Hi: I noticed this in a post today
> (2) To S Manwell who's looking for a tonneau & top for an early
> Morgan. I think you'll find shops in many places which will make a top
> to fit. Just borrow a top from a neighbor or nearby club member so
> they can see the style, and you can have one made up in the same stuff
> as the original. Here in Connecticut there are several such places.
> They will really need to fit any cover to your car anyway. All the
> cars are different and every snap is put in a slightly different spot
> on each car. The problem with making a pattern from an old top is that
> the dam things shrink.
I just had to write and mention my experience.
After finishing my restoration which included a new bucket, I went to put
the top on and the darn thing was too small. My first reaction was that I'd
mounted the windshield incorrectly. However, after much standing and
staring, I figured that the old top had shrunk pretty much in sync with the
sagging of the frame and body.
So, deciding to take a gamble, I fired off a letter to the factory ordering
a new top and tonneau. I mentioned the serial# of the car - for size
purposes - and some time later both items arrived. It struck me at the time
that both items were extremely reasonable priced (although it's been quite
a while and I don't remember how much they were).
Fortunately, I had returned the car to the original colour (Imperial
Crimson - it had been red, blue and yellow in previous incarnations)
because while I mentioned nothing about the car's colour in the order, the
factory had checked their records and the piping around the edges of both
items matched the car perfectly.
If memory serves, the fittings for the fasteners came packed separately and
had to installed into both the top and the tonneau, but it was easy to do
and insured that everything fit properly.
Anyway, where I'm going with all this is if someone out there needs a top
or tonneau (or probably anything else, for that matter) my recommendation
would be to start with the factory.
Cheers
Scott Barrie
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