Why does everyone call it a "Clam Shell" when it is a "Glide Away".

I know that for many years folks call 71-76 full size GM wagons "Clam Shell" wagons, yet GM never called them this. The design was always called "Glide Away". I get the concept though, the window and tail gate open and close like a clam opening and closing. I have always preferred to call my 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate by its proper name "Glide Away" and it has always amazed me, how few people know the factory term. Not that this is any big deal because it is not. I would be interested to know how many folks out there say the one term or the other. Cheers.

 

I used to say clam because that was all I ever knew. Once I owned one and started reading the factory literature, I used the Glide-away term, even if it does sound like a razor advertising tagline.

 

I always find these types of discussions interesting. It's not unlike the hubcaps VS wheel covers debate. Sometimes the name given by the factory ends up being supplanted by verbiage that just becomes part of popular culture.

I remember at least a decade ago reading a Ford truck blog where the author distinguished two different body styles mainly from the area the trim was applied along the side of the truck. 67-72 there is a blister that runs the length of the truck. He called those "bump-side". 73-79 have a concave trench that runs the length of the truck. He called those "dent-side".
At the time I thought that was silly. Why not just refer to them as 73-79? The image of a dent in the side of a truck is not appealing.

Well, all of these years later the terms have caught on in a huge way. Most guys in the hobby seem to use these terms now. So where someone may come up to you and look at your wagon and say "hey man, nice clam!" the same can happen to me when someone likes my 69 F-100 and says "hey man, nice bump!"
No one at Ford ever called them a bump. But, it's an understood term now. So even though I find it slightly annoying my standard reply is "Thanks!"

 

The same kind of thing has been applied to the 80-96 Broncos and 80-early 97 F-Series trucks by the design of the front clips: 80-86 is a 'Bullnose,' 87-91 is a 'Bricknose,' and 92 and up is an 'Aerobrick.'

 

Precisely. Someone came up with a nickname and somehow it gained traction, eventually becoming an accepted part of the general vehicle vocabulary.

 

We've got a member named 'Glide-Aways'. Met up with him in L.A. some years back........
He picked the name 'Glide-Aways' because he used to own one....... Gone by the time I met up with him.

 

You mean y'all don't call it a "shark mouth wagon" like I did growing up?