T-Roofs

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Originally Posted By: Scum_Frog
What ever happened to the T-roofs....you don't see them anymore.


Too much trouble probably. You have to stick the panels somewhere and then they are probably more prone to leaks than a plain old sunroof/moonroof.

Plus, now you have hardtop convertibles.

I think Porsche still makes a "Targa" 911, but it is a piece of glass that slides back under the rear window. So it is kind of a big sunroof, rather than a T-Top or Targa.
 
T tops were a short cut compromise. they came out in cars that weren't designed or engineered to be convertibles (2nd gen F bodies, 4th gen A bodies)but they leaked, and as was mentioned, had to be removed and stored. big pain in the tookus.
 
My Daytona had T-Tops by Cal-Custom according to the sticker on the door frame.

They didn't leak unless you went to a "touchless" carwash. One of the high pressure water jets hit in just the right spot to force water in and spray me in the side of the head.

The big hassle was removing and storing them. The car came with two large vinyl envelopes. You had to remove the tops, fit them into the envelopes, and then strap them into the cargo area effectively eliminating your cargo area.

The targa roofs on my Fiats was much better. Pop out the roof, open the hood...front trunk,front luggage compartment... whatever, and latch it into the area provided for it. You could still use the back trunk/rear luggage compartment and if that was not enough, you could put things under the targa roof in the front.
 
t tops were/are pointless.

back in the day, my brother special ordered a '86 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z, w/ leather, t-tops, shelby handling pkg AND A/C delete!
horrible car to be stuck in traffic in the summer. hot sticky leather and the sun burning the top of your head.
(yes, I AM a white guy w/ a receding hairline; I don't need to be exposed to any more sun than necessary
smile.gif
)
 
Originally Posted By: mpvue
t tops were/are pointless.

back in the day, my brother special ordered a '86 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z, w/ leather, t-tops, shelby handling pkg AND A/C delete!
horrible car to be stuck in traffic in the summer. hot sticky leather and the sun burning the top of your head.
(yes, I AM a white guy w/ a receding hairline; I don't need to be exposed to any more sun than necessary
smile.gif
)



Yeah I would not have gone with the A/C delete. Summers are way to hot and humid for that.
 
Originally Posted By: lexus114

Yeah I would not have gone with the A/C delete. Summers are way to hot and humid for that.

he was from a time when A/C systems were believed to take too much power, and costly, so he put the money into the other options.
the car only had 146hp, so every little bit helped, I guess...
 
Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: lexus114

Yeah I would not have gone with the A/C delete. Summers are way to hot and humid for that.

he was from a time when A/C systems were believed to take too much power, and costly, so he put the money into the other options.
the car only had 146hp, so every little bit helped, I guess...



Well, the first car I took to Louisiana had no A/C. A 1981 BLACK Ford Escort! Boy did I learn that one the hard way. And during torrential downpours (which LA is noted for) Try driving around with no A/C in 100% Humidity and who knows what the dew point was.I was not a happy camper to say the least. Needless to say my next two vehicles were air conditioned.
 
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Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: lexus114

Yeah I would not have gone with the A/C delete. Summers are way to hot and humid for that.

he was from a time when A/C systems were believed to take too much power, and costly, so he put the money into the other options.
the car only had 146hp, so every little bit helped, I guess...



Well, the first car I took to Louisiana had no A/C. A 1981 BLACK Ford Escort! Boy did I learn that one the hard way. And during torrential downpours (which LA is noted for) Try driving around with no A/C in 100% Humidity and who knows what the dew point was.I was not a happy camper to say the least. Needless to say my next two vehicles were air conditioned.


My Dodge Grand Caravan lost a/c on a road trip back up from Florida, a few years ago. And, it was [censored], the A/C compressor blew near Atlanta. So, I had to drive about 900 miles back home with no A/C, temperatures hovering around 95 degrees F outside and a fully loaded van going 85-90mph with the windows open. It was terrible, especially the wind noise from having the windows open. It goes without saying, I never took the Caravan on another road trip.
 
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Absolutely cannot stand them on a third-gen Camaro. After seeing countless Camaros & Firebirds come through GM service departments with water leaks, squeaks & rattles, I decided to only buy hardtop cars. And it's a challenge to try and find a hardtop Z28 or IROC that's in decent shape.
 
A friend in high school had a Firebird with T-tops.

The previous owner had lost the key so they were just left unlocked in spite of the warning labels specifically stating to NOT do this.

He came over one day freaked out. Apparently one had blown completely out of the car on the freeway. He wouldn't tell me if it hit another car or not.
"I was driving down the freeway and it just blew out!"
 
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By ls1mike at 2006-12-08
Love mine too.

11 second 1/4 miles, never locked, never leak. This is my 4th 4th gen F-body all had T-tops. None have ever leaked and I live in Seattle Wa.

I wonder how many folks in here have every actually owned a car with T-tops. It is very nice. Hard top feel when it is [censored] out, open cockpit feel when it is nice.
 
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