Hardtop

[Montie Henderson]

I found an old ’56 T-bird HT the other day, I wonder if that could be made to fit. The guy wanted $500 for it, probably a good buy but I didn’t grab it.

[Royal]

Bump. Seems to be some new interest in this.

[Derek]

I have not been using my hard top at all lately since the canvas is perfectly enjoyable in nice weather and I have a properly enclosed car to drive otherwise. It would take a little work and maybe some new vinyl or paint to get it looking tip top again, but I would be willing to part with it. It’s fairly heavy and large so I’m not sure how shipping would go though.

[John Stricklin]

I have had a hobby of designing and making hardtops for a variety of convertables and sportscars including Fords, MGs, Austing healeys, Miatas, and mot recently an MR2Spyder — I have always wanted to make an Airline Coupe hardtop for an MGTC ot TD but never could afford the price to buy a car. I have a lead on a MIGI in reasonable shape and hopefully at an attractive price — I have always felt the worst design feature of the MG lookalike kit cars were the absolutely atrocious convertible tops followed in the MIDI by the ridiculously fake looking grill — I can make a really neat removable Airline Coupe hardtop for this car and if I do I will also make a new grill module to fit the MIDI — does anyone feel it worth the trouble??

[Royal]

Realizing that none of our TDr’s have air conditioning, it would be of little to no value in the warmer weather or even all year round in the milder climates.
When I first got my Daytona, I looked into making one but decided I’d never use it. Turns out I rarely even use my canvas top.
..you asked for opinions.

[John Simion]

The flip side of Royal’s comment is that some of us live in places the sun roasts you so much that a top with a zip-out window is usually necessary for a comfortable open-air experience.  Even so, I don’t think a hardtop would be popular.  The convertible top that came with my replica had kind of an ugly shape, but it’s not hard to lower it and reshape it into a form that closely resembles the original TD and which looks sharp on the car.  Plus, with the convertible top, you can still fold it down if the weather is cooler.  Plus, I’m pretty sure the price of a custom convertible top would still undercut the price of a hardtop.

As a practical matter, it seems like it would be extremely difficult to make a hardtop for our replicas other than a one-off, since it seems like no two replicas are exactly alike.  Even a very minor variance would make the hardtop difficult if not impossible to mount.  You can bend aluminum top bows up to a couple of inches to make them fit different cars, but that’s not possible with a rigid fiberglass top.  The hardtop would have been more feasible back in the 80s as a factory option, but at this point, I don’t think it’s worthwhile except if an owner wants to make a one-off for his own car.

[edward ericson]

Jes, go here: http://www.speedsterowners.com/

Get on the forum, look around. There is hard top interest there and the bux to make it worth your while. 

[John Stricklin]

I don’t understand EDSNOVA post cc below —

Jes, go here: http://www.speedsterowners.com/

Get on the forum, look around. There is hard top interest there and the bux to make it worth your while. 

I went there and found much interest in Porsche Spyder kits, etc, etc — is EDSNOVA suggesting I forget the MG kit and go after a Porsche lookalike?? or perhaps that I try to make a hardtop for a Porsche Speedster??

I need encouragement to pursue the  Airline Coupe hardtop project for an MIGI as proposed in my earlier post — I am not convinced it would be worth the trouble —

[billnparts]

The Speedster group has more members seeking hard tops.
The Speedster group have deeper pockets.

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[Paul Mossberg]

Hi jesdreamer,

 

I’ll translate for Ed and Bill. 😉

 

They are suggesting the market for TDr hardtops may be very limited.

 

And suggesting there may be a larger market for hardtops among the speedster guys. There is a lot of discussion on the SOC about the possibilities.

 

Here’s the challenge, as I see it, to making this a viable business. I doubt very much that one prefab hardtop will fit any specific car, either in the Speedster or TDr markets.

 

Even if the car was a turnkey, these are hand built cars. And there are going to be variances between cars.

 

Those variances are easy to accomodate with a soft top, just don’t attach the snap fittings until the car is done. Back when Classic Roadsters Ltd. was still in business, I ordered a replacement top for my Duchess. The top came without the female snaps installed. I fthey had been installed, they likely woudl not have lined up.

 

The story plays out much differently with a hardtop.

PMOSSBERG2015-11-03 10:49:35

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

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