Ok it was a nice day I admit, but southbound on the A1 with a face full of tipper lorry diesel fumes, on a cold English autumn day is not exactly the Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes now is it.
Anyway I cruised past a red mini convertible, and glanced sideways at some bloke with his leather jacket buttoned up to his ears, ray bans bouncing around on his nose in the wind, sat next to mrs bimbo (hair by zanussi) He looked at me, I looked at him, and his face fell when he clocked my my slow sad shake of the head...
|
|
My Merc, with the wind protector behind the seats, was quite a pleasant place with the top off. One could even feel the effect of the heater, provided the windows were up.
|
>> My Merc, with the wind protector behind the seats, was quite a pleasant place with the top off. One could even feel the effect of the heater, provided the windows were up.>>
Done it on occasions in the past in mid-winter in a Mercedes (usually in Yorkshire), but you do need something like that with a decent heater.
Far more pleasant an experience than many would imagine.
|
It's a British thing. They say the UK is one of, if not the, biggest convertible markets in Europe.
You get it or you don't.
Can't see the point of sitting behind a lorry of any kind though, I'd want to get passed that.
Out for a Sunday run, were they of a certain age? No one under 70 does that these days do they?
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 9 Nov 14 at 17:41
|
We are under 70 by a few years but we have the luxury of going for a 'Sunday run' in our ragtop sans roof during the week when Sunday drivers, groups of cyclists, hikers etc are normally elsewhere leaving us to share the country roads with milk trucks and tractors. (Most of these are still out there on Sundays too).
Dual carriageways and / or motorways are normally avoided as admittedly they are not the most pleasant of places to be in a convertible.
Z obviously doesn't get it but should you choose to glance at us you will most likely get a wave and a smile.
|
|
I'll drive with the roof down at any time of year if it's sunny - wind deflector, decent heater and heated seats mean that as long as you're not travelling silly speeds (by which I mean 70+) it's perfectly comfortable. However, there's no point in doing to so on long journeys, especially on dual carriageways or motorways - it's just a bit too noisy at those kind of speeds for any length of time. And I wouldn't do it round town (unless driving along the seafront) as you look and feel a bit conspicuous!!
|
|
not sure the "ring" can be compared to the A1 at Knebworth.
|
Quite right, nor indeed a Westfield to Mini. But if the question is "Soft tops, really why?" then...
;-)
|
Bet that Westfield pilot was relieved there was no precipitation.
Those wipers should be striped off. That would give him another couple mph because those things are useless.
I've been at the 'Ring before on days like that, 20 minutes later it is hosing it down and the pick up truck is pulling bikes and cars off that look decidedly second hand.
All good fun and if they weren't doing that they'd be in a shed, smoking a pipe, hitting something with a hammer.
|
Some soft top, or (best of all) definitively topless barchetta-type, cars are nice looking and pleasant to waft along in in good weather. But as people say, they are tiring over any distance and you nearly always need good protective clothing in practice.
Coupés with strong racing roll cages are safer for enterprising under-35 drivers... takes a few years to learn how not to risk your little pink bum without mimsing. Even then, you have to remember that a roll may be someone else's fault. The road springs surprises on the most cerebral and cautious driver, I can assure everyone from personal experience and convincing anecdote. .
|
Tried to add, got a memorable brief ride in a 1932-36 4 1/4 litre Bentley tourer, four-seat, two-door, a non-overdrive example I think, up and down Westbourne Terrace, half a mile with two traffic lights. The owner, brother of a girl who lived in our flat there, was gung-ho and got it up to 70ish despite the traffic lights. The engine was silent but the wind roar got quite loud.
Life seemed more amusing in those days somehow.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sun 9 Nov 14 at 18:59
|
I've recently picked up a soft top quite cheap, a farmer's special, that to be honest will scrub up all right.
It's a BMW 318Ci auto.
The idea was to get it sorted properly over the winter and sell it in the Spring.
Trouble is.. I sort of..well, er....quite like it...and so does my brother.
So we might keep it and think up some excuse as to why the business needs it. It passed its MOT with no advisories.
I've driven it several times on sunny days with the hood down.. and couldn't give two hoots what anyone else thinks, I like it.
|
Most modern soft tops will need no more additional clothing than you would need for a walk to suit the weather. Caterhams, Westfields are different animals.
Any extra risks are understood, but are no greater, probably considerably less than cyclists, ( motorised or not ) or many other of my daily activities. A life without taking ANY risks would be pretty boring.
|
Ah the all year round open top driver. Uniquely British form of eccentricity. Probably sit at home with has the windows open and the central heating turned to maximum. Mostly harmless.
|
|
Yup, but central heating - that's for wimps.
|
|
Daughter's got an MX5. I can't drive it with the top on, I'm too tall. Have to look over the top of the screen!
|
I never seemed to need very special clothing to drive my Westfield even in Scottish winters. A leather jacket, decent gloves and wraparound shades was about all. Well, that and spare underpants if you came upon an unexpected wet cattle grid under braking...
;-)
|
British humour includes ironic statements.
Be proud!
|
Only muppets drive soft tops in the UK
Best wishes
Statler
|
Now, I know why many people say that, but IMO they're wrong.
In the warmer places I've lived, such as Dallas, Los Angeles, Rio de Janerio and Caracas soft tops are a right pain in the a*** because its always to damn hot to drop the roof.
I have enjoyed soft tops most in the UK, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. Where its not really very warm, but it is quite often sunny.
|
|
Mrs RP has had a few MX5s - I enjoyed the experience, but prefer a bike personally, but of course each to their own.
|
You prefer a bike to your wife?
Ok cool, brave, but hey, cool.
;-)
|
>> I have enjoyed soft tops most in the UK, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. Where
>> its not really very warm, but it is quite often sunny.
>
I've driven top down down the pacific coast highway, and over Yosemite, both makes sense because the air is fabulous, and there is much to see. The point is both are far removed from the A1 at Knebworth at 70mph. In that case its just posing. Badly and uncomfortably.
|
|
A girl at work has one of those Astras with a folding metal roof. It keeps getting stuck and costing quite a lot of money to fix. Something to do with the electric motors apparently.
|
>>The point is both are far removed from the A1 at Knebworth at 70mph. In that case its just posing. Badly and uncomfortably
I used to blast up the M40 in rush hour with the roof down on any sunny day. And the best sunny days were often in the winter. Ok, actually sat in a traffic jam wouldn't be fun, but that's true wherever the traffic jam happened to be.
For quite a long time my office was in Half Moon Bay on Highway 1 where I lived in Foster City just off 101. Used to be a great drive over the mountains [big hills really] every morning. Ditto about a year later when my commute took me over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County every day.
|
Once stopped for fish chips n mushy peas ( without the peas) down by the harbour at HMBay. Joanne's? Seem to remember having proposed on the beach at Carmel a few days earlier. Finished off our mini trip with dinner at the Cliff House, getting quite tired & emotional after a few bottles of Elysium.
Soon sobered up when I saw the card statement. We were in an oldish red Mustang convertible, hired from some dodgy garage in SOMA.it was an awful piece of 4.0 V6, plastic and horrible, but looked ok. From a distance.
|
|
Just googled it. 'Twas Ketch Joanne. Fish n chips for lunch, down by the harbour. Full of locals.
|
I love soft tops. I'd have one now if I could justify another car. Had 3 in the past..many years ago. A 12/50 Herald and two Super Minxes.
Took the kids through the Blackpool Hallucinations when they were little. All togged up and the heater on.
That was when it was worth going.........Now they seem to be just a couple of 40 watt bulbs on each lamp-post !
|
My convertible goes out all year - but only if I can have the top down. It has a wind deflector, which is useful.
It's 'chacun a son gout' isn't it? Not everybody wants to be grubbing about by a railway track every weekend, breathing steam and cinders.
|
>> My convertible goes out all year - but only if I can have the top
>> down. It has a wind deflector, which is useful.
>> It's 'chacun a son gout' isn't it? Not everybody wants to be grubbing about by
>> a railway track every weekend, breathing steam and cinders.
You are just trying to find an excuse to justify an impractical purchase. Just own up and admit its because you are trying to recapture your lost youth and you didn't realise it makes you look like a sad old knob trying to recapture his lost youth ;p
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 10 Nov 14 at 10:20
|
>>You are just trying to find an excuse to justify an impractical purchase. Just own up and admit its because you are trying to recapture your lost youth and you didn't realise it makes you look like a sad old knob trying to recapture his lost youth ;p<<
Got me there, yer honour.
Having said that, there isn't much these days that makes me smile just to look at it...
|
|
The great thing about being a sad old knob etc is not caring about looking like one!
|
Friend of my daughter, a man of 40 or so with an eminent shrink for a father, once called me a 'sad old guy' when I was giving him a lift home, some disagreement in conversation. Cheeky teenage charm is fine in cheeky charming teenagers but not in adults. He had form for misbehaving at carnival but I'd forgiven him.
Not twice though. I raced round to his street at getaway speed, stopped violently in the middle of the road and threw him very rudely out of the car, wheelspinning away with the little brute's door still open. Wouldn't let my daughter bring him to the house and never spoke to the cheeky little sod again.
|
I guess everyone is a bit sad in someone's opinion. The human condition. Age brings self respect, or at least self acceptance.
I'm just here for the ride. When it stops, fine.
I'm disinclined to far too many people, but fortunately they don't care or even notice. My problem, not their's eh?
|
>> I'm disinclined to far too many people, but fortunately they don't care or even notice.
The reason they don't notice Humph is that you are a civilized cat and don't tell them.
>> I guess everyone is a bit sad in someone's opinion. The human condition.
I don't mind if arrogant 40-year-olds think I'm a sad old guy. I mind though if they have the brass face, the casual rudeness and cruelty, to tell me so. What do they know? Damn all. They need their bums kicked. Or to associate only with ill-mannered hobbledehoys like themselves.
|
On the question of Soft Tops, really why?, TG magazine has the following synopsis for my Morgan:
"As British and traditional as cold showers and b*ggery; and about as comfortable."
Last edited by: Dave_C220CDI on Mon 10 Nov 14 at 21:14
|
>> It's 'chacun a son gout' isn't it?
I was just about to use that exact phrase myself. If it stays sunny I'll use mine tomorrow.
I had a marvellous 100 mile run from Lockerbie over to Longframlington, via Hawick not the A74/A69, on a brisk day back in May. Didn't even stop when it rained for half an hour, kept going and stayed dry.
My blind spot is dogs.
|
I loved mine, but when we moved house it became nothing more than a commuting tool, so the roof rarely came down
The arrival of child number 3 stopped weekend use, so it was time for it to go.
Still miss having the roof down on a crisp morning with the heated seats on
|
|
An absolute lifetime ago I can remember regularly tooling up from Edinburgh to Aviemore early on crisp frosty Saturday mornings in my MG Midget, roof down, ski rack on the back, heater on full blast and feeling that life was pretty good.
|
A bit like riding perhaps - you either love it or hate it.
No one has yet invented a detachable hard top to fit a horse.
|
>> I can remember regularly tooling up from Edinburgh to Aviemore in my MG Midget, roof down, feeling that life was pretty good.
>>
I'm sorry, but no matter how many times I read that I still can't make sense of it. You were driving an MG Midget, and life was good?!?!
Mrs BB wouldn't be without her Merc CLK convertible. Only a 200 Kompressor and she does very few miles in it, but when the sun shines, the roof is down and you're out in the country you DO feel good driving that.
|
I remember my MG B Roadster; blankets for cold weather since the heater was rubbish, keep legs away from the door when its raining to avoid incoming water, especially on corners or when braking.
Still loved it though.
|
|
I was never an MG person but I thoroughly enjoyed my Spitfire. All 74 horses. Pretty abysmal by modern day standards but at the time I thought it was the bees knees. Drove up from Bradford to Skye in it one Christmas. I have nothing but happy memories of it, and it made fine daily transport. As did my mates Frogeye Sprite.
|
|
A friend had a Spitfire, the version that looked a bit like a Stag. I always thought it quite pretty, but always preferred the MGs.
|
|
Had a Spitfire too. Never been deliberately automotively partisan.
|
I always found the Spitfire very narrow to sit in.
I couldn't afford to be partisan. That kind of luxury of thought came much later.
|
>>Pie issues?
It'd have been beer, if it'd been anything! But no, 32" waist in those days, 33" waist these days. (slight deviation in between!).
Shoulder problem, really. Actually, not even a problem, just felt cramped.
|
|
Now sunroofs on the other hand, I really don't understand the attraction of them.
|
|
I used to like a sunroof. Even made Sierras slightly exotic. Although, I did used to have quite long hair and the combination of a sunroof, a bike rack and pressing on a bit could occasionally lead to complications.
|
I had a sunroof in my Lancia. Ok, the Lancia sunroof was a particularly dumb design, but even so I didn't like it. And I had long hair in those days, but I was kind of used to hair in my face from bikes, so it wasn't that.
I used to find it often made an unpleasant "booming" wind noise.
And you had a bike rack? In those days? Clearly you've long been a tart.
|
|
I had a bike rack on a Cortina. On a few Cortinas come to think.
|
I took* the rear window out of my Cavalier so I could carry my boards inside.
* Trans: slammed the hatch one day in Hayling Island and smashed the window out with the fin of a long board.
|
Only soft-tops I ever owned were my Land-Rovers back in the 1980's; the first one a 1958 Series 2, the second a 1951 Series 1 . The latter was the more fun on a hot day since you could fold the windscreen flat and remove the doors in US army Jeep style.
As any of you who've ever driven Series Landys will know, excessive noise is not an issue because if anything they seem quieter with the roof off. Huge fun though.
|
I really like Landrovers and several times have almost bought a Defender. But I cannot get on with their width - I am only comfortable with the window open and my arm and shoulder sticking out of it.
Particularly annoying given the size of the centre console between the two seats and the overall width of the actual vehicle.
|
Soft Tops, really why! - No FM2R
