Please say you are kidding. Please?

 

Ok so its a stupid idea right? Problem is, I am in Texas and in the summer its like 110deg. The car has no A/C and it just plain sucks to drive. The seats are vinyl and hot as hell, not to mention uncomfortable. I want to enjoy my car, but what the hell can I do? I can add A/C for around a grand, and drive around with the windows up and the AC cranked. Yea! that sounds real enjoyable. I can hack off the top, and try and make it a vert, but the parts alone are 2500+ and a hell of a lot of body work. I'm starting to think I should just sell the thing and buy a stingray. I thought maybe there was some other option, but no one makes any conversion kits for these things.

 

No one makes a conversion kit and no one ever will. The reason is that Chevrolet made a convertible camaro, so there are plenty available. If you cut up the car you will destroy the value of it totally. Just cutting the top off of it and putting some braces under there still will not give you the rigidity you need. The verts are really a totally different car inner structure wise. No one will touch that car if you were to ever try and sell it. Besides, when it`s 110 out and with vinyl seats, top down, your going to burn up. When I take my tops out of my T/A with black leather seats and 100 outside, I run the a/c and I still burn up. Put a/c in the car or sell it and buy a vert of some sort. That advice will save you a ton of money and headaches.

 

After all, its your car. We can give you our thoughts, but its still up to you what you do with it.

IMO, it will absolutely ruin the car. 1st gens are increasingly desireable, and are getting harder to find. One with T-tops cut into it will kill off 95% (actually probably close to 100%) of the people that would ever be interested in it. There is not, or will there ever be, a t-top conversion setup for them. So most will be/are hack jobs. I dont see there being a way to make it even close to respectable.

Im in the south also, and trust me, t-tops arent the answer to beating the heat. A/C conversions arent necessarily cheap, but it's more than worth it in regards to the integrity of the car and preserving its value.

If youre thinking about a stingray, go that route instead of hacking a 1st gen. But dont expect the t-tops in those to alleviate the heat much either. Air flow will help, no doubt. But its still hot air flowing.

dave

 

T tops sound like too much work. Why not go with a landau top, just cut all the way across the roof. Get yourself a 4X8 sheet of 1/2" plywood from Home depot and cut a flip top lid for those rainy days. Hinge it at the back with a couple of 4" Tee hinges (galvanized, of course).
For the really hot days, I have a little 5000 btu window air conditioned that I'll give you. Take the rear window out and mount it in there. Fill in the sides with the leftover plywood. A small gas generator in the trunk will supply enough power for the ac. Ahhhh the best of both worlds.

 

John, you forget that plywood is real expensive with all the people using it to board their homes up!

seriously, Texas67, just put vintage air in. Almost all of the converts strength is in the rockers. You might have added strength with the connectors, but what if you didn't. I have a convertible without A/C (black vinyl seats) and when it is 95-100 I do not take it out. I wait until the evening. It is just not worth it. I jump in the pool!

If you cut your 67 up, you will lose value, if you add A/C you will ADD value! remember you will only drive it with the A/C on and the windows up for a limited time. Most of the time, you will drive it on cooler nights that you can roll down the engine and enjoy the air and exhaust.

Don't cut it, install A/C!

 

Adding a/c may be expensive but that money spent will add value to the car. A hacked top install will make the value drop like a stone. Did you ever install t-tops before? Hell factory t-tops were a lot of trouble as far as leaks and rattles. Imagine what a homemade job would be like? I guarantee everytime you drive the car people will ask WHY??? did you do that. :sad: :sad: When its hot here(gets ungodly hot) i dont even roll the windows down. Its a/c crankin and windows up.

 

I'm almost shocked there are so many replies to this, musta been a slow night. If you hack the top off a firstgen coupe it will fold like a pretzel the first time you go over a railroad track.

 

A frend of mine in the 80's put t-tops in a 68 coupe. He used late 70's Zcar T-tops. The car started to twist up, the top started to buckle. It's your car, it can be done. Just my $.02.
Pat

 

If you want cheap AC just do this!

 

I suppose if you put in a beefy roll-cage with support plates, you might be able to maintain enough shape, that the next hacker could restore the car after the carnage. You really need to research on this forum the difference between the rocker panels/channel on a convertible and a coupe before you cut any part of the roof. Once you do, you'll see why a convertible conversion isn't cost effective.

 

I agree that the best solution to this is to go ahead and sell the car or add AC.

Plus the T-tops on my old TransAm always stayed on when it was REALLY hot because with them off you are hot and you get a sun burn on your forehead :clonk:

That car will have alot of problems if you do anything with the roof, by the time you did the necessary mods ($$) to make the car strong enough to do what you are talking about you could already have AC :thumbsup:

 

Sell the car to one of us and buy a different car IMO. Where are you located in TX?