Mazda Motor Corporation

Iseo Hamasaki

Takeshi Konishi

Takeshi Yamamoto

Takanori Tuchiya

Hisao Fukutomi

Yutaka Imura

A convertible vehicle body has front rear retractable roof panels which fit behind a rear seat back and a power system for retracting the roof panels, the power system also providing a mechanism for forwardly inclining the rear seat when the roof panels are to be retracted. The vehicle body may also include a power-operated rear quarter window and the power system for retracting the same in sequence with the roof panels.

Convertible vehicle body structure having a rear seat

A convertible vehicle body structure having a rigid front roof panel covering the front top portion of the passenger compartment and a rear roof panel covering the rear portion of the passenger compartment. The front roof panel is supported by an inverted U-shaped swingable pillar and the rear roof panel is mounted on the rear body structure through mounting arms. The front and rear roof panels are retracted in the rear body section in a fore-and-aft jaxtaposed relationship.

Roof structure for a convertible vehicle body

A rear windowpane wiper stowage system for an automobile comprises a rear windowpane, a rear spoiler secured to an automobile rear body structure in the vicinity of the rear windowpane, a rear wiper assembly having a wiper blade supported for movement back and forth across the windowpane and normally retained at a home position when the rear wiper assembly is not in use, a lid member hingedly mounted on the rear spoiler for movement between opened and closed positions for opening and closing the hatch, respectively, and a drive mechanism for driving the lid member from the closed position towards the opened position and also from the opened position towards the closed position when the rear wiper assembly is used and not used, respectively. The rear spoiler has a hollow defined in at least a portion thereof and also has a hatch defined therein in communication with the hollow in the vicinity of the rear windowpane. The wiper blade held at the home position when the wiper assembly is not in use is completely accommodated within the hollow in the rear spoiler, but is exposed to the outside through the hatch for sweeping the rear windowpane back and forth across the rear windowpane when the wiper assembly is in use.

Rear windowpane wiper stowage

A convertible vehicle body including a swingable pillar structure for supporting a front roof panel movably between an extended position and a retracted position. A rear side panel or a rear fender panel assembly has a rear side glass panel and a side door has a transparent glass panel. The rear side glass panel has a front edge which is located outside the pillar structure and in an abutting relationship with a rear edge of the transparent glass panel in the side door. Thus, the pillar structure is covered by the transparent glass panels to provide a good appearance.

Growing community of inventors

Hiroshima, Japan

Iseo Hamasaki