1949 as the Buick Roadmaster Riviera, Oldsmobile 98 Holiday, and Cadillac Coupe de Ville. They were purportedly inspired by the wife of a Buick executive who always drove convertibles, but never lowered the top. The Kaiser-Frazer 1949 Virginian was an early example of a four-door hardtop albeit with a removable thin, chrome- and-glass 'B' pillar held on by five screws. The car was designed to have a convertible look and padded nylon or cotton was applied over the roof contributing to the soft-top appearance. Two-door hardtops became popular with consumers in the 1950s while the two-door sedan body design fell out of favor among buyers. In 1955, General Motors introduced the first four-door hardtops. Following the pattern established by the two-door variants, GM utilized the same special sub-designations for the pillarless four-door body types within all their brands in North America. The term de Ville was used for Cadillac, Riviera was used for Buick, Holiday was used for Oldsmobile, Catalina was used for Pontiac, and Bel Air was used for Chevrolet. Other manufacturers also designated special names for their pillarless models. Ford called them Victoria, Chrysler used Newport and their luxury division Imperial used the name Southampton, Packard named them Mayfair, and Hudson's were Hollywoods. Nash used the Country Club moniker while pillarless Studebakers were Starliners, a name that was later used by Ford for its Galaxie hardtop. By 1956 every major U.S. automaker offered two- and four-door hardtops in a particular model lineup. General Motors restyled their new models and now offered four-door hardtops from every division and in nearly every series except the lowest priced lines. Chrysler also offered two- and four-door hardtops for every brand, from Imperial, Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth. In 1956, the first four-door hardtop station wagons were introduced to the Rambler line by American Motors Corporation. The following year, the Mercury Commuter hardtop wagons became available in both two- and four-door body styles. Chrysler built four-door hardtop station wagons all the way through 1964, in both the Chrysler and Dodge 880 lines. Throughout the 1960s the two-door pillarless hardtop was by far the most popular body style in most lines where such a model was offered. Even on family-type vehicles like the Chevrolet Impala, the two-door hardtop regularly outsold four-door sedans. Some car lines (such as the 1957-64 Cadillac and 1965–69 Corvair) only offered pillarless models with no sedans at all. So prevalent