Carrera Lid

I have to send out a big thanks to Carey at Special Edition! Not only has he been very considerate and giving of his time with alot of my questions about a car he didn't even sell me, but he sent me a Carrera deck lid that ACTUALLY FITS my car!!!! As a matter of fact, it fits better than the lid I have on there currently (I don't think it was the original one from IM). With all the crap I'm going through with the wheel thing it's nice to have something actually work out. Thanks Carey, it looks great!

No problem. Glad it's working out better than the wheels/brakes... ;)

any pics of lid?

Hmmm... Whatcha want fer one o' them lids?

Bob - I got this one from Carey. I did have to grind the underside to make it fit perfect, then of course, had to paint it.

Ooooo, and the Carrera bumpers, too! Hmmm...

Yep. And, since the guy in the fish truck re-arranged my trim, it's gone too. As soon as I get all the holes filled, I will be getting bids on new paint. I painted the deck lid, spyder mirrors and bumpers myself, but the whole car? No, I am leaving that one to the pros.

Wow Warren, I'm working toward what you've got going there. I got the lid and the bumper trim from Carey. I'll probably wait to fit the lid until I put in the new engine. I'm also planning on removing the side trim, emblems, and rocker panel trim so it looks as close to a 58 GT as I can get it. I want to replace the snaps with Tenax fastners, as well as redo the seats with the red piping and have a new top made.
It'll be a process that will take me into next spring (hope to be done by Carlise). I burned through my budget in a heartbeat with having to completely redo the IRS set up to accommodate the bigger wheels. So the cosmetic stuff will have to wait a bit.

BTW- How was it installing the bumper trim? Was it pretty easy to fit and mould or were you cussin up a storm?

Mickey - Yes, lots of cuss words. Carey gave me a few tips, but when you get ready to do yours, give me a call. I will tell you as much as I know, based on "been there, done that" And yes, Carey is one stand up guy. I didn't buy my Beck from Carey either, but his support has been more than what one would expect. If I ever sell this car, and given my track record, I will, I would not hesitate to order a new one from him.

Mickey -- what'cha doin' with the old lid?
I have a little experiment in mind, and -- as you well know -- I've already "customized" the one have too much for it to work.

Lane,
Call me about the lid and trim.

Warren & Mickey, thanks. Looking good.

We buy Tenax by the 1000s. Not sure what market price is on them, but I may be able to compete with what's out there. They are a very high quality UK version.

Cory, you always have something in mind... :)

Cory,
As soon as I change out the lids the old one is all yours.

Carey,
I need to figure out how many fastners I need. I have something like 12 snaps to fasten the back of the top, 3 on each door and 4 on the dash. My hopes are to get rid of as many as possible. The best I can figure now is I need 8 or 9 tenax fastners and 2 turning thingamagiggies (the first ones on either side right behind the door) for the back of the top but I don't know how to set it up for a tonneau cover in regard to the doors and dash. Is it possible to just leave the doors blank and put 4 appropriately positioned fastners on the dash? Oh, I plan to take out all the snaps, fill the holes and put in the tenaxs'. Will one of your stafast tops fit my old IM or is it better to have a custom top made?

Mickey,

I replaced my snaps with Tenax. I was able to reuse the holes from the snaps without filling any.

I used Tenax behind the doors too instead of the turny things. The car isn't finished yet, so I don't know if that was a good idea or not.

I put a stainless steel washer under the Tenax posts.

If you are doing the top and tonneau, you will need about twice as many of the "female" pieces.

The tonneau on my Spyder has no snaps at all on the doors, works fine. Five across the back, four on the dash, that's it.

Thanks guys. I'm gonna have to fill the holes and install the tenaxs'. I have SEVENTEEN snaps going around the rear, THREE on each door, and EIGHT across the dash. To say the builder was 'Snap Happy' is an understatement. If I just replaced the snaps with tenaxs' it would look like some spiked medevil torture device.
On this subject- how many fastners are adaquate for the backend of the top? I'm thinking 8 tenaxs' and 2 turn thingys ouught to do it. I'll put 4 on the dash and get rid of the door snaps. Anyone have any pics?

Mickey -

That sounds more like a trampoline than a tonneau cover!

I can see it now...

"Welcome to Carlisle 2009! Check out our newest event - SPEEDSTER JUMPING!!!"

We can revive a segment from the "Man Show" - girls on trampolines!

I miss that show!

I told you the original builder went snap happy! I would reconsider keeping them if I could find a few hotties to jump up & down on it wearing bikinis. That was a great show!

Could any of you gentlemen post the specifications of the additional louvers? I would like to try to duplicate them on my deck lid. Either the five or six are fine with me.
Carey, if I send you my lid can you do it that way or will you take a trade in.
BTW, the carb covers I bought from y'all won't fit due to the a/d + carb set-up...I'm making bread pans of them.

Regards,

George

George,
What specs are you looking for? As far the louvres go the 58 GT had 5 louvres and the 59 had 6. If you're looking to add them to your lid I think you're better off just buying a lid from Carey or one of the other vendors. First of all finding the louvres is difficult enough, but to find them in fiberglass may be even harder. And then to glass them in is quite an ordeal in itself. I looked into doing all of this before I gave up and bought one from Carey. You may be able to sell your current lid in the classifieds here. I have also have an 82 IM and Careys lid is a perfect fit, just so you know.

George,

Shoot me an e-mail (with engine photos if you have them) and maybe I can come up with something that will work on your carb set-up.

Lid: If you're handy w/ glass I can lay up just the louver section to be glassed into your lid.