I have been trying to invent a nice clean look for my speedster, hoping someone had any suggestions or tips on how to make their tops look better when up, could we see some pics, I would love to have mine up with out seeing the tabs off the back, almost like a compression fit like modern cars have.
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Not really sure what you mean, but here are a couple of pics of the top up on mine. Hope they help.
Tabs= "snaps?" If so, sew a flap over them & they be invisible.
The biggest difference between "modern" cars and their snap-less tops and the Speedster is not the top, per se, but the lack of a substantial windshield frame. My dad's Ford Galaxi Convertibles back in the 1960's-1970's, had no snaps at the rear of the top. The rear of the fabric was tucked into the back of the cockpit with an anchoring strip, plus it had a way to divert the rain water into a drain system. At the front, the windshield header was VERY substantial - strong enough to be a roll bar and certainly strong enough to react against the tension from a very tight top when properly anchored. In fact, were it not for the top's hydraulic lift mechanism, a normal person could never get it up and locked down because the hydraulics actually stretched the material as it deployed to make it look smooth, and the windshield frame held it in place under tension.
The Speedster windshield frame is more for decoration than anything else. If you were to anchor the rear of the material like the "Big Three" did and then stretch it to anchor at the windshield header, the windshield would probably crack under the tension. Heck.....these windshields crack if you just tug on them when getting in and out of the car!
I think that adding a concealment flap over the snap heads makes a lot of sense - if that is the look you are after.
The snaps at the rear or my top are only there for the boot and tonneau cover as the top is glued down at the rear. That's possible because the Beck frame is a bit different from others. If your top is the removable type as most are, dealing with the flap might get to be a pain, particularly if you have a tonneau or boot. Without the boot, the top will look a bit sloppy when down.
i suppose you could add a wooden tack strip like a ghia vert instead of the snaps/tenax's.
only downside - how would you run a tonneau?
