• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Metal [or maybe fiberglass] tonneau for Healeys

Share this page

Editor_Reid

Editor_Reid

Moderator
Staff member
Platinum
Country flag
Offline
I wonder if anyone here knows of a source for a rigid half-tonneau for a Healey 100. It could be metal, it could be fiberglass, it could be plastic, I suppose.

It would be/could be painted body color. It would cover the passenger side of the cockpit opening.

Thanks for any leads.
 
Editor_Reid said:
I wonder if anyone here knows of a source for a rigid half-tonneau for a Healey 100. It could be metal, it could be fiberglass, it could be plastic, I suppose.

It would be/could be painted body color. It would cover the passenger side of the cockpit opening.

Thanks for any leads.
Click to expand...

That's weird I was day dreaming about making a rigid cover to do just this for my BN4. My idea is to sit a simple moulding within the cockpit trim located on shouldered studs that would replace some of the trim screws. It'd need holding in but maybe the turnbuckles would do that ok with a bit of thinking.

It would be quite easy to make a buck by building a frame from wood covering it in thin plywood geeting some curve for starength and aethetics. The buck could easily include the return edge to fit inside the cockpit. The buck would be finished and waxed to allow a mould to be taken . Then the mould could be used to turn out as may or as few rigid cockpit covers as necessary. I suspect that each model would need a different mould and a 1/2 cover ending behind the seats rather than covering the passenger side would be the most popular. If the edges had say a soft neoprene round them it would accommodate some variance in cockpit profile car to car and help keep out water. ????
 
A Panelbeater/Metal Shaper could make one for you. Find a high end vintage hot rod shop. Also, as you probably know there are more than a few custom metal shapers who travel the country and beyond doing specialty work and giving seminars. Two names of experts that come to mind are Fay Butler in Massachusetts and Ron Covell in Freedom, Ca.
 
Editor_Reid said:
I wonder if anyone here knows of a source for a rigid half-tonneau for a Healey 100. It could be metal, it could be fiberglass, it could be plastic, I suppose.

It would be/could be painted body color. It would cover the passenger side of the cockpit opening.

Thanks for any leads.
Click to expand...

Bill Hoyt has a beautiful metal one made by Ellery. Give him a call. He's in so cal.
 
There's some chaps in Australia that have figured it out, maybe you should ask them?

Healey-Under-Construction-2.jpg
 
Randy Forbes said:
There's some chaps in Australia that have figured it out, maybe you should ask them?

Healey-Under-Construction-2.jpg
Click to expand...

There's a chap in the USA that has figured it out. Maybe ask him, he's only a couple miles from you.

#466 Aluminum Tonneau.jpg
 
Metal tonneaus are certainly very cool looking but pose a definite safety risk of injury to the driver in case of collision, etc. They're specifically prohibited by most race organizations unless originally supplied by the manufacturers and then only for certain cars. Here's VRG's rule:

3.2.10.8. Rigid (metal, fiberglass, etc) tonneaus, covering the passenger compartment beside the driver, are not permitted, except the case of certain sports-racing cars which were originally so equipped (Jaguar D, Lotus XI LeMans). Fabric tonneau covers are allowed.

That said, have at it!
 
Hi Reid,

Although I don't have a source for a half-tonneau cover for your AH-100, I can't see making one out of fiberglass would not be that difficult. A while back, my Son chose a not so healthy orange '79 TR7 with a deteriorated red plaid interior. Taking one look at the car, I knew it would not be my favorite and decided to address its deteriorated issues when my Son was off at College. When away at school, I re-did both interior and exterior of the TR7 and also designed molded a tonneau cover to replace the ripped original vinyl top cover.

View attachment 47419 View attachment 47420 View attachment 47421

As you can see, the TR7's tonneau is larger and a little more complicated then the half-cover you are interested in acquiring. However, should you not find a vendor and be interested in doing one yourself, I would suggest you consider fiberglass and the creation of a relatively simple mold. I tried this only once but can say "I did" and had enjoyed the experience and still use the cover.

Just a thought,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
Thanks Randy. I also got Steve’s email today and wandered through his website and was looking at the very same image a few hours ago.

"I'm thinking about it." (I know, uncharacteristic for me... :wink-new: )
 
That Capesport offering looks epic, wonder if they do a BN4 equivalent or if someone would.....
 
I am sure that if you speak with Steve he will come up with something, always found him very helpful
 
I would like to see how some of the half-tonneau's are fastened to the body. I've been thinking of making one also.
 
This is how one looks at speed. Peter Jackson's awesomely fast Aussie vintage racer looks very sleek with his.

 
That was exciting! Hope the other guy (and car) were OK after that off!
 
Back
Top