VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1930 Roadster top fabric/patterns

Does anyone out there make tops for a 30 roadster? Or even have patterns I can sew my own? I have the wood and frame, just need fabric.

Thanks,
Matt

Look at as many detailed photos as you can. Note where the seams pass over bows or where they meet in relation to the body. Look for interior pictures to see where the top corner pads align. Many people redo their roofs but forget the corner pads and the heavy webbing that runs inside the pads. The webbing ties all the bows together so that when you lift the roof to put it on, you’re actually pulling on the webbing and not the roofing material. I have many step by step detailed pictures of a cabriolet roof install which can be seen on the AACA restoration forum under 1932 Oldsmobile DCR thread.

Matt I have just bought a 1930 cabriolet from my neighbors father who is in the nursing home. He had the car for years and since his son was selling it to me I have questions he can’t answer. I am needing the convertible top windshield lockdowns and I have no idea what they even look like. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

What do you mean by lock downs? The front roof header is a piece of wood that is inletted for the front corner brackets that are riveted to the roof folding irons. There are receptacles for a winged bolt that screws in and secures the corner bracket to the top of each windshield post. There are indents on the round tops of each post that the tip of those bolts screw into to secure. If you don’t have the wood front roof header it is a difficult piece to make and It also has a metal pan insert that spans the entire top of the windshield. A gasket also is tacked into the channel of that pan to seal the top of the windshield. Steele rubber has the gasket. I will be making a new wood header for an Oldsmobile cabriolet I’m currently working on and could make a second one if you need it. That piece runs in the $400 range due to the compound curves it has and all the special inletting it requires. I believe the metal pan is reproduced by AM Muscle. The roof folding irons and corner brackets are not reproduced to the best of my knowledge. The winged bolts for the windshield and removable side roof irons are available from Jon potter.

Ted, Is the 30 Roadster the same front bow as the Cabriolet? His car does not have roll up windows.

Dave

The front bow, aka header, on a Roadster is vastly different than a Cabriolet that Ted is referring to. The top irons are of the same general appearance but also very different particularly in how they are secured to the header and windshield posts.

The 1930 Roadster top held to the windshield by wing bolts that screw into ball type upper ends on the windshield arms (posts).

Yup, I missed that it’s a roadster. Duh on my part. Never done a roadster so I’m unfamiliar with one. I have a friend in NY that has one but it’s too far to drive just to have a look. I could probably get him to send me some pictures. I would assume the front header is different, but again, I don’t know enough to say either way. I would also think the header is pretty complicated to make as it would be compound curved plus a lot of inletting. The header seems to be the piece of wood many try not to replace because of its complexity as I’ve seen a lot of decent cars that have really bad front headers. I’ve also seen a few homemade front headers that ranged from pretty good to very bad attempts. One literally still had some bark on it with no center channel and the corner brackets were attached to flat metal that was screwed to the ends f the header with no inletting. The header was cut short and the tops of the corners brackets were padded with a conveyor belt material. I guess it worked but it was definitely from Fred Flintstones convertible!.