Why are they called rocker panels?

This may be a total n00b question, however, I can't think of why they are actually called rocker panels.

 

...

 

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=114365

Google man, Google....

 

That answer doesn't line up with any early cars I've seen, not that I've seen them all-but in all my trips to museums and all the early 1900s stuff I've seen, I can't think of any cars that have the setup described this way.

Rock deflector does make sense, however.

Seems the panels don't really deflect rocks, though, mine certainly are rather beat up (or rusted through).

 

im not sure older older cars even had rocker panels, they werent added until later when they realized you couldnt open a door close to a curb. i think they are more for protecting your door from rocks with the added clearance too

 

Hard for rocks to get to the panels on the early cars 20s and 30s.

 

Because calling them "those long horizontal things that roll under the car" just doesn't sound right.

 

That's what got me wondering when they became rocker panels...

I know on older cars (before running boards were common), there wasn't really a "rocker" since the design was quite a bit different--often slab sided. Very different from the current rocker panel we see, say, since the 50s.

 

What would you like to call them ?

I had the worst time in chemistry until I wrapped my head around the term "Mole" .
Thought it was the stupidest thing ever, but it didn't really matter what I thought that's what a group of molecules is.

 

Does it really matter?

 

I'm fine with rocker panels, I am just curious how they got the name.

Like "fender"...fender is a shortening of "defender"...the fender defends the vehicle and passengers from flying debris (or so I've always thought).

 

ROCK deflect ER PANEL.
Then some one said these things don't deflect any rocks. Let's drop the deflect out if rock deflecter panel and we'll just call them rocker panels.

What if some dude boned a chick while she was bent over one of these dohickeys , what would it be called then?

 

Dear God man back down on the caffeine and get some sleep!

You're either a student in collage or a psychoanalyst.

 

lol,
it has be a REALLY long day at work today...

 

The term likely does not go all the way back to the first cars built. There are plenty of cars built in the 10's and 20's and later with a shape to the bottom of the body that resembled a rocker...as on a rocking chair, even some horse drawn stuff. I'm on my third '34 Ford, they have the rocker shape to them. Also, fenders and boards go way back, probably as far as the term "rocker panel" and they took the brunt of the flying rocks, hence rocks "stars" in your paint. They don't refer to fenders as rockers? However, NOVA, great question. I for one am glad you asked. This is my opinion, I'm sure you'll get more. Tim

 

i think it goes back to the days of horse drawn carts.

 

Copied from the net.......


"The rocker is provided to give proportion to a horse driven carriage since the actual comfort dimensions for passengers were considered inelegant. Therefore the box was drawn first and curves sculpted (with French curves) to provide an eye appealing design. The rocker covered the full floor depth required for passengers in the center of the carriage.

The rocker term refers to a child's cradle not a rocking chair, in original horse coach building terminology the side of the coach is called the front, it's design axis therefore resembles that of a rocking cradle."

"- from "A Practical Treatise on Coach-building" by James W. Burgess published by Crosby Lockwood & Co London in 1881.

"Proportion in carriages applies to both form and colour; as regards form, it regulates the sizes of the various parts so that the whole may harmonise, and dictates the adoption of contrivances for lessening the apparent size of those parts
which would otherwise be unseemly. Thus, the total height which is necessary in the body for the comfort of the passengers is too great for the length which it is convenient to give it ; therefore the total height is reduced, and to give sufficient leg room a false bottom is affixed by means of convex rockers, and which, being thrown back and painted black, cease to form a portion of the elevation ; they are, -like a foundation, out of sight, and thus the proportion of the front view (the side is called the front in coach-builder's parlance) is preserved. In painting the body of a coach or chariot, it is customary to confine the ground colour to the lower panels and to paint the upper ones black, all except some stripes on the upper part of the doors. Now, inasmuch as colour in....

Life's way too short to type the whole book."

 

They are called sills in England. don't know why

 

Probably for the same reason a hood is called a bonnet.

Besides, we call those aluminum or stainless carpet retainers sill plates.

 

Yeah and they call Fenders Mud Guards over there too.

 

I know!! When they did away with running boards in the early 40s one of the designers had to come up with something to take it's place so he made a sheet metal panel to fit in there. I believe his name was Mr. Rocker......

 

Why are they called:
Trunk lid or deck lid?
Hood or Bonnet?
Windshield or windscreen?
Fenders or Wings?
Sail panels?
Beltlines?

On and on we can go....

 

sills make sense...window sill, door sill...on a house..just translated to a car....as far as why they are called rockers here...dunno...but I do know I hate cleaning them up at work(clay models)...and most others do too as they are a pain in the arse...Shawn

 

A collage is; A form of art in which various materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric are arranged and stuck to a backing.

 

They are also called wings over here.

I tale that the term "sill" is an alternative spelling for "cill" as used in the building trade
1. The horizontal member that bears the upright portion of a frame, especially the horizontal member that forms the base of a window
or door.

 

Thomas Crapper invented the Rocker Panel.

 

Hey cut me some slack!

Not everybody can spell psychoanalyst and I got that right.

 

spell check eh??

 

I'm going to have to ask you to step away from my car when you feel that urge to "make a deposit".