quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
I married a man with a convertible.

psst: Mary Anna - toupees don’t count.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

quote:

Originally posted by Jack Frost:
Also had a 1960 baby blue Thunderbird convertible, passed down from my grandmother.

Jf

Did yours have the cool factory tonneau cover for when the top was down?

No but the top had a motor that folded it into the trunk

Jf

My ex had a 1971 convertible Challenger. That year, they only made them with the Slant Six because the torque of the Hemi would twist the frame. Still, a lot of people bought them and welded additional frame rails on and stuck in a Hemi. Hers was all original and fully restored. Only 83 were made that year.

She decided to sell it and I told her several times to get it to an auction... if not Barrett-Jackson, at least Silverthorne or whatever it's called. She thought that would be too much effort and if it didn't sell, she'd be out a bunch of money. So she put it on craigslist. The guy who bought it flipped it on eBay. I never looked to see what the final price was, but a couple days before the auction closed, it was already bid up to $10K more than she sold it for.


I had a Miata for a few years. I think it was a '94--first year of the 1.8 liter engine. The most fun one can have on two wheels. I bought a hard top from a guy whose Miata was totaled in nice weather. Still, you really have to have a garage to own a convertible in the Pacific Northwet. I sold it to a young woman who raced autocross.

If I ever get a house with a functional garage, I may buy another one.

Bought a Porsche 914 after law school. The top came off, leaving a roll bar like structure over the rear window.
I liked it until I learned to never park under a mulberry tree. Much of the metallic paint was ruined.
Had a Miata in the mountains a few years ago. The hardtop would fold down behind the driver. Had the top down frequently, twice during the January thaw.
My current Jeep Wrangler has two roof sections that come off much like a T-top, Have taken those sections off for driving mountain passes above the treeline in summer. I love doing that. We find a large meadow and picnic. Idyllic

The Miata was a great design. A guy I knew had a series of British two-seater convertibles and he was working a charity car wash I visited. He sprayed water at the back window for nearly a minute yelling "I can make it leak!" He didn't make it leak.

Despite the admonitions in the owner's manual, I could put the top down while driving (below about 25 MPH). The key was putting a long lanyard on the zipper pull for the back window so I could reach it while sitting in the driver's seat.

And the convertible top just folded up onto the shelf behind the seats, then the hard top clipped into those "Frankenstein bolts" forward of the trunk lid, and snapped shut onto the same pads above the windshield that the soft top used. There were also two latches just behind the tops of the doors, but you had to get the body part of the latch. Since I bought the top off craigslist, I had to find the latch pieces online. I may have bought the last pair in the wild.


The hard top a little gap in the weather seal at the top aft corner of the door window. If it was raining hard and I was going more than 40 MPH, I got a little spray of water onto my left ear.


The new ones have a retractable hard top. I'd dig one of those.


I drove with the top down if it wasn't raining and the temperature was anywhere above freezing. TDHU (top down - heat up)! It was a blast in the snow. It would break loose, but in a very predictable and controllable way. The one thing that kinda sucked -- it got surprisingly poor gas mileage for such a small and light car. I was lucky to pull 30 MPG.

Steve - I found your retirement toy. It’s available at the Sotheby’s auction in Auburn, IN

More photos here Steve.

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auct...2-convertible/886411

Oh, man. I'm not a huge fan of huge American slabs, but I'd buy that.

It does seem to be listing to port a bit... or maybe it's just the angle of the picture.

Bonus points: it's a stick.

Ha! I actually had one of those in high school! It wasn't a convertible and it was in terrible shape but a 442 it was.

Fast car. Fun!