Volante (carriage)

Volante ({{lang|es|volanta}} in Spanish) is a two-wheeled open carriage with a retractable hood that was popular in Cuba in the mid-1800s. The vehicle was directed by a postilion rider. The large wheels are positioned behind the seat and are over 6 feet in diameter with an 8.5 inch hub. Most of the volantes were imported to Cuba from England, France, or the United States.{{r|smith|walrond79|stratton}}

File:Coachmen with Horse and Carriage, Havana, Cuba, 1830s-1840s.tif|Havana, Cuba, 1830s-1840s

File:The storied West Indies (1900) (14773684402).jpg|c. 1900

File:Detroit Photographic Company (1000).jpg|1904

File:Industrial Cuba - being a study of present commercial and industrial conditions with suggestions as to the opportunities presented in the island for American capital, enterprise and labour (1899) (14759212576).jpg|3-horse volante, 1899

References

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{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles |first=D.J.M. |last=Smith |year=1988 |publisher=J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. |isbn=0851314686 |ol=11597864M |page=169 |quote=Volante. Two-wheeled, hooded vehicle of Cuba. Fairly lowslung with a chaise-like body and long, flexible shafts, which aided the suspension and eliminated sway. Three or more ponies were harnessed abreast, two on each side of a carriage pole. One of the nearside ponies was further attached by extension gear and ridden by a postillion. Hung on rearward cee springs. Large numbers of this type of vehicle were constructed in either Great Britain or the United States of America exported to Cuba throughout the greater part of the 19th century.}}

{{Cite book |last=Stratton |first=Ezra M. |title=The World on Wheels; or, Carriages, with their Historical Associations from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including a Selection from the American Centennial Exhibition |year=1878 |publisher=The author |ol=7004294M |oclc=3570369 |location=New York |pages=427-428}}

{{cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Driving |first=Sallie |last=Walrond |year=1979 |publisher=Country Life Books |isbn=0600331822 |ol=4175648M |page=290 |quote=Volante: A Cuban two-wheeled hooded vehicle. The wheels are positioned at the end of the shafts, well behind the gig-shaped body which hangs on cee-springs.}}

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Category:Carriages