Several years ago I purchased the best top available
from JC whitney and my brother and I installed it
ourselves in about 4-5 hours. It really went quite
smoothly and I am proud to say it still looks good
today after 7 or 8 years it still looks good. It
might not be a perfect job but we did it for
relatively little money. It came with generic
instructions enought for us to get by.
I would probably do it again but it is not for
everyone. I am sure we could have messed up and
ruined the top if we had not been careful. Overall
though I would consider doing it yourself! Not too
bad a job and lots of satisfaction from saying I did
it myself!
Jeff ingraham
--- "Melnik, Daniel T (Dan)" <dmelnik@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Hi All,
> My 2 1966 convertibles, 'Brandy' and 'Cinderella'
> need some TLC ( and lots
> of work!).
> I am hoping to put new tops on them this summer but
> wondered if anyone out
> there has had experience as to the best (considering
> price & quality) place
> to buy the tops from and also if this is something I
> should try myself. I
> have one of the books previously mentioned by one of
> our members (Restoring
> your Classis Car) and it seems that I can do the top
> replacement by just
> taking my time ...also, having a second convertible
> here will probably help
> me tremendously!
> Any suggestions for new tops (I am in New Jersey)
> would be appreciated. I
> also may need parts (hydralic, etc) for the tops
> once I get into the project
> (Murphy's Law just loves these types of projects!)
> so any suggestions for
> best places to get them would, again, be appreciated
> especially from anyone
> who has gone thru this.
>
> I also wanted to ask if any of you IML members that
> have replaced your
> convertible's interiors have a reliable, reasonablly
> priced source here in
> the New Jearsey or NorthEast area. I have seen
> several in Hemmings (Bill
> Hirsch I believe was one of them) but wonder what
> suggestions I might get
> from those of you who have already gone through the
> 'replacing-the-leather-interior' trials!!.....is
> this something I can do
> myself (my wife is really great with the sewing
> machine, but its NOT a heavy
> duty one!) or am I better off having a shop sew up
> the new covers?
>
> Some time back there was a thread regarding changing
> from drum to disc
> brakes (this is still for my '66 convertibles) and
> wanted to be sure I had
> the correct info as I lost the email. Was it ANY
> full size chrysler after
> 1970 or 71 or only certain years? also, is it taking
> a chance getting the
> parts from the junk yard (my favorite place to hang
> out in) or better in the
> long run to try and get everything new from some
> supplier (I realize this
> may be cost prohibitive but thought I would ask any
> way!).
>
> By the way, I have not yet given up on the idea of
> making some kind of
> 'book' with all the IML photos in it and have
> actually downloaded quite a
> few of the pictures as well as the 'repair' info to
> my computer. The big
> problem is that the amount of photos is
> staggering....and keeps on
> increasing!! (a good thing)......and the source for
> my inexpensive printing
> of all these photos has 'gone away'. Rest assured
> that if there is a way to
> get something done I will give it a try, even if it
> is initially just a
> booklette with the repair, restoration or maintenace
> sections in it. It may
> take a while but I have not yet thrown in the towel
> ....yet.
> Thanks all,
> Dan Melnik / dmelnik@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network