• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Too Hot for a Convertible...

Share this page

tomshobby said:
Shirley and I have over 7,000 top-down-miles with our TR6 in the last year. We consider it top down weather any time day or night that it is not raining and the temp is 50F or more. We do make some exceptions in colder weather but not often.
Click to expand...

Tom hits the nail on the head for those of us in the frozen north. Up here, with our seven to eight months of winter and related weather, the top on a convertible stays down however hot it gets. Oh, I have seen convertibles being driven on clear sunny days in the 70's with the top raised (looks as though it has never been lowered, either) but these are modern cars being driven, mainly, by women. But classics? It is extremely rare to see one with the roof up when it's not raining, regardless of ambient temperate, in the "spring" and "summer" months up here.
 
Jean and I are in the habit of not using the a/c on our regular cars for that very reason. It helps acclimate us to our normal out of state runs to regional Healey meets with the top down - it has to be more than a drizzle to get the top up - and by the time the side curtains should be in, it's to late, we're already soaked. But we eventually dry out and no harm done.
Unfortunately this year our trips have been severely curtailed and I'm really starting to miss the open road top down cruising. Guess we'll just have to wait till the SE Classic in September.
 
We don't get lots of rain here in the desert so I usually go out in the morning, drop the top on the wife's Mustang GT vert, put the cover on it then drop the B's top and cover it...after coffee off we go to our jobs. She has trees to park under as do I....or I pull mine into the shop. In the evening if the weather holds we just put car covers over them(mostly to keep critters out...and go from there. There have been times when we can go weeks without putting the tops up.
 
jackq said:
There have been times when we can go weeks without putting the tops up.
Click to expand...

Our top has been up twice this year. Once while it was in winter storage and the other time was when we unexpectedly got caught in a hard rain shower. It has stayed down when we got caught in lighter showers this season. Even the 2 or 3 times a week that we wash the car and engine bay the top stays down. (don't like taking out a dirty <span style="text-decoration: line-through">car</span> Triumph, our Saturns don't get washed)
 
Too hot? Never! Valley of Fire, Nevada at 116-degrees for hours on end, and no grommets in the firewall. Then again, it was a dry heat.
rolleyes1.gif


tcmead.jpg


I'll admit that I had a mister bottle in the car, and that it was bloody hot.
 
Steve, that is an EXCELLENT pic! That should be a poster, imo. :laugh:
 
Hrumph. It was 94 in the back yard before it rained. I was out doing work, even got the MGB started (it hasn't been run in an embarrassing-long time but it started and ran great after just a couple of cranks).

I've been shamed into it. If I end up going to work tomorrow I'll drive the MG with the top down. I can stand the 10 mile ride :laugh:
 
Tinster said:
TR6BILL said:
Ya bunch a sissies.
Click to expand...

<span style="color: #990000">Ya bunch a sissies. It's ALWAYS
over 90* on the roads here.</span>

d :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

90 is a nice average temperature. We call 88 "2 below"
 
[/quote] Are jackets that difficult to put on? :smile: [/quote]

Or take off?
 
Back
Top