Thank you one and all, for your valued input, insights and knowledge.
I wanted to let you know, I invited some old colleagues and friends over last Sunday to an AC Cobra hardtop afternoon.
It was kind of an eclectic combination of aerospace engineers, designers, fabricators and even a fellow who raced against Cobras in the late 60s and early 70s on the Western circuit. Many of these guys are my age so the car brought back fond memories for them as well.
After getting past the “Suicide Machine” and “Gee, I forgot what a car looked like with no safety equipment.” comments and a case of beer, the Geriatric Society sat down and went to work.
1. The first tenet was that the AC Cobra is an iconic Anglo-American classic and remains a legend today . . . can’t touch the car when it comes to aerodynamics or aesthetics.
2. I don’t like driving in a blast furnace. When you get away from the ocean here, it is ungodly hot during the summer. Going barefooted in the summer can get you a really bad case of 2nd degree burns.
3. I don’t like skin cancer. Already being on a first name basis with my Dermatologist should give you an idea of how frequent my visits are.
4. I want to maintain the car’s interior.
5. I want to drive this little gem year around. So that means heating, air conditioning and a water-tight seal. It also means a rear window that doesn’t fog-up or get covered by frost in the mountains during the winter.
6. But the big deal is, I have the same problem as the fellow in the $400.00 signal orange racing suit.
7. The hardtop must be very light and easy to put on and take off in a matter of minutes.
8. And last, but perhaps most importantly how the top fastens. Years ago on a very straight road, WHERE I WAS ALL ALONE I wanted to make up travel time. Before I knew what happened, the third party aftermarket hardtop separated. So if you have the background and crunch the numbers you’ll be surprised to discover how much force can be exerted on mounting hardware.
So that’s where we started. This evening when I have time, I’ll post a note explaining the solution . . . which to a few hopefully, will be interesting.
Gene