Each to his/her own, I guess. Using Daffy as my every-day car, and with the
British climate, I would not be without my hardtop from October to March. The
joint between the soft-top and the top of the windscreen leaks onto my lap in
heavy rain, particularly at motorway speeds; the hard-top is completely
weather-proof. The hard-top keeps all draughts out, so the mediocre heater
can do a more effective job (except I need new door window seals right now).
I feel cosy and protected.
Also, given that the top would very rarely come down in these months, I believe
that the Mk IV/1500 factory hard-top is very good-looking - better in fact
than a raised soft-top (although the Spit undoubtedly looks best with no
top!). The fibre-glass after-market hard tops tend to look a bit like a
bubble stuck on as an after-thought, to my eyes (also true of more modern
convertibles with hard-tops, e.g. MX5/Miata/Eunos, Z3, MGF), but the factory
hard-top, in the same colour as the car, looks like it belongs there, and to
an eye that had never seen a Spit before, you could easily mistake it for a
fixed-head coupe. The same is true for the Stag hard-top, from the same era.
The hard-top is a little heavy, but I can fit it alone, although it is easier
with two (I hear the Stag hard-top, being that much bigger, really takes 4 men
to fit it with ease!). The only improvement I would make would be a rear
window de-mister.
Speaking of which, I seem to remember, when I was a little boy back in the
70's, that you could buy stick-on rear window demisters, for cars that did not
come with them fitted (common in those days). Does anyone still make these?
Does anyone know where I could find one?
Richard and Daffy (cosy in my hard-top until at least March!)
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