If you’ve ever wondered about the name of the leather cover over a pickup truck’s bed, it’s called a tonneau cover. The word tonneau is actually French and literally means cask or barrel, which describes the round shape of the rear passenger compartment on early cars. In 1901, the term was used by the English to describe the back seat area of an automobile, which was rounded, somewhat like a barrel. Cars like the 1903 Cadillac Model A had a rear entrance tonneau, where passengers got in the vehicle from behind.

Classic cars from this era had an open body, without protective windows or windshields, that was inspired by horse drawn carriages, but later, fabric or leather tonneau covers were created to protect the unused seats from rain, dust, and dirt on bad roads. It was a practical accessory that tied directly to the open, barrel-shaped design. Although it disappeared when enclosed, all-steel bodies became mainstream in the 1920s, it wouldn’t be gone for long.

Despite the car industry changes that forced Tonneau covers to fade away, it would make its comeback in the 1930s in racing culture. Drivers who wanted to break speed records at places like the Bonneville Salt Flats used canvas or leather covers to stretch over unused cockpits to reduce drag and improve vehicle aerodynamics by creating a smooth surface for air to flow freely over the area prone to drag. This idea was partly inspired by aviation engineering advancements that applied streamlining principles to reduce resistance in the air.

Doing this provided measurable performance advantages, with some racers even stating that the cover was the deciding factor in their record-breaking runs. While tonneau covers were made to protect against bad weather and outside elements in early automobiles, it now had another purpose as a performance tool, which reshaped its meaning and showed its versatility. By taking an existing idea and giving it a new purpose, racers kept the term alive long after the original barrel-bodied car style was obsolete.

The next turning point came from the land down under, Australia, when Lew Bandt introduced the world’s first ute in 1934 with the Ford Coupe Utility. It was an interesting looking vehicle that combined a passenger cabin with an integrated cargo tray, and often came with a tonneau cover to shield the bed.

With the ute carrying the term forward, it bridged the gap between its use in racing to being adopted on pickup trucks. In the United States, pickups quickly became the natural home for the tonneau cover, which matured into a secure, multi-purpose accessory.

In the 1990s, products such as Agri-Cover’s ACCESS Original roll-up cover and Truxedo’s Lo Pro shined a spotlight on a competitive aftermarket, with each company claiming breakthroughs in roll-up design. Today, you can get tonneau covers in various materials like vinyl, fiberglass, aluminum, and ABS plastic, and anything from folding to retractable covers. They have grown to serve multiple roles, like protecting cargo from weather, improving security with locks, reducing drag, improving a truck’s gas mileage, and enhancing the overall look of a truck.