For 2002, the Ford Thunderbird goes back to its 1950s roots when it appears this summer with a removable hardtop that contains the signature porthole. Several new models will also get retractable hardtops similar to that on the Mercedes-Benz SLK. The 2001 Honda S2000 will have an optional removable hardtop (which can be retrofitted for current S2000 owners).
And there are always the traditional canvas soft tops, such as the Ford Mustang, BMW’s new M3 that goes on sale this spring, and the upcoming 2003 Dodge Viper.
Convertibles, which are defined as a car that converts from a closed car to an open car, are alive and well.
“A convertible is a fully open car where the rear window goes down into the back and when you roll all the windows down and put the top down, you have a completely open car,” said Keith Martin, publisher of Sports Car Market magazine.
And therein lies their allure.
“A lot has to do with the presentation possibilities in a convertible,” said George C. Peterson, president of AutoPacific, an automotive consulting company headquartered in Tustin, Calif. “See my car; see me. You are able to show yourself when driving your car. People have always wanted open-top driving. In a lot of ways it’s really impractical, but a lot of people still love them.”
The first cars didn’t have tops at all. The first true convertible, with a detachable top, was introduced at the Fourth National Auto Show in 1904, according to the premier issue (1983) of the journal Convertible. Five years later, in 1909, the first one-man folding fabric tops appeared on a variety of models.
Convertibles became very popular after World War II. “All these GIs were coming out of the army and going to college on the GI bill and able to afford a car with a little bit of flamboyance, a car with some sex appeal,” Peterson said.
Convertible sales stayed pretty strong until 1970. In 1963, they accounted for 6.7 percent of domestic passenger car sales, according to the journal Convertible. In 1964 along came the Ford Mustang.
“One of the most popular convertibles of all time popular surely was the 1964 to 1966 Mustang,” Martin said.
By 1970 convertibles’ market share fell to 1 percent, according to the journal Convertible. The journal blames consumer crusader Ralph Nader for a “monster drop in convertible sales,” as a result of his blasting Detroit in his book “Unsafe At Any Speed.”
Nader was only part of it. Automakers spent the ’70s and much of the ’80s focused on complying with a host of new safety and pollution standards. One was a roof-crush standard, though when it was implemented in 1973 convertibles were excluded because the government could not pass a regulation that would outlaw a vehicle category, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman.
“It wasn’t until the ’80s that all those standards stabilized enough for manufacturers to be able to focus on other things–like fun,” Martin said.
Martin pins the revival of the convertible on the 1990 Mazda Miata, which debuted in the summer of 1989. Mazda executives say that the Guinness Book of World Records recognizes the Miata as the best-selling two-seat roadster, with more than 520,000 sold.
“Mazda came in and built the most perfect British roadster there had ever been. After the Miata, suddenly the market came alive again.”
Today it is the premium sporty segment, which includes the Porsche Boxster, Chevrolet Corvette and BMW roadsters, that has the largest number of topless cars, according to data from J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing information firm based in Agoura Hills, Calif.
In that segment, 72 percent of owners have convertibles, and 62 percent want their next vehicle to be a convertible.
The next largest segment for convertibles is the mid-sporty segment, which includes the Ford Mustang, Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder and Chrysler Sebring. In that segment, 27 percent of owners say they have convertibles and 36 percent want their next vehicle to be one.
And convertible owners rate their vehicles more appealing than fixed-top owners. Convertibles tend to receive APEAL scores 24 points higher than vehicles without convertible tops, according to Richard Bongiorno, manager of the product research group of J.D. Power .
Carefree, not trouble free
Despite this romance with convertibles, al fresco motoring is neither trouble-free nor inexpensive, according to another Power study . On average convertible owners pay $4,000 more for their vehicles and report significantly more problems with them–eight more problems per 100 vehicles–than folks who don’t buy convertibles. Problems cited are water leaks, wind noise, poor-fitting tops and blemished and distorted rear windows, said Bongiorno.
A problem-free experience was not what owners of the first hardtop convertible that sold in any sort of volume found, however. That was the 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner.
“There were quality and reliability nightmares with a tremendous number of motors and little switches that would always go wrong,” said AutoPacific’s Peterson. But they are valuable as collector cars, he said.
“The issue is can you make them pay back? You have to do that by selling a lot of cars or a lot of cars at a high price or a few cars at a high price,” Peterson said of the retractable hardtops, which are expensive to engineer.
Owners of retractable hardtops such as the one on the Mercedes SLK report few, if any, problems with wind noise and water leaks and seem to be much more satisfied with the way they work, Bongiorno said.
One person who thinks we are going to see more retractable hardtops is Eric Noble, president of The CARLAB, an automotive product planning and positioning firm in Santa Ana, Calif.
“What you want is what the SLK will do, a hardtop and a convertible at the push of a button. With modern kinematics, motion control and computer software, you can do folding hardtops all day long. It’s quiet, doesn’t leak and there’s a real back window, not a brown faded plastic thing. All the things that were bad about soft tops we can get rid of,” he said.
One of the more innovative retractable hardtops was designed for the Chevrolet SSR concept that is part pickup, part sports car. Its automatic two-piece retractable hardtop folds to stow vertically between the seats and cargo bed. Chevy wants to keep the same design when the vehicle makes it to production, which is expected to be in 2002 as a 2003 model.
An alternative to retractable hardtops is a dual lining for soft tops, which helps reduce wind noise and provides better insulation. “That’s a trend we’re seeing,” Bongiorno said, along with a trend to glass rear windows.
Enter the targa
Though removable and retractable hardtops are subsets of the ragtop, targa tops are not, Martin says. That is because a targa roof lifts off and has to be stored elsewhere, and the rear window is fixed.
He argues that to be a convertible the only piece of glass left standing when the top is down and the windows are rolled down is the windshield.
“The Porsche 911 targa is a different car than the 911 cabriolet,” Martin said.
Porsche did not have a cabriolet, a full convertible, in its lineup until the 911 was redesigned for the 1983 model year.
The first open-cockpit Porsches were targas, starting with 1968 911s. Porsche went with targas because it did not want to lose the torsional rigidity of the chassis needed for handling, said Bob Carlson, manager of media relations.
Porsche hasn’t had a targa in the lineup since the previous 911 was discontinued in the 1998 model year.
However, industry rumors show a Porsche targa coming soon, and it, like the previous one, will have a full glass motorized sliding top instead of a removable panel that has to be stowed in the garage.
But targa sales are a small percentage of Porsche sales. For example, in the 1997 model year, 911 sales were 6,223, of which 419 had targa tops. The No. 1 seller in that line is the cabriolet.
“Frankly the folks would rather have a full cabriolet or go with the coupe,” Carlson said. “The targa top is kind of a niche car within a niche line.”
Before General Motors said it would phase out Oldsmobile, the carmaker introduced the O4, a four-seat concept that uses twin targa tops made of ultra-strong lightweight carbon fiber that snap off and stow behind the rear seats.
Though convertibles are on the way back, Peterson points out there are not a tremendous number of pure drop-tops and that the world is still waiting for that next Lincoln Town Car convertible. “Some big boat with a lot of presence for all the Boomers who are ready for one,” he said.
HATS OFF
A convertible is defined as a car that converts from a closed car to an open one. There are four main types of convertibles. Here’s how they shape up:
Canvas top: The traditional convertible, a cloth top retracts into a space behind the back seat. Introduced in removable form in 1904 and foldable form in 1909. Examples: Ford Mustang, BMW’s new M3 that goes on sale this spring and the Chrysler Sebring.
Retractable hard top: The metal top retracts and stores in the trunk. Wind noise and water leaks reduced. Introduced on the 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner. Examples: Mercedes-Benz SLK and Lexus SC430.
Removable hard top: The top lifts off and must be stored. Introduced on the 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Examples: Ford Thunderbird (complete with portholes) and Honda S200.
Targa top: Panels over the driver and passenger lift off and have to be stored. The back panel is rigid with a fixed rear window. Introduced on 1968 Porsche 911. Example: Qvale Mangusta.
TOPLESS
Here are the carmakers that offer convertibles for 2001 and the vehicles on which they are available:
ACURA: NSX
ASTON-MARTIN: Vantage
AUDI: Audi TT
BENTLEY: Azure
BMW: Z3, Z8, M roadster, 325Ci and 330Ci
CHEVROLET: Corvette, Camaro and Camaro Z28
CHRYSLER: Sebring, Prowler
DODGE: Viper
FERRARI: 360 Modena Spyder and 550 Barchetta
FORD: Mustang
HONDA: S2000
ISUZU: Rodeo Sport
JAGUAR: XK8 and XKR
MAZDA: Miata
MERCEDES-BENZ: CLK 320 and 430, SLK 230 and 320, SL 500 and 600
MITSUBISHI: Eclipse Spyder
PONTIAC: Firebird
PORSCHE: Boxster and Boxster S, 911 Carrera and Carrera 4
ROLLS-ROYCE: Corniche
SAAB: 9-3 SE and Viggen
TOYOTA: Camry Solara, MR2 Spyder
VOLKSWAGEN: Cabriolet
VOLVO: C70
