Anyone for a Jupiter Hardtop?

[Srenner]

In the 50's, a local shop in Long Beach, CA made a number of these. They had a large plastic window and fit fairly well. I have been told they were an improvement over the soft top in keeping the weather out.

I am planning to use one of these to pull a mold and also get the rear window re-manufactured. I will take a look at the mounting hardware as well.

Would anyone else be interested in having one? Ah, yes, at what price?
I'm guessing around US$1000 for the top in white gelcoat with a lexan or plexi window.

I will talk with a fiberglass mold maker this week and get an idea of the mold cost and per unit cost. I will do the same for getting the rear plastic window made.

Responses/comments/suggestions (polite only please!) can be posted here or emailed to me at jowettpartsusa@yahoo.com

All the best this Holiday Season!
Scott Renner

[Forumadmin]

There are a couple of hardtops in Europe. One issue, for some people, is the headroom. Someone suggested making the hood/hardtop join the rear further back to improve the line of the car. This could be achieved by moulding a shelf about 15cm wide at maximum around the rear onto which the rear window then sat.

Is CA suffering from climate change and getting rain occasionally?

[Keith Andrews]

I used to own a fibreglass moulding company...most of the stuff was caravans, commercial bus front/rears, interiors, and also beach buggies
The buggies where of 2 designs...
Instead of the usual soft top, they had a removable hard top as you suggest.
Making of moulds from scatch is very labour intensive...and the expensive part....the cost also depends on how many units that is intented to pop out.
We used the roof off an Allegro, cut into 1/4s, resized/shaped, but kept the rear window.

[Srenner]

Seems like nothing moves quickly in my Jowett world. Still need to get a top over to the mold maker for an estimate. Curved window is US$400, so a flat one seems a good idea.

KC, I'm not sure James will let me cut up one of his tops to reconfigure it! Perhaps I will mount it up on one of my cars and see about the headroom.

Keith Andrews: yes, making molds can be time consuming, but it's the only way we can reproduce the tops. The last mold I had made was for Lotus Seven fenders and it wasn't all that costly.

Trying to push forward, open to ideas and comments.

[Chris Freudenberg]

A glance through some of my webpages can give impressions of my hard top, below which is a roll cage. My hard top can be seen in pictures of my Jupiter on my 'front page' site
http://www.plusiarts.co.uk/
and more views on my hard top can be seen on the following of my websites:

http://homepage.mac.com/mountpleasantry ... bum84.html

http://homepage.mac.com/mountpleasantry ... bum83.html

http://homepage.mac.com/mountpleasantry ... bum85.html

http://homepage.mac.com/mountpleasantry ... bum26.html

Regards,
Chris Freudenberg www.plusiarts.co.uk

[Chris Freudenberg]

The rear screen of my (Jupiter 572) hard top is Morris Minor.
Chris Freudenberg

[Forumadmin]

Chris,
As many know you are not the smallest Jup owner and your hardtop accommodates you! I think the addition of a roll cage is sensible and when I did mine had to be mindful of racing regulations that required 5cm clearance above and behind head in normal driving position.

As I said above, in hind sight I should have created more rake to the rear so that the lines were better. I also think a side quarter light assists the aesthetics and visibility.

The fawn colour is less obtrusive than black. First and foremost you must be able to get in and out of the car with the hardtop on.

Anyone thought of designing a foldaway hard top that could be stored in the miniscule luggage compartment. Now there is a challenge. First design hurdle are some windproof and waterproof hinges.

[Srenner]

Thanks for the photos Chris. I have seen pics of your car for years and the hardtop as well.

Not a lot of interest from the Jowett crowd on this one. I met with the mold maker a couple of weeks ago and am still waiting to hear back.