocks and dirt) on a big rock in 20 degree weather.
Did not break or shatter.
Like some sort of friggin miracle.
As for the Gremlin ad, well my want for one was big after seeing how it attracted hot babes in bikinis.
Volvo transitioned from the 1800S to the 1800E in 1970. I had an E for about 10 years, and it was a great car, with Bosch electronic fuel injection. In 1971, The ES wagon type was introduced and continued into 1972.
If hatches are load swallowers, does that make the fastback trunks of yesterday the proverbial spitters?
Refusing to accept large loads and leaving you dejected and defeated in the Walmart parking lot?
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Loved the glass hatch/tailgate on the ‘92-‘95 Honda Civic. The glass hatch was tiny, but lower the tailgate and you could fit a surprising amount of crap in there. Made a great camping car.
I think every hatchback could be made better with a glass hatch upper and a drop-down tailgate lower. Or at least just separately-opening glass on a regular tailgate.
I will forever argue that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation Honda Civics weren’t hatchbacks at all, but rather, they were shooting breaks.
In 2015 my son and I took his ’92 Civic on an 11-day, 3500 mile road trip circling from California through Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. We camped every night but one. I drove all but the San Diego to/from Las Vegas segments so my son would be able to take in the sights and the car turned out to be weirdly good for road-tripping and camping, although we were admittedly a bit foolhardy running it up the road to the Grays Peak trailhead. We averaged 37 miles to the gallon and believe me, we were not hypermiling in any way. The seats were surprisingly good for long stints and with the back seat down it handles cargo like nobody’s business. He’s still driving that car – bought it at 138k miles in 2013-ish, repaired it ourselves from a wreck in about 2018, and it crossed 250k miles last year.
Actually, I respect and appreciate it
How did you not include the first generation of RX7? It’s all glass hatch is GLORIOUS! It was one of my fave things about the car when I owned it.
Agree, my 1980 RX7 was one of my favorite cars of all time. That glass hatch was light weight in both actual pounds and clean appearance.
They had way more trunk space than they should have.
There was a few times where I was worried I’d smash the hitch by closing it on something.
My tired old navigator has a glass hatch of sorts that opens independently of the rear door. Does that count? It’s handy, but every time I gently drop it to close, I just imagine that one time it will just shatter to bits all over my feet. It makes a very solid metal-to-glass sound every time it closes (if you drop it enough for it to actually latch).
Same with my FJ Cruiser
It was a feature I sorely missed on my MDX. My Highlander and my old WJ both have seperately opening glass.
That definitely counts in my book, but then again I’m an owner of a Mountaineer that uses a similar glass hatch as did the original Escape, which we used to have as well. We definitely miss it on the wife’s current daily driver as we only opened the tailgate when loading larger or heavier items.
Yes more shooting brakes!!!!!!!
For some reason, I’m irrationally angry at frameless doors (mostly for the lack of places to safely grab when closing them and not wondering if you’re testing the limits of the glass’s flexibility for the very last time…). But I love the idea of more airy, glass-heavy cars and the hatch seems like a great place to start.
“…mostly for the lack of places to safely grab when closing them…”
It drives me bonkers to no end when people use the glass on my doors to close the car.
That’s what the door itself and the door handle are for.
You, sir, are welcome to ride frameless-doored coupe any time
These could perhaps make a big comeback, now that for many, vehicles have gotten us out of the habit of closing our hatches ourselves, so less (I suspect really only psychological) worry about people potentially breaking them?
I am not. I was scrolling slowly and had to reread that. They knew what they were doing, right?
“Yeah, try not to laugh at that caption there.”
Too late.
Honorable mention to the 120mph three-way….
I was smirking about the 120 mph three-way and then scrolled down to the caption whereupon I started laughing.
I live in southern Ohio, so we talk about having 3 ways all the time. (Skyline chili, yum). I completed missed that line.
The giant curved all-glass hatches Corvettes had from 1982-1996 may not be as functional (or water tight) as the C5-C7 ones, but they definitely look much cooler.
Honorable mention, for sure.