Saving a roof removed Olds 98?

I've aquired a 1959 Olds 98 4dr sedan that someone cut the roof off of and never did anything else. The roof was cut at the center post down low, at the rear corners down low, and across the top right behind the top piece of molding. As usual, they were planning on making a convertible and got i over their heads....

Anyway, I was considering saving this one if it's feasible; stretching the front doors and converting to a 2dr, adding a carson top, a little dechroming, some satin blue with silver flake scallops, etc. My main concern of course is what would need to be done to beef up the frame and body since the original integrity has been compromised. It has a full frame, (with an x member i believe) but I don't know if that's enough to support itself as is.

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Doug

 

I'd find a rotted out 2 door hardtop with a good roof and doors, then swap on the roof, doors, door jambs, and the forward part of the rear quarters with the jambs in it, to make a 2 door hardtop. You might have to jack the body around to get the roof to line up square if the last people didn't brace everything before they cut it, but once it's in place the body's rigidity should be right back.

I hate roofless 50's cars and while I like Carson tops I don't see how one is going to look good on something like a '59 Olds, I think they're more for the 38-54 year range.

Easiest fix would be to just replace the flat top roof with another one from a donor car. But no matter what you do, the car would have to be pretty nice otherwise and really cheap to be worth all of that effort.

 

If you look at drawings of 59 & 60 olds convertibles, it looks like they used the same frame as the hardtops. not sure if you need any additional bracing. My 60 Olds 2 door hardtop (with a roof) would flex quite a bit if you jacked it up and you could see it in the door fit if you jacked it up. but it always went back to normal on the ground. This was a rust free original.

 

you will mainly need some support at the front of the "new" 2 door 1/4, hardtops/converts usually have a triangulated wedge brace that is covered up with the rear armrest covering, then a lower brace across the floor, and an upper brace that runs across under the front of the rear seat.
the convertibles had some steel strap I think 1/4 X 2 inches welded to the top and bottom of the frame rails.

I would suggest buying a shorter hardtop/convert winshield , and chopping your sedan frame to fit.

 

Awe man I just got rid of TWO 4 door '59s after I took all I could off of them the roofs were great but everything below mid door was almost gone! They both had good glass too. Wish I would have known you could have had both of them!!!

 

I'm all for the 2 dooring part but I think you need to put a roof back on it even if it's a little bit lower then a stock Hard top.

 

There's a lot of scope for craziness there.

If you can reconstruct the pillar profiles you could swop in a roof from something different entirely; but to pull it off it would not only need to be different enough from the stock roof to have a point but also work aesthetically with the rest of the car. The advantage is that you've got flat side glass. Widening or narrowing the new roof might generate issues with front and rear glass, though, but perhaps that can be designed around.

In fact you could use a roof from a significantly narrower car and work wide "window sills" into the doors to make a sort of "personal coupé". I think a '59 Olds would look brilliant with a roof from an Alfa Romeo GT Junior, say. You wouldn't need to chop it: the mere difference in scale between the two cars would give it a mildly-chopped look.

I don't think a carson top is that bad an idea, but you would have to style it right for a late-'50s application. How about incorporating small quarter windows with a reverse trailing line, so that there is a sharp corner at the top rear? How about a reverse slope to the rear window, either creating a little "Kamm" edge at the rear of the top, or sloping the top into buttresses? The possibilities are endless.

Then there are open options. How about a (possibly doorless) open "roadster" with a '50s/'60s racer style wrap-around plastic windscreen? Or a boat windscreen? Perhaps with headrest fairings à la Battlebird? Or a four-door dual-cowl phaeton with two boat windscreens? Or dual cockpits like the Futura/Batmobile? And then you can shorten it or section it or both or neither.

How about a weird limo with a roof from a small '50s/'60s European car over the rear seats and only fold-down aero screens for the driver's compartment? You see how this is more of an embarras de choix than anything else.

 

Some great info here. Sadly I had a rusty '59 El Camino a while back but sold it. If I still had it I would be slicing them both up and building a wicked Olds Camino.

I don't have the roof or else I would probably put this thing back as it was originally and just drive it. I like the idea of picking up a shorter windsheild for a convert and splicing in. Wish I could find a rusty 2 door close to home but I've had no luck so far. Decisions, decisions....