47 and topless....

[Silverghost]

Degrees that is! We have had some chilly mornings with EXCELLENT afternoons here of late. Drove to work this AM it was 47 degrees F. Had the top down, gloves and headband on! Only got chilled towards the end of the ride. A large hot chocolate fixed that in short order!

What's your limit? When do you throw in the towel and put or keep the top up? This question doesn't apply to those who live in the lower 48! :laugh:

Doc, you qualify, you're a transplant - you know PA winters! LoL

 

[aeronca65t]

Good question!
Our local MG club has a Winter run and I've wanted to do it......maybe this year.

I converted my '69 MGB to the old-style, removeable top last year. With our new house (bought last May), this is the first time the MGB has had a proper garage (instead of a shed), so I hung the convertible top on the garage wall in August and haven't touched it since. I've been wondering when I'll re-fit it to the car. So far, I haven't.

Yesterday, I drove the car 120 miles (round trip) to babysit my grandaughter (I do that once a week). Drove home last night in the mid-low 50s (F).
Drove through Princeton University, past Einstein's house and past the US Olympic Equestian stables (Peapack, NJ)....it's a glorious ride.
My MG has the manual heater valve and I haven't switched it on yet. Soon.

In bad weather I take the Miata. :wink:
By late December, I'll probably switch to the Accord. :laugh:


Miata has done some top down runs in Winter.....it has lived outside since I bought it (new). Blizzaks go on every December.

 

[PAUL161]

<span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">At least 75 degrees</span></span>! Good grief, if I lived up north, the poor car would only be driven about 3 weeks out of the year!

 

[JPSmit]

Last New Year's day: -3 C (26F) Bracing top down motoring. Wouldn't do it every day but, not bad and my heater really does throw heat.

 

[DrEntropy]

Down here the top is down mostly in the evenings during "summer" and up during the day. When it's "not summer" it can be down all the time.

In PA it would be down even in winter on occasion. The heater in an MGB will roast you outta the car if it and the cooling system are in proper shape.

 

[drooartz]

On a motorcycle, my limit is right about 40f. Any colder and I become a ridersicle.

I drove the Tunebug to work all week a week ago. Morning temps must have been in the 40s Was fine with the top down (no heater). Heavy jacket and a hat and off you go.

They salt the roads in winter here, so no winter drives for me. Bike and car get bundled up and hibernate until spring.

 

[MGA75002]

Of course, there are alot of variables in this discussion. For instance, blood circulation is not the same in a 70-year-old that it is in a 20-year-old. Don't ask, I just KNOW!

Long-johns are my answer. Here in Dallas, it seldom freezes, so I can go all year with the top down. Of course, 40-ish weather is no picnic; however, long-johns, gloves, ear-muffs, etc, make it tolerable. For an hour or two.

And, of course, it all depends on how good your Smith's heater is! When I was 20, I could put the tonneau up on the passenger side, turn on the heater full blast, and remain comfortable. With my current LBC, the heater is really only effective in July and August. Come January, it just likes to make a little noise.

Many folks will put up their sidecurtains and leave the top down in real cold weather. This doesn't look "cool." Personally, I would rather freeze to death, looking cool, than stay warm and look "uncool." Epitaph: He Died Cool.

 

[DrEntropy]

:lol: Highly relatable.

At age 20 in PA in an MGB, three of us hauled a 12' Christmas tree home with th' top down, snowing and COLD. Tree truss'd and stuff'd in th' car WITH us. 1969.

... young and foolish yet (say THAT three times fast). :wink:

 

[Photo703]

I have been driving the TR3 topless to Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, Va., nearly every Saturday morning at 6:15. I think it was a balmy 34 degrees last Saturday. Don't have the optional heater, just that big Triumph exhaust note to keep me happy and thinking warm thoughts.

 

[aerog]

I'm good to about 40 in the Miata. I already did one morning run in the upper 30s this fall. I added a decent windblocker this year though, which makes a big difference.

I think the MG is actually already a little more tame wind-wise than the Miata, I've driven it into the upper 40s comfortably.

 

[Steve_S]

I was topless yesterday morning after scraping ice form the windscreen. The night before was 28-degrees but thankfully I was in the coupe at the time. I rarely put the top up in my car but when it's middle of the night, below 30-degrees and no heater, I'll wimp out.

 

[Stewart]

wuss

I've gone out topless and heatless down to -5f.

Thank god thoes days are over.

 

[Big6Mark]

Wha??? 28 degrees in So Cal? Don't believe it!

Went visiting my Father-in-law one New Years Eve in the Healey with the top down. One of those rare dry winter days we get once in a while. It was about 28 F that night and we bundled up a bit. Was fun to see the looks we got from all the other drivers!

Don't know if I could do that anymore after the chemo.

Some of my Jeepin' buddies make jokes about how they get strange looks from others while driving their Jeeps all year and never have tops on them. Stranger still is when they are dressing in 5 layers as they always do to go somewhere and they are reminded that their friends are driving in a Cad or other sedan!

C Ya,
Mark

 

[Steve_S]

Don't forget about the incredibly varied climate we have out here. The lowest point in the western hemisphere (-252') is located about 100 miles from the highest point in the contiguous United States (14,494'), both in Southern California. The temperature difference between these two points at their extremes is over 165 degrees!

Even in the local mountains around Los Angeles is is not unusual for temperatures to dip below 0-degrees F during Winter storms. Most people don't see LA in the Winter, and those who do are sometimes surprised to see this...