Guest Skip Jordan Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 (edited) What is the role of a fabric/canvas cover on the roof of a vintage hardtop car without a sunroof? Edited July 3, 2011 by Skip Jordan (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Its role is to cover the big hole in the roof. The technology did not exist at the time to produce large steel stampings such as would be needed for an all steel roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Keeps out the rain.Not so much the stamping technology as the lack of steel wide enough. The steel mills did not produce the new wide sheet metal until 1934. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Skip Jordan Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I never knew that. Incredibly interesting. Would this create any special attention to the headliner? I ask this because I am embarking on a build of the model below... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 The headliner would look exactly the same as a car with an all steel roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Skip Jordan Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate your responses. For the record, the kit I am using is based on the 1937 Phantom III below, which was owned for many years by aircraft designer Ed Swearingen in San Antonio and is currently in the Toyota Museum in Nagoya, Japan. This is Freestone and Webb coachwork, which is extremely hard to find reference on. Though F&W built nearly 200 bodies for the Phantom II, they provided only 14 bodies for the Phantom III, based largely on the financial imprudence of Mr. Freestone, who drove the company into bankruptcy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzcarnerd Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely the reason for the fabric roof section is to allow the body to flex with the chassis and more importantly to minimise the drumming of the roof. By the time all steel bodies came around chassis were stiffer and also builders had worked out how to make an all steel roof that didn't drum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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