After driving roadsters in Sweden since 1988, im quite familiar with the Swedish summer weather. Still ive driven my 33 Roadster without a top, for the last two years! When my wife and I had been caught in rain three times during two week's. My wife refused to go out if there was a sign of a cloud on the sky. So on Evilbay i found some used roadster top parts in Australia, and since American guy's are afraid to buy from foreigner's, i got it for a really good price. OK 50% was more or less missing, since my Roadster has some patina (ive been asked if it's a Rat Rod!! ;-) ). And I know that you can buy a new set Top Iron Bows for thousands of dollar's, but im a cheap fart so I did it my way. Fortunatly i was able to borrow some Bows from a friend. The original Bows are made from Ash or oak, i could not lay my hands on that material, and to be honest this is s stopgap solution. I went over to my local lumberyard and bought some 2 by 4 Pine wood (yes timber is still measured in inches here in the metric part of the world, plumbing parts to. but that another story). The original bows are steam bent, i did not had time to figure out how to do that, so i did it my way. To cover the top i bought four old sailor bad for 15$ This is what came from Australia, maybe Evilbay is not so bad at all. The Irons had been in a fire and the rust had taken its toll. I made the other missing steel parts to. Its important to check and see that you can fold everything, The front bow its temporary. First bow ruffly shaped (carpenters look away now), The Australian iron was not exactly the same as the American, so i had to improvise a bit. A flapdisc makes shaping easy Working on bow two, it was cut ruff and shaped to fit on the iron's first, here you can see how the bend was made and glued with epoxi. Its good to fold the top a couple of times during the progress. When they where ready i soaked the bows with mix of boiled linseed oil and turpentine, then painted them matt black. Its nice to check so the wood does not hit wood, after this picture was taken i lowered the top another inch. I used tape to get a feel of the endresult. After tape, i took out out some paper, its cheaper than cloth. After the Iron and bows was ready i started to make the sides, of the sailor sack material. When the sides was ready i measured the distance between them, Then i guessed that the centre part would stretch almost 4", and then i s***ched everything togheter. Using my wifes sewing machine. I mounted the rear window Its mounted directly on the cloth and then cut out afterwards, its good to let it rest for a day before you cut it, so the cloth can stretch. I made a special mount so i could open end close the centre part, Using a male and female and a poprivet. Here you can see a piece of the Pads i made to make the side's shape out nicer. I bought some Hidem to cover the nail's used to mount the top material. All prepaired for the Swedish Summer. Yes its fit behind the backrest, in case the sun is shining Made a small cover for the folded top.
Thank's Since it spent its earlier live as sack's in the Swedish marine for many decades, it was no need to pre-shrink it. But since it not was meant to be used as Top material it had some natural stretch in it. I only used tent Impregnation spray, to keep the rain out, and it works great.
Very Cool! Nice job on a project most guys would skip or pay to have done. Making a top is kind of a lost art in my opinion. Awesome!
Mr 42, That top came out excellent ! You did a great job. Your roadster is now ready to brave the rain storms. Hope you and your wife enjoy the new top. Dave
Very nice, I've never seen a 33-34 Roadster top folded, I like the way it folds away behind the seat. What is the story with your Roadster, was the deck cut for a rear seat at one time? Great looking car!
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