Re: IML: Stainless steel top a 60 imp

[randalpark@xxxxxxx]

Some of them are spot welded. I have personal experience to prove that.

I incorrectly assumed they all were, since my dad and I took apart 
three separate cars in a wrecking yard here, back in the '70s to find a 
set that we could add to our Custom Sedan. The plan was to install them 
when we replaced the cloth headliner. That didn't get done until years 
later by yours truly. Eventually, we removed one of these sets by 
laboriously breaking each of the welds with a chisel. It took hours. My 
father was incredulous. He was a welding engineer, and could not 
believe that the company had done this. Of course they were destroyed 
in the process, and I did not install them when I replaced the 
headliner years later. Due to this thread, I intend to ask him if he 
still has those panels. He hasn't thrown anything away in years, so I 
believe that he might have them some place. If so, I will photograph 
them and report back.

The question has now become why some were and why some were not. It is 
true that they are decoration only, but for some reason some cars had 
the panels spot welded in place under the trim. When this thread ran a 
few years back some members reported that they had seen both situations.

Larry Blomberg from our friendly nation "down under" has reported that 
his LeBarons don't have spot welded panels. Since they were standard on 
LeBarons, that meant that they were installed at the factory without 
the spot welds. This disproved the theory that factory installed panels 
were spot welded, and after market ones were not. All '60 LeBarons came 
with the panels, so they were all factory installed.

I am tempted to take the roof on my own '60 LeBaron apart to see how 
its panels are fastened. I have lots of other car projects to do and I 
don't wish to disturb that head liner at this time. I think I would 
have to in order to properly remove the Landau trim. Someday that rear 
window roof insert needs to be fixed, so there may be a reason to do 
all of this then. It would be easier if someone else who has seem the 
spot welded panels would chime in.

Paul W.

-----Original Message-----
From: jsadowski@xxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: IML: Stainless steel top a 60 imp

The stainless panels are not a structural part of the roof, They are 
decoration only. They are not spot welded. The metal is far too thin to 
do so without distorting  & discoloring it. Once you have one of these 
in hand, you'll see how it fits right under the trim around the entire 
perimeter.
John
----- Original Message -----
From: Bogart3147@xxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: IML: Stainless steel top a 60 imp


From reading these messages, I'm wondering if maybe the stainless 
inserts that were optional equipment were spot welded because it was 
less expensive than using a LeBaron roof.

I haven't compared them up close and personal, but I've worked at a fab 
shop and learned few things (not much, since I worked in the office).  
My question is that if this was standard on the LeBaron, was the 
stainless in the back a separate piece from the front part of the roof, 
thereby requiring the metal to be thick enough to support the roof, 
i.e., the front and rear portions of the roof were stamped separately, 
then put together?  On the Crowns and Customs, they could have taken a 
standard roof Crown/Custom roof, used much thinner stainless and 
applied it for appearance only.

I think the dealer installation idea is good, too.  A buyer finds the 
car they want, but they want the stainless partial roof, so the dealer 
sells them the car and has it applied himself, thereby selling his own 
inventory and not having to place a special order with the factory.

Just some ideas on what they might have done, but, like I said, I 
haven't been able to compare them up close.

Timothy



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