I caught some of a TV show at a friend’s
house, they were restoring some Mopar.
The commentator said that because it
was a 2-door hardtop, it only had two pillars,
A and B. Is this correct?
No. The commentator must have
assumed, wrongly, that because the pillar
(or post) does not extend up to the roof
rail, that it wasn’t a pillar. Check one published
definition of pillar:
“An upright shaft or structure, of stone,
brick, or other material, relatively slender
in proportion to its height, and of any
shape in section, used as a building support,
or standing alone, as for a monument”.
(From dictionary.com).
If you look at a Mopar 2-dr. hardtop
body-in-white in the parts book (see
E-body drawing, above), check the
item called out as “PTC 23-36-53”. The
description: “Pillar, body lock.” Chrysler
rarely called pillars by the customary
alphabetic designations (A, B, C), instead,
they used descriptive nouns, and, in
some cases, the pillar was manufactured
as one piece with other components, for
instance, many A-pillars are designated
“panel, cowl side.”
But whether you call it B-pillar, lock pillar,
center pillar, etc., it is still a pillar, and
it needs to be there.