What to do with the roof on a 33 ford coupe?

At first I planned to fill the roof on my 33 with a weld in panel from Walden, but now I am not sure. The car will be a chopped traditional highboy. The advantage I see to welding it up is no place for water to get in and rust. I am looking for opinions. Thanks!

 

i like the original type soft top

 

i like the filled look and you can make it fit any car from mild to wild

 

Just my humble opinion, but I very much prefer them open.

Search for photos of it done both ways and make your choice.

As is said quite often around here...It's your car, build it how you want.

 

Make the Walden Pannel fit the opening so that it's removeable, this way you can have it both ways.

 

What he says, but cover it with long grain vinyl and you'll have the best of both worlds...

 

You want traditional? Look through any old Hot Rod Magazine and you will see the top is an insert.Mostly in a contrasting color,like white.Thats why I say keep the soft top.

 

If you want it to look like a glass car ,fill it. A friend of mine used a sheet of aluminum for his "insert" to seal it and then covered it with Stafast convertible top material.


My .02
Steve

 

FORTRESS...my son has a 27T chopped coupe, and he filled the top solid. we figured the rain and cold weather was for choppers. if you listen to some of these folks, they'l have you putting the 4 banger back in. you know the (traditional thing )...POP.

 

Soft top, my opinion is they look good and the kit from Juliono's is easy to install and waterproof. I have one on my 34 chevy and am putting one on my model A coupe. My 2 cents.

 

Thanks for the input. I will look into the bolt in top from Walden and cove it in vinyl.

 

No Vinyl, Louver it!!!! but still make it removable. You'll have a sunshine car when you want and a vented lid when you want.


Tim

 

I second the vote for Juliano's soft top kit. Here is one installed on my '34 Ford 5-window. The car has seen some awesome rain storms and hasn't leaked (yet)!

Jim

 

Does the kit include bows?

 

Get the Walden steel insert and cover it with the stock long grain vinyl and trim the edges like stock. Use Wood Art bows for the inside.
The best of both worlds.
HemiDeuce.

 

Which one of the monthly magazines ran a tech article on installing the soft top kit? it was a few months ago in r&c or streetrodder I think. If someone knows,I'd like to read it .

 

Both my coupes. a 33 5 window and a 34 3 window have filled tops. Just my preference.

 

I made up a steel panel to fit the original opening and painted it to match the car, but it is removable in the future I want it to be. It's waterproof, vandal proof, doesn't flap in the wind and looks good, in my opinion.

 

Do it like Rolling Bones did Poteet's '34.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243704

 

What else would you expect? This is a traditional forum...seems like a lot of people here lately have forgotten that...or just don't respect that.

 

My vote would be for the original top.

 

I put a snap tonneau on my 'rod. Open when weather permits, on with heater running this morning at 20 degrees.............

 

mine is filled, there was no channel to do anything else with, if i had a choice i would have done it with a soft top, they just look better

 

No. The Juliano's kit does not include the bows (neither does the LeBarron-Bonney kit).

Jim

 

No, the bows are not included in the Juliano's kit.

Jim

 

Just for interest, here are a couple pictures of the panel we made up for mine. It fastens to the existing holes in the channel and has about a 3/16" wide black sealant joint all around, which is slightly recessed. The panel itself sits about 1/16" higher than than the surrounding roof and is painted body colour. I tried to leave the body on mine unaltered as it is 100% original Henry Ford steel, right down to the bumpers and bumper irons, no reproduction parts on the exterior

 

Filled my 33 with the top of a 41 Ford sedan body that was parted many years ago. The fit looks like it was done at the factory.

 

I've got one of each, one coupe with a filled roof, one with a unfilled roof,I wouldn't fill the unfilled roof, and i wouldn't unfill the filled roof.

 

Check out this months cover car on Street Rodder........... cool...

 

I can make a tackstrip for it,aluminum but looks like original after installation