Look at the article by Jim A, asking about some Barris built Merc. Scroll down to the white or grey Merc with the round tail lights. You will see the last few feet of a '57 Merc wagon with no roof.
The beltline on '59-'60 Merc wagons kicks up as it goes around the tailgate, kinda like the back of a T touring. I always thought it would be kinda neat to make a huge phaeton out of one.
Yes!!! Summer of 1993. It was a 1977 Chevy Malibu wagon. A buddy from grad school and I drove it from MPLS to MT Rushmore and back in three days. It rained two out of the three days. It went 100mph briefly on the trip home (I was even more of an idiot back then). I have video of the cutting process and the road trip. It took about an hour with the chop saw, complete with my idiotic narration and my buddy's smart aleck commentary. Our driving focus was that convertibles were not only for the rich. Kind of a poor-man's Touring. Kind of like the Monkee-Mobile. It was a brash empowerment thing. I turned more heads with that car than anyone in a Jag, Porsche, or Bimmer. Chicks dug it, too. After the trip, my buddy flew back to Germany to work for VW and I wound up driving it for teh remainder of the year -- occasionally for fun in the winter. We called it the Polar Roadster. The following summer I removed the doors and put a foot peg where the lower DS door hinge attached. The doors rattled pretty badly, so removing them got rid of a lot of noise. And it cut an additional 300 lbs. from the car, quickening the acceleration. Oh, and I had to add drain holes in the floor by knocking out the body plugs. And obviously you know what wet carpet smells like, so that went away pretty quickly. It was truly a blast. Highly recommended. Make sure you pick a car with a full frame. I tried it with a banged up rusty VW Rabbit several years later, and, while fun, it had pretty bad cowl shake in bumpy curves. It basically ruined the GTI. But it converted the Malibu into a surprisingly nice looking cabriolet than handled almost as well as any stock station wagon. If you have any questions, please PM me.
Just check out Shakes the Clown because of Lawanda Page... "As soon as the camera is off he's gonna **** that little dog!" Sorry, but you don't see Shakes the Clown brought up around here very much. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread, already in progress.
Dave, At first I thought that may have been a Delivery with the roof cut off, but it appears there may have been a rear door (looking at the drivers side inside metal structure.. Maybe they welded the rear doors shut.
Several years ago, someone from eastern N.C. told me about an early '60's Ford wagon that they cut the center of the roof out of - they left the section above the doors and windows all around. Then they had a waxed canvas top made that snapped on all the way around. That was their beach cruiser for several summers; in the winter it would stay in the barn. Made a pretty cool surf wagon.
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