so ya, my 31 coupe needs a roof... im not into metal, and dont really want fabric... plus, i have the whole orange plexi thing goin on already, and a roof insert of orange plexi would kick *** lets see what people have done, pics of framework etc if possible... i know there is an old hot rod mag article showing a how to do, but i dont have the damn mag! hell, i dont own any old mags, cant afford em! toss me some ideas guys, thanks!
heres a pic of the car (with the old tires though, but u get the idea)... i think it would kick ***... maybe 2/3 the size of the stock opening...
An open roof could be also, but isn't something like that killer on the head in the summer? (it does look cool)
my tube anglia had a red insert...yes it was intersting in the sun....and a major pain in the rain.....only wish the car had had all the sides in red as well.... brandon
If ya had the insert fit perfect in the stock hole and had it Formed in a convex shape instead of a genaric flat piece of Plexi it would be Fine. Go the extra mile & form it to a crown...
That would look so cool. To protect your noggin from the sun, make up a fabric panel insert (to snap to the underside and line it with insulated mylar, like pool covers). On a cloudy or cool day, just unsnap the insert. You need to do this! By the way, I love your grill insert and windows. Great idea and a really great job!
Exactly what I was thinking. I'm putting a full length plexi roof in a '73 Dodge Van. But you should do what I'm doing and build a retractable head liner, you can do roll back with snaps, or try and pull of a sliding one of sorts, but it will help with heat. And don't forget the crown like DE SOTO said, or it will throw it all off.
Is this as simple as making a wooden buck and applying a little heat to get the crown? It was 106 degrees today in Mesilla........perfect day for heatin' large plexi panels.
Talk to plowboy about who he had form the roof on the Atomic Punk. It involved the use of a pizza oven as far as I remember so it must work!
It sounds like a great idea until you realize that you just turned your car into a greenhouse. Seriously, I got a ride in a sun valley merc one time and it was HOT
it isnt that cool with the roof open hahahha, sun is a ***** either way, and this way the windshield folding forward would actually air out the car instead of the air shooting out of the roof.. but i do understand it could get hot.. as cheesy as it may sound i was thinking some sort of fabric or other type of cover of it as well, perhaps like a sunroof has with the tinted pull out material? just throwing ideas out here desoto, you know i would wanna get a crown going on it of sorts... issue is not enough head room for the regular wooden top bows, so my idea is a metal frame and support structure with the correct "bowing" built into it. this is kinda why i wanted to ask for some pics... ive seen some with a C channel type of attachment for the plexi.. i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see how that sedan looks from the inside ps - in the perfect world situation this would be remoovable as well so on hot hot hot days i could go without the plexi portion... not sure on making that happen though
hahaha, wouldnt that be some **** piero... that car has to be NICE to ride in from like 5-35 mph... then might as well be on a motorcycle ... i wonder if you could ever go fast enough to cause the front of the car to lift slightly due to the parachute like action of the rear of the coupe its cool as **** though
im sure it will get hot... but a sunvalley cant angle out the windshield 15 degrees and **** in a bunch of air~! plus... fabric cover would help this i been drivin my car 100-250 miles a week on my off days (shirt and tie job)depending on rain and all... probably driving it more than i ever thought i would... burned 2 tank fulls of gas just cruisin around not too long ago.. im havin a TON of fun but would like the car to look more finished.. just gettin ideas, this couldnt even begin to happen til this fall probably..
was thinkin about canvas... idk... not as cool to me hahaha... its seems like people drive with em... cant be the worst thing ever!
Evel......that's the sort of thing I was just going to suggest. The wife's PT Cruiser has a sunroof with that sliding cover inside. Probably would need to be a snap on thing in a coupe.
the VW thing could be a decent idea, and i had thought of it.. thing is how odd that would look when it bunches up in the back.. i think a snap off roof would happen before that for me
I agree about the bunching up thing. I like the way it looks on the early ragtop bugs, but can't quite resolve it in my head if it could look right on the A... I dunno. the thing I was most afraid of is how it would look closed. I'd want it to look close to original "A"...
My shop teacher in HS bent up a big ole acryllic fish tank using a wood buck and a propane torch. Shouldn't be too hard, he sure made it look easy. And what would be wrong with just using some window tint up there to take down the glare and bake factor?
I used to ride in a 31 coupe with a green plexi top insert and it was OK. Chopped, angle channeled, fenderless, and yellow. It could be hot, but it wasn't really bad even in the summer, but the green was pretty dark.
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