Hard Tops

Dang. Yeah I agree. I like the shape and the fit.  Bonus points for going with a contrasting color.

 

 

That is nice! I'm usually not big on hard lids for thes things, although I did like what that English bloke did with the VW bug roof.

Did someone say contrasting colors?

Phil:

 

Your car is one of the nicest looking Speedsters out there.

 

Yes, that was top notch!

Ollie I believe was his name.

 

Wasn't Ollie Welch?

IIRC he drastically modified a metal Beetle hardtop for his speedster.

 

That white lid on the green speedster is the nicest I've ever seen!

The quarter windows must be fixed. But the door windows (removable?) appear to fit tightly...Does anybody have an idea who manufactured the top & the windowsit??

I have to agree, Carl; that thing looks like it belongs! Any body know any thing more about it?

Looks It could be a german  H.L. Oesterle, fiberglass top made in the early 50's.

 Saw a similar one in Prage at a porsche event this summer.  Same side view with that  unique quarter panel  window, and no rain gutter.

 

http://derwhites356literature....movableHardtops.html

 

Hard to to find pictures/info on the web.... 

 

 

Bill, that's ALMOST BINGO!

 

Except the rear window on the green speedster is much smaller since it doesn't wrap around the corners....A smaller (oval?) window more like David's would look (I think) much better for a speedster.

I agree but it was the closet I'd seen in the above posted adds of long ago.

The one pictured is the $hit though!

Oh well....

 

Judging from the age of promotional literature (ads) from manufacturers of 356 hardtops there's now (since the demise of 356's in '65) such a drastically diminished demand for this after market item that there's no incentive (profit) to continue production The manufacturer of my hardtop closed up shop decades ago...BUT there is a market out here in 'madness land'...limited to be sure, but nevertheless exists!

 

IIRC Ollie in Wales constructed a stunning and unique hardtop from a Bug sedan roof clip for his speedster. (I can't find his old posts with photos) Granted it's metal, heavy and awkward, but it could certainly serve as the male mold for fiberglass recreations!!!

 

Tom Canty did a visual photoshop rendering of a modified Ghia hardtop clip as a swoopy hardtop that smoothly blended into the turtle deck of a speedster...It very much resembled the white top on that green speedster.

 

Just thinking outloud!!!

Ghia tops fab'd up have had my curiosity too.

I'd love to see that as well.

Still intrigued by a Ghia roof on a speedster.  Searched to no avail..

Recently I picked this up. Has to pretty much be sliced and diced to make something that would work, but it's a start. 

 

Plans are to change pretty much everything with the exception of the roof curve. It's going to be dropped, sliced, rear window will change, side windows will change, windscreen mount will differ. Loads to think about. 

 

 

This is gonna be fun to watch.

Wow that's an ambitious project!  Is it a roof clip from a metal 356 or fiberglass replica coupe clip?

Wow that looks nice, I can see a strip of LED's built in on the lower end of the back glass as a Third Brake light... you could be seen in the night.

You could build it into the lower back edge if you do not cut it down so much... would be pretty cool

Ray 

    Ray,  since you brought up incorporating LED's as the third brake light into a hardtop here's an interesting dilemma that someday I'll resolve:

 

    My ancient Plasticon after market hardtop has an odd but nicely streamlined, flat, backward facing 'vent looking' protuberance centered just above the rear window opening. It's 9"wide and abruptly ends with about 3/4" height. It has no practical reason to exist other than somebody at Plasticon thought imitating something resembling the popular scoops and flairs from the 60's would look cool!

    My dilemma is deciding to either file it flat, or to give it a reason to exist by opening up that 9"x3/4" projection and installing an LED strip...and hope it isn't mistaken for a 'Clown Car'!!! 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like an ideal place for a rack of brake light LEDs , Carl. Im betting you could find a very discreet way of keeping them hidden till you hit the brakes.

Kind of like that recently posted link to the third brake light that was hidden by the color-matched Lexicon on the hot rod.

I posted some time ago a bumper led, which is made so that when you look at it you cannot see it but turn it on and it shows through the paint. I know that this needs to be done in the build process so you could do it as the example above in the lower area and it could be not showing at alll until you light it up.  Somebody showed the truck with a hidden light on the sight here. Ray

 

Yes Robert M is right

 

Carl post a picture.

Here is the link,   FYI, 

https://www.facebook.com/video...51415661&theater

 

FYI, I contacted the builder and the owner of the truck it has been resistant to wear for many years, if you go on his web site you can see hidden signal lights using the same technicque really cool.

David,

The top will eventually be black.

That 9" is so narrow that a string of LED's tucked into the shadow of the opening probably wouldn't be noticed until lit up. (At least that's what I imagine)

 

BTW...Many thanks on the latch tip. Now I've got all the hardware needed to safely secure the top.

 

Ray,

Thanks for that very cool idea and information. If I was fantasizing an all out, no holds barred, Outlaw that's the way I'd go!

It's a replica fibreglass clip from the same place where I got my rear seat correction panel. 

 

This is how much needs to come off the roof pillars to get it down lower. Started gutting the car last night in preparation for taking the body off this weekend. 

 

the only hardtop that changes my heartbeart is Oly's:

 

https://vimeo.com/78423107

 

 

Yeah. That one.

 

Crazy, crazy skills.

 

... and he never once told us how great he was.

That vimeo thing is pretty amazing.  But really, nobody with a Speedster travels with that much luggage.  I can get all I need and have room to spare inside the car.

depends on your right seater.

Yeah, and we found the hard way that it's a VERY tight squeeze for two people and 6-7 full bags of groceries, too.

It may be a VW culture thing.  At one of the local car shows here several of the VW guys showed up and almost all of them had the roof-top luggage racks with a vintage suitcase, metal type ice chests or wooden box, and other paraphernalia.  One guy even had a tricycle on the roof of his.

When I was a kid I loaded a lot of grocery bags in beetles all the time.

Look at what the 356 guys used to strap to their cars...

 

 

 

... And all the luggage required to keep the right seat happy without a rack!  Will they fit?

 

 

 

I think i may even have a picture or two with a convertible with a deer, yes a dead deer, strapped to the Ruetter rack... 

 

 

If any of you have EVER seen what Jack Crosby can fit into his Speedster you will believe that the the stuff in the Harry Potter books (and Musbjim's video) is real.

That's funny, Lane.  The suitcase on the luggage rack helps a lot.  It is pretty cozy though.

 

A handy packing tip is to remove all the bottles of wine from the case first, and to then stack them individually on the rear floor of the car.

 

If you're still short on space, you can leave the less important stuff, like clothes and food, at home.