Re: IML: Stainless steel top a 60 imp

[richard burgess <lecrown60@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

 

I have a Crown sedan with dealer installed (I have the invoice) stainless.  Not welded.

I had a LeBaron sedan, Not welded

I had a LeBaron Southampton hardtop, welded. 

 

Go figure.  Maybe they started out welding them and then decided why are we bothering?  Likely it was a cost cutting measure mid year. 

 

Richard Burgess

'60 Crown sedan

randalpark@xxxxxxx wrote:

> 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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