Just doing some thinking... Have any of you with a coupe or sedan that would have normally had a soft-top insert made anything that was removable? For example. Thinking of a removable hard-top or soft-top insert for early Ford cars. It's nice here most of the year so it would be awesome to run without an insert, sort of like a permanent sky roof, but then have something to put in place for road trips and such. Pics would be cool if you guys have any?
Here's a pretty good way to do it. I didn't get to talk to the owner, but I believe it's a late model power MoonRoof.
Slick, but waaay to modern! Plus, if you have a coupe, you're going to be hard pressed to fit on of those in and have it be worth your while. It would be cool to have something you could stowe inside or something too. Quick-release with like four knobs or latches, and sealed with weather-stripping for a rainy day. Plumb the interior rain gutters to move the water away so it doesn't sit in the channels. I guess it would be like having a deck lid on your roof that isn't hinged, just latched.
I plan on putting a removable top on my 27 Tall T. I will use plywood, covered in fabric and bolted down to the roof structure in each corner. Remove it on good days and enclose it for the road trips and weather.
I want to use one of those when I get that far in my project. Right now it's just getting tin screwed to the roof, but one day....
I second the Bug style, I want to do that to mine too. Any body know a good source for custom sizes. what kind of tracks wiil be needed? Gary
Back in the early 70's I had a friend who owned a 32 PB plymouth 3 window coupe,,,he had a piece of stainless steel covering the factory hole in the roof,,, He had about 16 Dutz fasteners that held the insert in place,,,this car was his daily driver for more than 20 years and I rode in it a lot in all kinds of weather and never got wet. HRP
Way back when, a buddy had a 36 Ply coupe. He made a snap on tonneau cover just like the trucks of the 50's. Probably leaked in a heavy rain but it kept the dew off the seat in the morning.
I remember a tech article from a 'little pages' magazine. It showed how to put a plexigl*** removable top on a coupe. Used stainless wing nuts,it was a show car,and the top was 1/4" blue. does anyone remember it?? Sparky
Granted, too modern to some, but why not take advantage of the good waterproofing qualities of a modern Moonroof and make it trad looking? You may want to think about what you're gonna have if the complete sedan top is open. Hurricane city comes to mind. Depending on the Moonroof, there should be several ways to mount a fabric style top to the Moonroof proper. You'd have to keep in mind clearances etc. for when the Moonroof was opened. One thing I can see would be to remove the gl***/Lexan/whatever from the frame and build in the trad style insert. A little of the satin black trim paint over any bright or bare aluminum that would show and a lot of folks would think it was an oldie, but a goodie....
I don't disagree that a power roof has it's advantages and looks clean, but like I said, if you have a coupe then she's not going to fit (at least not easily). Also, the power thing is just not the type of thing I will be going for... JUST ME PERSONALLY. I would like to keep all wiring in the car very simple, keep the car light, and I like things that are more mechanical vs. push a ****on and vwall-la... I like that fact that when you get into an old car (especially a really old car!) you have to do certain things to even go down the street in it. I accept the fact that these cars are not luxury Mercedes Benzos and appreciate the mechanicalness of what they are. So I'm thinking, it would be a nice challege to make something that is as functional and simple as the "stainless cover with 16 Dutz fasteners", but is super easy to remove in a few seconds and looks like it was supposed to be there. Maybe incorporate the ribs right into the insert for support and the whole thing would lift off and be water-tight. I don't care about the interior of the car because is will have sort of a "bomber" interior to it. Everything exposed so you can see everything that makes the car work. Maybe even show the wire looms running from front to rear, etc. Don't mind me C9, I'm just weird about this subject and I don't mean to sound ****py towards your opinion on it. Just like super simple yet very mechanical things. Just my $.02. All input appreciated! Not trying to start **** with anyone.
Scooter, I like the ideas you're talking about for your interior. I too have something spartan in mind for my coupe. What are you planning on doing with the dashboard and gauges? I scored a complete and clean '49 Pontiac dash and I'm trying to figure out how to fit such a fancy dash into a bare bones interior. I'd like to hear your input since it sounds like we're going in similar directions. Ed PS- Hope this doesn't side-steer your thread!
I seem to remember DRD57 talking about putting a VW style folding cloth roof in his Model A some day and knew a place that did them? Maybe if he ever comes back from his honeymoon he'll tell who does the tops? I'd put a tinted low profile plexi bubble in it... 60's traditional!
Ed, Have some mental pictures of just metal everywhere inside. Maybe even a completely fabbed dash to compliment everything else. Riveted looking maybe. I would like it to look somewhat "uncomfortable" I guess. Maybe bomber seats or something. I guess a good description would be like stepping into the ****pit of a WWII plane or something, but with the influences of a top fuel racer mixed in. I would like it to feel like you're in something very "serious" and purposeful. I've got some thoughts on a roof that would compliment the style. Maybe steel sheet with ribs welded or riveted to the bottom side and the latches inside at four corners with a rain gutter all the way around that it would actually sit in. Hard plumb fittings into rain gutter. I don't really like add on **** that is just there for looks (to an extent), but things that are functional. I work around some military equipment and have seen some things that really turned me on to that style. Some of the vehicles I see inside just make you want to sit in them and look around, but look seriously uncomfortable. Anyway, you get the idea. The roof needs to compliment that style and be functional too. Don't mind me guys.... just rambling. I just woke up with a bunch of ideas the other day and haven't really voiced them. Scooter
I'm not thinking you're being offensive, quite the contrary, this is a nice polite discussion. I do see where you're coming from and where I'm coming from is simply pointing out options. Sounds like the interior will be more than interesting with it's WW2 fighter aircraft theme. I've had the privilege of sitting in a couple of AT-6's as well as some earlier military mono-wing trainers. They are interesting places. Lessee . . . a greenhouse style canopy with lots of aluminum cross bars and small plexi (use Lexan) windows making up the fairly large insert cover with the cover hinging in a couple of places when opened. Not a true canopy, a multi-windowed flat piece parallel with the roof. Use lotsa toggle switches and instruments....
I am trying to take this one step further... I have sedan-turned-tub and have gotten wet too many times. (OHIO weather... if you don't like it, wait for fifteen minutes, it'll change). Two winters ago I made a fibergl*** lift-off hardtop. It kept me dry, but it ****ed when I traveled with it because it's either on, or when it is off you have to find a place to hide it. I am currrently making a folding top. I tried to use a model T set of bows, but they wouldn't allow me to have the top fold up behind the rear seat. I looked at using "other" convertible top frames, but the junk yards were either way too proud of them or there was no way to make them fit. I wanted the top to be full height of the windshield, yet still fold down behind the back seat, like a convertible. I started making my own folding mechanism using aluminum bar stock (it isn't billet if it will be painted, is it?). Last August on the way to Louisville for NSRA nationals, I had the top so it would fold up and down, and had a cheap piece of vinyl over the bows. Didn't look the greatest, but I was mostly dry during the Friday afternoon monsoons. Hopefully, this winter I will perfect the folding of the top and put real material on it. This post got me thinking about some of the (gasp) VW's that had a vinyl sliding center section. I believe there were even a few early 70's Novas and Buicks that had a folding centersection. Granted, these are a little new for the pure traditionalist on this board, but perhaps there were earlier cars that had a folding centersection. I keep thinking that there were a few pre-60 British cars that had this as well.... Andy
HMMM... now things are getting interesting! Anyone done anything like this or seen it done? If you didn't want the whole thing to be plexi, maybe a metal insert with a couple circular plexi windows, sandwiched with their own garnish moldings, seals, and riveted through.... HMMMM...
man.. my 60 sedan would look bad *** with a gl*** roof. Tint it with something like they have on oakley sungl***es, so it looks like chrome from the top, but you can see sky from within. Man that'd kick ***.
Just for anyone who's alergic of even reading the "VW" word, lets call it a Fiat Topolino folding top. (After all, Topolinos for some odd reason, are "traditional" and VW's arent...?)
Take a look at the simplicity of a 81-85 rx7 moonroof works. Some were gl***, some were steel. Two slide in tabs in front and a catch release in back. They had weather stripping all around and had drains on all 4 corners. Something like this could be adapted to the size of a 32-36 coupe insert. If you covered it with long grain top cloth it would look stock (with the exception of the tack strip moulding). You could also make the underside match your headliner. Dave
That's the style I'm going to try. I think it would lend itself nicely to the car. Mine is a tudor, so I have a lot of roof to cover. On the upside, my father is an upholsterer, so we should be able to fab something out of an old Bug or I have also seen some designed for newer cars too.
Topolino's were altereds and VW's weren't. Although I've seen a couple of interesting bugs. One, Chrysler Hemi - up front under the bonnet - powered. Took pics, but the camera was empty and I got fooled cuz the frame counter kept advancing.... The other, a Turbonique - turbine engine similar to helicopters - powered drag race only bug that cranked off mid 150's. Air got under the front end near the traps, the bug flipped onto it's back and went through the lights upside down and backwards at 150 mph....
For those interested, I checked in to Street Beat Customs and found that the will make an electric (cringe and flinch) folding ragtop for my '34 5W for around $600. I know that seems steep, but I figure with the roof closed, it looks real close to factory and with it open it looks REAL cool and will get looks as well as questions. http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/vehpic.html I know this may irratate some but that's fine, it's my car. If I'm not ******* someone off, I'm not doing it right... Vance
Ya' know... who cares what other people think, is what I say! The nice thing about hot rods, or any other kind of project you may be building from your mind, is that they reflect what you like... I need to be careful about what I say here, I don't want this to turn into venting over what's right and what's wrong and what shouldn't be liked and should be liked, but if you like the rag top... you should do it! If I don't, then I shouldn't! If someone likes electric stuff, cool! Everyone should build there **** the way they want to. People get touchy on here about that stuff, and understandably so. I myself got touchy there for a minute and realized that everyone has a vision for their automobile and thank god everyone's is a little different or everything would get real boring real fast! Influences and ideas from other people lead to innovation I say! Carry on...
man i cant remember his name off the top of my head but hes got the 30 ish pickup thats choped/sectiond/stretched with some big meats and five spokes in the back with a tilt bed on it? sbc with a cross ram ect in black primer? cant recall his name :S anyways he just posted not to long ago-a week?- how he put in a pop out moon roof out of a 80s porshe and it looks perfect also crease postd quite a while back and maybe nads did as well? maybe nads was just going to copy it i dont recall its ben a long time. but he made a pleated looking insert that i believe was preety simple to make and removable give it a search ---if any of this was already posted sorry, i didnt read all the replies
scootermcrad, nothing bad intended here. I'm just a little more careful about how I say things here as I know there are a lot of lurkers out there that are plain scared to post anything fearing a harsh flaming. I was like that for a while, but now I'm getting bolder. After all, it's my car and I'll take any attention, good or bad. And it will have a Street Beat roof soon. What can I say, I like them. Vance
i am thinking of doing the same thing to my coupe. here is what i am thing. i am going to use snaps all the way around the top to keep the top on and for rubs have you seen the soft covers for trucks thay have a rub the has a spring in one end of them so you can take them out then you could take it off and just put it in the back.
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