Who makes that new foldable roadster top that you can stick in your trunk? There was an article on it in SR or R&C, but damned if I can find it. Anyone know?
I think thats the one called the bop top? Ive seen it advertised in lots of different mags.. Ill look in a few when i get time if you dont get the info before then. Dave
Sid Chaver's is the guy you are thinking of here is a link to his web site... http://www.sidchaverscompany.com/boptop/boptop.html Hope this helps... Dave Brisco
The Bop Top can be diss***embled but it doesn't fold. The guys at Brookville had one on display that was supposed to fold but it looked like a mess to me. I am working on a top for my 32 that folds to lay behind the seat and not stick out plus can be put in the trunk. PM me for details.
Thanks for the leads, but I don't think that is it. Seems like I remember it having tension rods like a tent would have.
hey the Bop Top is a great top,alot of money,and that ****s,but a good looking top,that goes in the trunk.
Speaking of the TIME MACHINES roadster tops, as near as I can tell from their site, the framing and everything looks good, and looks like it has those tensioner rods in the back, HOWEVER, has anyone here bought their product, the reason I ask, it seems like they sell you the frame and the material, and it's up to you to put it together, and stretch the canvas top material. I like their's better than the Bop Top, so I wouldn't have to put all those snaps around the back, but in defense of Bop Tops, I see in the lastest issue of street rodder, their ad also says they have side curtains, which I need. price wise, they are all pretty much the same price $2500 I need a top for my 29 roadster too, but haven't decided on which mfg to go with yet.
I sold quite a few of them when I worked at Hot Rods and Custom Stuff. This is not a direct bolt on, as you do need to fit the front header, and fasten the material, but by far the nicest top on the market. The red flathead powered roadster in the article(not the gl*** cabrio, yes there were two different cars shown in the SR article) belongs to the owner of Hot Rods and Custom Stuff, Randy Clark, and other than the top(and an alternator) the car has remained untouched since it was hotrodded in the mid 50's, and the top does not look out of place whatsoever. Although I no longer work at HR&CS, and have no affiliation with them they are good people, and friends of mine. Just give them a buzz at 1-800-HOT-ROD-5, and ask for Earl. Good Luck. Drew
I'll bet you find you don't take the top off and on to any great extent. The top on my 32 folds, sticks up a bit, but I usually just fold it, remove it and toss it in the house then run ******* for a while. Most times the top stays on the car cuz I like it that way. Take note of the top irons and oak bows on my 32's top - which is sitting on the 31 for a trial fit. As you can see the front horizontal bar will have to be shorted about 2" so the 32 top fits the 31 body and 32 style windshield frame and 32 posts. More importantly, you can make your own top frame by utilizing all three of the oak bows - from Wescott or Lebaron-Bonney - and set the top wedge (if any) and height as you wish. It doesn't have to be a folder, but the oak bows make it look trad. Storing the top in the garage on a little rack cranked up via pulleys in the ceiling ala 55 T-Bird and Corvette gl*** top style is a good way to store it. I've seen top frames constructed from electrical conduit and round thin wall tubing and once the top material is on they look pretty good. All of these were non-folders. One failing of the aftermarket tops other than the stock - or chopped - style I see is that the side of the top does not overhang the body. Which means that when it rains it's coming inside. The stock type overhang in my 32's top means I can run it sans side windows in up to moderate rainstorms with no problems. It does pretty well in cloudbursts, but most times there's a little wind with these and with all the water coming down and if you're headed in the right direction wind-wise you're gonna get wet. All part of the roadster life and no big deal. If you build the stock style top you can order a top kit from Lebaron-Bonney and fit the top yourself. It's a pleasant project and not difficult. Getting back to the 32 top on the 31, the 31 and 32 ****pits are the same size within about a half inch in all measurements except depth - the 31 is 2" shallower - and the 31's windshield sits about 2" further back than does the 32's windshield. All of which means the 32's good looking top can be used on the 31. Imo, the 32's top is better looking than the A top because A tops are very vertical compared to the lean-forward of the 32 top. This lean-forward can be added to by the simple expedient of how you set up the oak bows. The bows come unfinished and un-drilled so you have some la***ude in placing them. I chose to have a wedge shape to the 32's top - as seen in my avatar - and it paid off when one of the top hold-down bolts came loose on the freeway. A level top probably would have been pulled up by the airstream and done it's best to emulate a parachute. A lot of damage could have been done. Another advantage with the Lebaron-Bonney top is they come with a rear window flap that unsnaps and snaps up into the tops reinforcing webbing. The larger rear window opening means lots of airflow and conversely in cold weather you can snap it back down to the ****pit rail and cut down on ****pit airflow. Compare the pics between back window closed and open to see how big an airflow improvement you get. It's like running *******, but with shade. In the three quarter rear view of the 31 you can get an idea of the top's rear and how it leans forward. Also shown in the pic of the 32. The last couple of pics show my pal's 29 roadster. Unchopped, but he likes it that way. Anyway, note the verticalness of the A's top at the back. The other photo gives you an idea of how big the window opening is when the top is snapped up inside. Just some alternative ideas, hope it helps....
I couldn't find a dead-on rear view pic, but these should give you an idea of how far the top overhangs the sides. Fwiw, you can wash the car without water from the top getting inside. Remember to close the back window though. I didn't a couple of times and it was quite a waterfall coming off the back of the top and inside on the seat....
Ya know, I gots over a thousand pics on my computer and I still don't have the ones I need sometimes. Sorry to say I don't have pics of the top folded down . . . but . . . if I can get granddaughters digi-cam figured out and get a couple of honey-do's done I'll try to get some this afternoon and post em up this evening. My neat little HP digi-cam threw a mechanical fit and refuses to extend the lens. HP's gonna send me an upgraded camera straight across for my broken one. Their term for upgrade struck me as funny. I turn in my $400.+ camera and get a $125. camera in return.... Gotta give it ot HP though, they had a pretty quick response to my emails and the follow-ups were done in ok fashion time-wise. I guess it all boils down to, good service after the sale, but a helluva warranty program....
Thanks C9, I'm soon going to do my top and was wondering what it looks like folded down. You are right though, everyone either has the top on or off, not usually on and down. I kinda like the idea of an original top or making one. $2500-3500 for a top dont work for me 32 Ford or not!
I bought a top frame from some Fiat sports car on ebay for 21.00 It "mostly" fits my A roadster and seems to have a nice low profile, but still clears my head, although i'll have to duck to get in (i'm 6'1") I have to split and angle the front header bow to fit my duval and shorten the bars that attach at the rear quarters, but I think it may actually fold when i'm done. If not i'll tig it up solid and have a lift off like C9 was talking about. Its going to be a bit of fitting but the price was right. I'll try to shoot a pic of the top frame sitting in place if you are interested Mike
Shoot some pics and share with us. As mentioned, I'm gonna put a 32 top on the 31. I have a fair idea of how it's gonna go, but it would be nice to see how someone else did it. Please do. Some underneath shots showing the top irons etc. would help.
Fwiw, I have a little less than one grand in my top and top irons. Circa 1995-1996 or so. Probably more now. I got the Lebaron-Bonney part polished 2" chopped stainless irons from Wescott - fairly sure there as L-B supplies a lot of Wescott stuff from what I understand. The top is an L-B kit with their best cloth. Look close at the top on the 29 A I posted above and you'll see what the cloth looks like. The 29's top is also an L-B kit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I took quite a few pics with granddaughter's little digi-cam. Turned out ok all things considered, but it's always tough to get used to a new camera. Anyway, here's a little bit on how the top folding drill goes. 1st pic shows the top going vertical. The folding horizontal bars of the top irons are still locked in this side view pic. 2nd pic shows the horizontal bars of the top irons unlocked and the fold started. It has to be done this way on my car because if you unlock - it's just an over center toggle like arrangement - the horizontal bars the top will not fold over the roll bar. In fact, folding the top is probably easier done this way when there is no roll bar. Especially when going it alone. One small word of advice, if you're not removing the top, leave the rear of the top connected to the ****pit rail. Otherwise, if the top is disconnected from the ****pit rail, you stand a good chance of the partially folded top irons hitting the paint. 3rd pic, top folded most of the way. 4th pic, side view of the top folded most of the way. 5th and 6th pics, top folded all the way. It's up a couple of inches on the right side due to an aluminum flag holder over there. 7th and last pic for this post shows the top folded from the front 3/4 view. Next post will show some detail stuff.
A few details. 1st pic shows the front oak header. The main thing I want to point out here is the round windlace looking deal that goes behind the oak header. Imo this setup does a much better job of keeping water out at highway - or sitting still - speeds than does the flap of material on the Model A tops. Another reason why I plan to use a 32 top on the 31 A. 2nd - only slightly out of focus - pic shows the drivers side windshield post. Note at the top, the machined aluminum ****on with smooth round top epoxied within the windshield post. This was done before I got a top and used a CCC roadster ****pit cover. If you don't pad the sharp edged original style top post it will cut a hole through the ****pit cover in no time. Even with the rounded aluminum piece I used a clean, small folded white towel to pad the posts. (A 3/8" stainless ****on head allen is a good subs***ue for the machined pin.) 3rd pic shows a stainless allen bolt that I machined a pin end on. This allows the tops front retainer bolts to go into the drilled to match aluminum ****on. It makes for a very secure top retainment setup. Especially so when you compare the shallow angle ends on the original Ford style cast wing bolts that hold the top on. I had one of these come loose on the freeway and the only thing that saved the top was it's wedge shape created an aerodynamic down force on the top. Note too, the allen bolt with integral pin has a stainless nut to lock things down. 4th pic is of the tops center pivot bracket. I like to torque these down snugly rather than use the sheet metal retainment device which is prone to rattle. Just takes a few seconds to loosen the two nuts and pivot the top down. 5th and 6th pics show the double female snap receptacle. The window flap material on the side goes in between the two female snap receptacles and the double overlap of material keeps water out. Works pretty good, I've never seen water enter from this area. Course, with no side windows it's a moot point. That's most of it. At least all I could think of. The only other thing to add is when folding the top keep the material from ending up between the top irons horizontal parts when the top is down. for one thing, it prevents the top from being folded all the way down and the other is it will wear a hole in the top in short order. If you look at folded 32 style tops that have a boot on them, you'll see they stick up about as high as the folded top does on my roadster. Along with running top down, you'll need a pair of chrome plated gizmo's that look a little bit like a boat rope cleat for the top to rest on. And if you don't have a boot, be sure and bungee the top irons and top material together so the wind doesn't pop the top open at highway speed. Let that happen and your coffee, favorite dog and best girl may go flying....
Will do, may be a little while as I'm moving my business to another building this week, and have had to move some stuff into the garage temporarily. There is no fabric in place but you'll still be able to see the profile at least. I haven't totally figured out how I will attach it at the windshield though, the duvall has no pins or anything, but the engineering is half the fun isnt it?
Here's one more pic that may help. Look right above the chrome plated top horizontal run of the windshield frame. You'll see a blank black area. That's the windlace/water seal I talked about in the post above. This piece comes with a flap of material about 1" wide so you can screw it to the oak windshield header. Look above the windlace and you'll see a piece of 1/8" x 1" aluminum strap that holds the windlace/water seal to the oak header via the flap of material. Five screw holes in this piece, countersunk for #10 FH stainless sheet metal screws. The aluminum strap makes for a nice finished piece and it holds the windlace/water seal down quite well. You could use stainless sheet metal screws with finishing* washers, but after a while the windlace/water seal flap would probably fray. *Finishing washers are the little stamped sheet metal cup shaped pieces, usually stainless. A slightly rounded head FH sheet metal screw or machine screw works well with these. One caution when dealing with the oak bows, be sure and drill a pilot hole for the sheet metal screws. Rub the threads on a bar of hand soap for lubrication. And don't use too long a screw or you stand a chance of breaking it off in the oak bow. 1" is long enough. And a handy hint when setting the oak bows up on the top irons. Use masking or electricians tape to hold the oak bows in place on the top irons. When you get them where you want, run a bunch of masking tape over the bows so you can get a three dimensional feel as to how the top will look. In fact, try this with the oak bows in a couple of different positions, take some pics and think about it before you drill the oak bows. If you screw up and drill the holes slightly off or change your mind all is not lost. Get some 100 grit sandpaper and sand a piece of wood so as to obtain some wood dust. Oak is ok to use, but not necessary, any wood will do. Pack some wood dust into the hole you wish to fill. Drop one or two drops of Cyanoacrylate glue into the wood dust. It cures immediately and makes a very hard material that drills well and holds screws very well. In fact, I've used this little trick in balsa wood to make threads. In that case, use the screw to cut threads into the soft balsa, remove the screw and drop in a couple drops of Cyano. It makes for very hard wood threads - even in the balsa - that don't wear to any great degree. Works well for parts that are removed fairly often. Cyano is found at R/C hobby shops. Get the thin watery type, Goldberg's is an excellent brand. It's expensive so store it in the frig - not the freezer - to extend the shelf life. Here's a pic I found that will give you an idea of the top's side overhang. And one last one for the road. Taken on an impromptu cruise one warm day last summer. Life in a roadster as it were....
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