Another "Carson" top Tech - Removable top!

Carson, for lack of a better term.

This is how I did it in two evenings. I was kinda in a hurry so I didn't take tons of pictures, but you should be able to see what I'm talking about.

For the top bows (I only had two) I just used 1/2" EMT. Made the corners with the usual tubing bender....the cast kind with a big handle you put your foot on. That, and my knee. I did put a slight radius in them across the top so it wouldn't be totally flat. I also used the EMT for the spine running from the center of the windshield to the rear bow.



For the rest, I used 1/2" square tubing. Bent it with my slip roll actually, not rolling it through but using the rollers to wedge the pieces in and bend down on. Lots of checking side to side to get the symmetry right. Because my windshield has a peak at the top, I used the single piece down the center to the rear top bow. But I didn't continue that all the way to the bottom piece of tubing because I was going to have a window there. So I used a piece of the 1/2" square tube on either side of the window area instead.

On my body, I kept the stock style top mounting tabs on the top of the quarters. I made some plates from 1/4" steel plate so they could be drilled and tapped for mounting, and so I could weld my top bows to.





Barely visible in the above picture are the tabs I welded int the front corners of the top. They were for mounting, though at this point I hadn't figured out what I was going to do with them. I didn't want to use a latch of any kind because I didn't want to drill or weld anything to the windshield frame. So I threaded a piece of 1/4" rod at one end, sticking it through the tab with a nut to secure it, while the other end hooks to the sheetmetal at the corner of the dash. As is, it's temporary but I will end up making a prettier version of this same thing when I finish it out.

You can also see how the mirror is mounted. It's a peep mirror meant to mount to the top of a door, I cut the bracket off, drilled and tapped what was left, and mounted it through the tubing. Between the mirror and window, visibility didn't suffer at all.





Here's a very fuzzy picture of the rear mounting.





Then I took it to someone who knew what they were doing to have it covered. Came out pretty well.







I used some 1/4" wide adhesive backed weatherstripping along the front edge of the top against the windshield frame, and the rear edge against the top of the back panel. Sealed it up very well.

It worked pretty well....at least better than nothing through the monsoon on the way to Austin this year. I might do side curtains, but probably not. It also really changes the look of the car, I haven't really taken it off for much since the show. Takes about 1 minute or two to install or take off, is lightweight too.

I suppose thats it!

 

Good Tech
You're lucky to have an upholstry guy in your backyard.

 

Great job.
"Carson" is the generic term for the padded and smooth tops which usually are lined inside and are non-folding and specfic for the Carson Top Shop tops which gave the genre the name.
So no, yours is not a "Carson" anymore than is the top we made for the Track Car.

Your holddown for the top is similar to what we used on the Track Car top we just finished last month. The top has a wood header. We drilled a hole in the header, sleeved it and use a modified battery holddown J-bolt on each side with the tip of the J in the sleeved hole and the straight shank dropping down through a tab welded to the rearview mirror brackets and tightening with a wingnut. Works great and like yours is almost invisible.

 

This car just keeps getting better. I might make one of them myself since it's so easy

Pete

 

Eric, nice job..............

 

Very clean look!

 

Thanks!

Yeah, I know it's not a "carson" top....but didn't know what else to call it that explains it in one word. So....it's a one piece non-permanently fixed lift off vinyl covered top.

 

not dissing the top as it looks pretty good, but I think it would have looked even better if you had used wire mesh over the frame before you put the top material on. the material gets a bit of a starved horse look with the "skin" drawn over the "bones"

here's mine before the wire mesh was added

 

nice job...great tech! ... Your sir are a surgeon with that tube bender!

 

wow! that just looks great!! Nice job eric!

 

I like it.

Is the top material held on with glue to the top irons?? Nothing else??

 

Yup, weatherstrip type adhesive. The material is wrapped around three sides of the tubing on the edges so it's pretty strong. There is only glue on the rear top bow, not the rest. There are rivets in the front corners and the lower corners behind the door to keep the material from pulling away. It's just cheap vinyl, but is holding up pretty well.

Keep in mind the top has about 8 hours in it total, so there are things that could have been done differently but it turned out well for what it is.

 

I really like that top- have you decided as to whether or not you're going to put a bed on the back (one more vote for yes)?

 

Yep, started working on it last weekend but didn't get very far.

 

Looks great, I like it.

 

Now theres a top with some personality.

 

That's what I like. Simple solutions, well thought out and well done.

Bring a bottle of Rain-X with you on the Showdown trip. I can guarantee rain that week. Haven't failed yet.

Frank

 

I like it , simple and light ,

Any idea what it weighs ?

Beaulieu

 

Very cool. Perfect.

 

That car is just "so right" gotta hand it to ya.....

 

This came at a perfect time Eric, I have been toying with doing a light, easily removable top for the touring. Gave me some ideas for sure. thanks.

 

that car is just perfect and the top is more prefect

 

Great job! That top looks like it will help keep the sun burn down in our Texas heat.

 

Love it!

 

That's a great tech article that may help solve many of the "how am I going to do that?" questions that rod and custom folks have sitting out in the garage looking at a car without a top and long road trips on the plans.

It provides the basics to take and run with and expand on and will probably be put into many folks subscribed threads for future reference.

Well done and it looked like it got a serious workout and test on the way to Austin.

 

That top really turned out great ! I like the nice clean smooth look that the top give the car ! I have a 37 Ply p/u that I have been toying with the idea of cutting the top off and doing something like what you did so I can remove and enjoy the drive . I was thinking of a fold down but the cost will be much higher than a fixed top that is removable .
I think I will have to kinda borrow some of your idea and apply to my truck .
How well does the material hold up to the wind as you drive at 60 mph or so ? What kind of material did you use ?
Thank for the great idea for the top !

 

It is just a cheap vinyl, something you can pick up at the fabric store. I didn't buy it myself, it's something we had laying around at work. We did have some black vinyl that was more satin, no gloss at all. But there wasn't enough to do the whole top, and I think this looks ok anyway.

I was expecting the material to stretch a little bit more after being in the sun but it hasn't really so far. Driving down the road, if you put your hand up to the top you can feel the material popping up and down a lot, but it doesn't make noise and I haven't noticed it trying to pull away from the skeleton any. The rear window is some convertible type clear plastic. It's a little wavy but not horrible. Between Dallas and the Check Stop, one of my hold-down hooks for the front came loose and the top tried to lift. It was easy enough to grab a hold of it and hang on until we stopped for gas. Turns out I just didn't have the nut tight enough.

 

If you decide to do side curtains, let me know and I'll take some pix of mine for you to get some ideas from. I had an uphosterer make mine so I could velcro them to the top bow around the window opening and snap them to the inside of the door top. You'd be surprised how much more comfortable the car is on a cold morning with them.
Glenn.

 

Awesome little ride! Good job on the top, thanks for the post!

 

Perfect!!!!