Ok, for pure pleasure we have purchased a 2006 Toyota Solara Convertible. This is our first convertible. We have a three year old daughter and five year old son, but we bought the Solara because it actually has a nice backseat, even for an adult.
I’ve heard everything from, “Don’t put anything on the top” to “Treat the top with XYZ monthly”…and “Never lock your doors!” and “Never bother with the boot/cover” to “Always use the boot cover!”
Do I blink and wave to other convertible owners? Do I drop the top whenever the temps get above 55 deg Farenhiet, or risk being viewed as a fuddy duddy?
My biggest paranoia is leaving the top down while the interior bakes in the sun, while I run into a store or something. Like, during the spring/summer, I’d like to put on the boot/cover/whatever and garage the vehicle when not driving. But should I need to park somewhere, I don’t want to undo the whole contraption and raise the top.
Anything weighing less than a paperweight can possibly become airborn in an open convertible, especially any accumulated gas receipts, fast food napkins, etc. This especially applies to dust and grass sized stuff which will immediately fly right into your eyes at anything above 30. I think it’s why so many convertible drivers wear shades. Also, you smell everything around you. Driving home yesterday I was accosted by everything from diesel exhaust to wafting pot.
But, weekend drives on lonely farm to markets makes up for anything and everything.
We do use a special cleaner on the top if needed. We keep it garaged whenever it’s at home. We keep it covered when it’s not being driven on a regular basis (the rainy season). We put the top down whenever we feel like it, especially if the sun’s shining - we can always leave the side windows up if it’s a little chilly. We always lock the doors and put the top up when we leave the car for more than a moment (but ours has a fully-automatic mechanism for the top). We usually wear a hat when driving/riding, but make sure it’s one that won’t blow off easily. We always wear sunglasses. We find that Stevie Ray Vaughn is a perfect choice for a nice drive. We smile a lot.
Now, you just get out there & enjoy your ragtop, and don’t worry about what others think!
A friend of mine from work drove a convertible to a shopping center some miles away. Just before getting there, he pitched a cigarette butt out the window. When he returned from a short shopping trip, the firemen were putting out the remains of his car.
My dad left his 1960 Buick Invicta droptop parked, open, in its usual place, and went to work. He was on a very important phone call when his office manager tried to interrupt. He waved her off until the call was finished. Then he saw that water was pouring down through the light fixtures. He went out the back way and up the ladder to the roof, where he cleared debris from aroung the roof drains. At the end of the day, still drenched, he opened his car door, and water ran out the door. When he sold the car weeks later, it still reeked of rot.
This thread is started when A) I have no idea when my MGB will be done; and B) There’s show outside? Fiend!
My first car was a hand-me-down 1966 MGB just like the one I’m having restored, only not as good. Since my mom needed the ‘back seat’ for a toddler, she ordered the stow away hood (convertible top – hey, it’s a British car!) bows (AKA ‘Build It Yourself’) instead of the folding ones. This is how it worked: Release the latches on the windscreen. Unsnap the hood at the back. Lots of snaps. Pull it back to remove the metal strip from the catches. Fold carefully and stow in the boot (trunk). Fold the bow and remove it from its sockets. Pull the bow in half and store the halves in their bag. Stow them in the boot. None of this ‘push the button and let the electrics do the work’! This is old school. It was a bit of a process.
I lived in the Mojave Desert. The sun beating down would get quite hot in the summer. It would have been better to have the shade of the hood. But that’s not what a convertible is for! Just keep the wind blowing. Summer storms would come in August. We called it the Monsoon Season. They didn’t last long, but they could drop a lot of water. I could get the hood up in about two minutes.
For some reason, the 'rents reupholstered the car when Mom was still driving it. Instead of the red leather interior I inherited a car that had vinyl that was faded to pink in some places. And I’m here to tell you that vinyl gets very hot in the desert summer! And I was in the habit of wearing shorts! Oh, yeah. Nothing like bare thighs on hot vinyl!
Winters were cold, so I left the hood up. But come spring the afternoons were perfect for topless driving. The only problem was that the mornings were very cold. The car had a ‘tonneau cover’. I think that term might properly be used for the cover that goes over the folding top when it’s folded. I could be wrong about that. But what I’m talking about is the cover that goes over the whole cockpit. In the Spring I’d use that, unzipping it so only the driver’s seat was open. The heater would be turned on as hot as it would go (remember that heaters weren’t as efficient back when the car was made) and I’d wear a blanket over my lap. And I’d wear an N-2B parka with a snorkel hood. And ski gloves. It was cold, but the afternoons were worth it.
I don’t know about the Solara, but many cars have isinglass (really plastic) windows. Exposure to UV and pollution can make these cloudy and brittle. I have some plastic cleaner I bought from San-Val Aviation that I’ll use on my new one when I get it. Many people put a small blanket or a sheet of flannel on the isinglass when they fold their hoods. But then, I’m more into the classic roadsters. I’d assume that modern cars are less troublesome.
I was always told not to use Armor-All. I was told that it makes the vinyl shrink. I don’t know if that’s true. All of the modern ragtops I’ve seen have been cloth anyway.
Ok, the most important tip, that you DO NOT WANT TO LEARN THE HARD WAY LIKE I DID :
If you see a whole flock of birds circling a parking lot, put the top up. PUT THE TOP UP. There’s very few things that are less pleasant than sitting, confused, in a OSH parking lot with seagull crap all over your face. And they will get your face, they have the ability, they know how, and they live for those moments. :mad:
Always clean the leaves out of the trap before you put the top down. Always.
Definitely invest in a cover for your entire car. Don’t forget to put it over your car when you are in the path of the remnants of the next hurricane of the century. Having new carpeting put in is expensive.
We have never bothered to put the boot on (eight years and two convertibles). It looked gorgeous in the showroom that way, but it was more important to me to have the freedom to act quickly.
I wouldn’t take anything for the way I feel with that top down in pretty weather with the right music on. But the feeling comes from inside and not from what other people think. And I always put the top back up when I park.
One time a small plane buzzed the part of my hair from behind while I was on the road in North Carolina. Now that was freaky! (The irony was that we were on our way to Kitty Hawk at the time, but were still hundreds of miles away.)
groman, sometimes, if you work it just right, the birds will spot your granddaughter and not you. Now that’s worth the risk!
At some point, you’ll pull in late on a beautiful top-down afternoon, and you just won’t feel like putting the top up; maybe you’ll be tired, or maybe you’ll be planning to go back out later.
Resist this temptation. You’ll forget, you’ll fall asleep, but whatever you do, it will rain before you get back out to get the top up. 100% chance. Middle of a drought? Doesn’t matter. If the top is as easy to put up and down as it is on my car, there’s no excuse to ever leave the car with the top down.
Buy a hairbrush and leave it in the car. Don’t ever, ever take it out.
Convertibles are not just for the sun; my favorite time to drive around in mine is on warm summer nights. One of the main reasons I bought a Cabrio was that commercial from a few years ago with the friends driving around at night (the one with “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake).
Finally, don’t move to coal country. I thought I’d never own another hard top, but then I moved to a little east Kentucky town where every other car is a grossly overloaded coal truck. It only took a few times hearing that CRACK that a loose piece of coal makes when it hits the top of the car to make me realize that with the top down, that could be my head. So I’m a little skittish about it now. I think I’ll probably end up with a hardtop everyday car and a funky old convertible for the weekends; I really want a Karmann Ghia (think Uma Thurman in Kill Bill v. 2).
Solara convertible owner here. Much sensible advice already given, but I would add:
[ul]
[li]the plastic (or whatever it is) at the front edge of the top when it is closed stains irreparably when wet. [/li][li]anyone who drives a convertible with the windows up should have their car forcibly taken away and replaced with a Pinto[/li][li]the boot is way more trouble than it is worth. I’ve only used mine twice in over 5 years.[/li][li]the 2006 Solara is an ugly car with the roof up and pretty with it down. I hope you live somewhere warm.[/li][/ul]
When driving with the top up and the windows shut, ( ac or winter heat ) always have a wing or something open just a bit as to keep the top sucked down in the proper position. Going down the road looking like your car is about to explode looks silly and most important, it is stretching your top out of shape.
Summer storms would come in August. We called it the Monsoon Season. They didn’t last long, but they could drop a lot of water. I could get the hood up in about two minutes.