softtops

[Michael C Henry]

I have my own saga. I bought a replica in 99 that was built By Tim King of Reno NV in 84. It is an Everett-Morrison The 1 1/2" OD roll bar stands 15 1/2 inches off the deck center to top. in 99 i bought soft top and side curtain kits from EM when they were in Florida. I all ways wanted the soft top and side curtain from back in 71 when I bought a 56 Bristol and used it as an every day car. The windshield was leaned back for aero effect and didn't fit the side curtains. it also cracked several windshields. I got older and fatter . My knee and hip got replaced. I retired, I got fatter. Before the Covid thing we were directed to start taking money from my retirement account this year or pay a fine. I had a local garage doing work on the car when the Stimulus thing happened. and that changed but the money was already spent. My roll bar was higher than most but functional. The goal was to replace the windshield put it up at the correct angle, and install the soft top and side curtains. The soft top would need to be modified. the upholster they used "all hush hush" no names and such. Turned out to be Convertibles Only from South Seattle. In order to get the area to be modified under his machine he would need to separate the forward panels and might as well just build another soft top using all the EM hard ware in my kit. After the fact they had raised the hoop upwards 1/2" with a spacer on either side out of the ferrules. The rear panel goes to the top of the trunk seem and everything fits But the soft top is a three rear window design. Really big rear window.
EM uses nutted Stainless ferrules with a flat top and a bottom that actually caries the side curtain posts and top hoop ends, so the weight of the fabric is carried by the inner base and not against the painted car surfaces. The wind shield when repositioned ended up about 1 1/2" ahead of where it was supposed to be. So the EM side curtain won't fit either The cost of the top blew me away so I stopped with the side curtains, figuring I could get beat up locally. All in all the top is a great design with pockets on the side for the side curtain to tuck into. I have bought new 3/8"OD 316 SS tubing to form new side curtain frames and have another local upholster. That I can talk to before getting started.
I have plans on getting another passenger side roll bar made and installed, for my wife's protection, next year.