Abstract: A passenger compartment for a passenger car has one B-column on each vehicle body side which leads into a side member situated below the B-column for increasing the transverse stiffness of the passenger compartment in the event of side impact loads. A transversely stiffening tube construction is composed of two laterally exterior upright reinforcing tubes and a tube-shaped stiffening element which extends over the width of the vehicle body. In order to achieve a more favorable introduction of force in the event of a side impact load, each upright reinforcing tube is linked to an adjoining connection plate with a lower edge area which is supported on the exterior side of the side member. An inwardly projecting supporting tube leads away from each reinforcing tube above the elevation of the side member. This supporting tube is rigidly connected in the area of the passenger compartment with one of the outer ends of the transversely extending, tube-shaped stiffening element.

Abstract: An automobile with a body passenger compartment open at the top has two tilting hoods located at a distance from one another, with each hood being provided with a lock that is connected by a connecting element with an operating handle of an operating device. Both hoods are unlockable from the passenger compartment. Provision is made such that both operating handles are associated with a common operating device, which comprises a bearing housing with a central cylinder lock. Molded notches on both operating handles cooperate with outside walls of the lock housing of the cylinder lock.

Abstract: In its rear area, a motor vehicle has a spoiler arrangement which can be moved by means of an adjusting device from a moved-in inoperative position into a moved-out operative position, and vice versa. In order to provide a rear-side spoiler arrangement which, while it has a simple construction, in the moved-out operative position, can be slid relatively far toward the rear and upward so that an enlarged inflow cross-section is achieved for the cooling of a rear-side air-cooled internal-combustion engine, it is provided that the spoiler arrangement comprises two parts which are hinged to one another. The part which is in the rear viewed in the driving direction is rotatably disposed on the adjacent body at its lower end, whereas the other forward part of the spoiler arrangement interacts with a guiding device arranged on the body side.

Abstract: A locking arrangement for coupling a top with the windshield frame of a motor vehicle includes an actuating device arranged on a front frame part of the top approximately in the area of a longitudinal center plane of the vehicle. The actuating device, by way of transversely extending connecting elements, is connected to laterally exterior locking elements. The locking elements, when the top is in a closed position, interact with receiving devices mounted at the windshield frame. The receiving devices are only accessible from above in order to create a locking arrangement which, while having a simple mounting, ensures a good operation and enables large travel movements to be achieved in the vertical direction. The receiving devices are each formed by a closing part fastened to the windshield on which an approximately horizontally extending bolt is locally mounted.

Abstract: A latching mechanism for a foldable top at a windshield frame of a motor vehicle includes a pivot lever arranged on the side of the top and a mounting device provided at the windshield frame, whereby the pivot lever rotatably supported about an approximately horizontally aligned longitudinal axis cooperates with an actuating mechanism. In order to provide a latching mechanism for a top which has a good functioning combined with simple construction and in which the closing force acting in the vertical direction reaches its maximum value in the latching position of the top, the mounting device is formed by a rotatable roller which cooperates with a guide track provided at the pivot lever in such a manner that during the closing operation the guide track is displaced from an unlatched position extending laterally adjacent the roller about the lower area of the roller by way of intermediate positions into a latching position lying underneath the roller.

Abstract: A drive mechanism for the moving of an air guide arrangement provided at a motor vehicle from a retracted rest position into an extended operating position and vice versa which includes a toothed segment rotatably supported about an axis that is operatively connected with an adjusting lever of the air guide arrangement. In order to be able to compensate for error sources in the drive mechanism such as over-travel of the electric motor or out-of-adjustment limit switches, the toothed segment and the adjusting lever are supported separate from one another on the axis and are held in a predetermined position relative to one another by way of a spring element disposed therebetween.