BN4 with hard top

[healeyblue]

I am in the process of restoring a hard top for our 1957 BN4 (longbridge) car. It was not original to the car and am wondering how others have mounted the top on the longbridge cars. I am using a BT7 as the mock up car and it has factory locating tubes welded in the car for the front pegs of the hard top. The longbridge car does not have these tubes at the "B" pillar. How should I mount the top? I guess the pins will just hang down in the space where the top sliders are but nothing will positively locate them. Should I weld up some make shift mounting tubes that will bolt in place with the top sliders? Any thoughts or pictures would be appreciated. Jim.

 

[DerekJ]

That's an interesting question and I don't have the exact answer but I would say that when the hard tops first appeared only the 100-Six existed and I'm pretty sure they were available when the Longbridge BN4 was in production. My hard top doesn't have pegs and is attached by two hooks that fit under the rear shroud as well as the two at the windscreen.

 

[57_BN4]

The first owner of my car bought a hardtop three years after he bought the car according to his wife and it has stayed with the car all its life. The two pegs do just stick downward without locating on anything in particular. They have worn semi-circle grooves in the cockpit rails over the years so they must provide some sort of sideways location. Various comments suggest that the pegs are often too short to really locate in their sockets on the later cars anyway. Andy.

 

[healeyblue]

The first owner of my car bought a hardtop three years after he bought the car according to his wife and it has stayed with the car all its life. The two pegs do just stick downward without locating on anything in particular. They have worn semi-circle grooves in the cockpit rails over the years so they must provide some sort of sideways location. Various comments suggest that the pegs are often too short to really locate in their sockets on the later cars anyway. Andy.

I suspected as much. I will most likely try and fit some thin walled rubber tubing over the pegs to prevent metal on metal contact.
Thanks guys,
JIM

 

[57_BN4]

'dual wall' heat shrink tubing would be ideal for that. Actually I'm going to do the same since I scratched the cockpit rail while fitting the top.

 

[DerekJ]

I was pretty dumb in my last post. I have a Longbridge BN4, number 61532 and I also have the Heritage certificate which shows the car came with a hardtop. Its probable that my hard top is the original one. It was originally in the rare for Uk, colours of Florida green/Pacific Green.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

I recently bought a factory hardtop for a 57 BN4 and noticed the same thing, no locating holes for the pins. I looked at a 58 BN4, it had the supports and locating holes. I first thought someone had cut the supports out. Good to know.

Marv

 

[healey106]

Derek - your hardtop, was it white or black? Those were the only two colors from the factory? thanks jim

 

[John Turney]

UOC 741, the MM car, press demo car and first factory rally car had a Pacific Green top to match it's Pacific Green over Florida Green body, so I assume one could get a top painted to match the body if ordered together.