Daren Stone writes, in reply to a note by Bryan Blackwell:
Although "roadster" can be used to describe a car with
no top at all, I'm sure what Phil had in mind when he
was discussing the virtues of MGBs was something a tad
different. "Roadster" as opposed to "convertible" is
used to describe a vehicle that stows its folding top
separately (a convertible has its top attached to the
car, and thus stows it on or in it.)
In another life, I used to tinker with 356s. The distinction in the early
Porsches between roadsters and cabriolets (convertibles in English) was that
the roadster tops were just a frame and a top, whereas cabriolets had
headliners and insulation/sound deadening material inside the frame. Both
folded up and stowed attached to the car. American Roadsters ('52?),
Speedsters ('54-'58), Convertible D's ('59) and Drauz/D'Iterien Roadsters
('60?-'62) were all "roadsters" by that description. The cabriolets
(running pretty much the full span of 356 manufacture) were all
convertibles.
I'm not sure if there is a distinction in the MGB line (since I know nothing
about MGBs). I think of my TR-250 as a roadster.
To the SOLers, sorry for the non-LBC content. (I did mention "MGB" and
TR-250, though. :-)
Skip (montanaro@crd.ge.com)
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