ROOFs

An essential protection from the scorching hot sun and drenching rain.

Spot a similarity between these cars...

Could you spot any similarity apart from them all facing the left?

Anyhows, lets get back to roofs...
Most cars have their roofs fixed

Some can be taken off;convertibles (also called Cabriolets etc),

Porsche 911 Cabriolet

regardless of the number of doors

Cadillac Ciel

or vehicle type

.Chevrolet SSR

We have soft (fabric, cloth) top

and hard (metal) top

convertibles.

We also have Targa tops,which are semi-convertible with a full length targa bar over the back of the front seats with a glass panel extending from it to the rear of the vehicle to house the targa cover when the roof is let down.

Porsche 911 Targa 

(similar to the the cabriolet above but the Targa bar and panel differentiates it from its sibling).

"Targa" a registered trademark of the Porsche Company.

Some roofs have panels that are detachable

Lamborghini Aventador Roadster with a roof panel taken off

Not all cars can take their tops off, in replacement, some have the sun, moon, panoramic roofs (to name a few)

Sunroof:

This is any fixed or retractable panel in the a car's roof that maximizes the amount of light and/or air coming into the vehicle. It could be made of any of numerous materials (metal, glass, carbon etc).
Some can slide over the roof

Some can be opened upwards

.
We also have;
-Moonroofs:

This is a type of sunroof that the panels slide in between the vehicle's roof and headliner.

-Panoramic roofs:

These are sunroofs which offer a single large or multiple glass panels above both the front and rear seats. Some are fixed while some can be opened.

*About the "Quick Question" above, the similarity is that they have "Floating roofs".
These are roofs that look like they are floating as the connection between the roof and the pillars (especially at the rear) isn't a direct smooth one as found in other vehicles as seen below

Rather, their rear pillars are partitioned and further painted black

to "conjure" the illusion of the roof floating, especially in dark backgrounds.


You might have heard about the Maybach, there was a model named the 62s

that had an amazing roof that was called the "Electro-Transparent Panoramic Glass Roof" which could be made Transparent

, Opaque or frosted (translucent)

 at will of the passenger.


Landaulet:

 These are vehicles with the ability to let the roof portion behind the driver (above the rear seats) down as a convertible.

A not too recent example is the White Maybach Landaulet seen below.

Paris Hilton striking a pose beside Birdman in his Maybach Landaulet.

Companies are being more and more creative with the types of roofs they use. Who knows, even you may design a roof that changes rain into petrol...
Food for thought.