Need convertable top

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  • #233452
    p
    Participant

    @p-driscoll

     I have a 1980 ALLISON MGTD . It had a top at one time , but when  I got the car , it was missing .  Don’t know if it was a two or three bow system . I don’t know what the three bow is ,or where the third bow goes ?  I’ve seen some black vinal tops that look very good but don’t know where to purchase them . Most of the tops i’ve seen look a little tackey  .  The TD is silver with black fenders and came with a boot and tonue cover . Any help finding a cool looking top would be appreciated        & nbsp; thanks     Patrick Driscoll

    #244450
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    Pretty sure Rich Wobby has the same car as you. Check out his pics for an idea of what a real sweet top looks like. He’s got the TD-like framed side curtains too. These are expensive but actually serve a purpose if you’re the kind of insufferable w**ker (as I am) who’d like to be able to tool around with the hood down but the side curtains up.

    His bows look just like all of ours–a simple Bimini two-bow system that’s pretty adjustable and cheap, and plenty strong. I believe any boat top outfit could make you one, but the parts to do it are available at boating supply houses (overtons, Wholesale Marine, etc.) and the skill required–for the bows anyway–looks to be minimal.

    Making the actual top takes a bit of doing. Leave it to a pro, expect to pay a few hundred bucks. Maybe $500 with zip-and-snap-in side curtains.

    Now if you want to play crazy, like me, you’ll notice that those aluminum Bimini-style stays, while better quality than the original TDs, are different-looking. This is particularly true of the round-tail light kits like the Allison, which is made to look like a ’53 TD.

    Those ’53s are the ones with the three bow arrangement. The bows are just the things that swing up under the canvas to hold it up on its way to the windshield where it’s fastened.

    So, again, if you’ve got that crazy attention-to-detail disorder, this could cause you to go searching on Ebay for a used 2-bow (or even three-bow) TD top, which come available on the regular for a few hundred bucks (paid about $85 for mine) and could, I’m betting, be made to fit nicely on a replica, perhaps even with an honest-to-Abingdon TD top. (Here’s a thread one of our long-lost crazies posted on his gotta-be-authentic top adventures. Sure wish he’d come back to the board; I see him as a true kindred spirit. Here’s a PDF link to Moss Motors installation instructions for same). I don’t think the use of a real TD top strictly requires the original frame to work with a replica, but that’s a question better addressed to a real top maker.

    All that said, I don’t recommend going down the crazy-authentic road, as you’ll be spending money on something that A. no one will notice (‘cept me and, maybe, this guy) and B. you’ll seldom use anyway.

    But it’s an option.

    #244451
    Richard Wobby
    Participant

    @richard-wobby

    I have same car. VW powered, PM and I can Help. Not good at email. call if you want pm for number.

    Also I need to have my top redone. Maybe can check if thier cheaper in pairs.

    Richard Wobby40667.4960300926

    #244452
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    #244453
    Tom Colello
    Participant

    @gunfighter

    I need a new top as well as mine is dry rotted and torn. I was thinking of taking it to a marine top maker to have one made. Matching the tan of the side curtins may be a little difficult however.

     

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