Cabriolet Top Material

eystein

eystein

Well-known member
Received samples from Le Baron Bonney today, and here's the challenge : I want my cabriolet to be original, but have now spent a couple of years thinking that meant that the top material should be simply Tan (T39). Now Le Baron offers "Olive Drab" (T14), and guess what, checking the judging standards, that's what is deemed original.

Now, just about every Cabriolet I have seen so far seems to me to have the Tan (T39) material, but I may be wrong. Even Arlyn Biebers prize-winning Cabriolet looks to me as if it has the Tan top material.

Any thaughts on this choice ? Or does anybody have a photo of two Cabriolets with the two different top materials, so that I could compare ?

Why does Le Baron Bonney offer the Tan(T39) material as standard if it is not strictly correct ?
 
The T14 green is the correct material. The reason you see the tan is that the T14 green only became available again a couple of years ago.
 
Scott is correct.

Thanks to a number of Model A "purists" the original manufacturer was persuaded a number of years ago to make the material in the original color. The result is sold by LeBaron Bonney as their T-14 material. As soon as that material became available, LB made a top for my '31 40B. I was tickled with it but many "experts" gave me grief as a result of the color. This fabric is also matches the original fabric installed on my 68A. The commonly seen "Tan" material was used simply due to the fact that the "green" color was not available. Gar Williams
 
Phoned up Le Baron Bonney today, and they told me two things :

1. The olive drab material has been on and of the market several times during the last 35 years. They claimed that in the periods when olive drab was not available judges would give full points to a car with the tan fabric.

2. Over some years, the olive drab fabric will fade into something close to the tan material.

Anyway, my car will never be entered in judging, but still I am somewhat a purist and it takes some consideration to veer away from what is considered original.

My problem is that I am not sure if I really like the olive drab, and I have had so many years thinking that tan is correct for the Cabriolet.

So, if anyone could post good picture showing the two materials fitted to cars, it would be much appreciated, and would help in making my choice.
 
Here is a picture of my 40B with the T-14 material. The second picture shows 50 year old "tan" material. Gar Williams
 

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Aerocraft said:
Here is a picture of my 40B with the T-14 material. The second picture shows 50 year old "tan" material. Gar Williams
Click to expand...

Thank you very much ! This is most helpful. I may consider the olive drab

From what I can see, though, the Tan material material seems to me to be the most commonly used material for Cabriolets and Dlx Roadsters even if it is incorrect. Am I right ?
 
eystein said:
Phoned up Le Baron Bonney today, and they told me two things :

1. The olive drab material has been on and of the market several times during the last 35 years. They claimed that in the periods when olive drab was not available judges would give full points to a car with the tan fabric.
Click to expand...

LB is not well informed on this issue. In the 30 years I've been active in judging, plain tan has always been heavily downgraded as availability has nothing to do with right or wrong. This is at the national level and often not reflected at regional meets (regardless of availability).

Arlyn Bieber's Cabriolet definitely has the drab top. Oddly enough, once you grow accustomed to the drab fabric everything else looks odd.

It's tough for me to get a GOOD photo of my roadster that really shows the
"green", but it is not faded at all.

roadster-01.jpg


Curtain_Flap.jpg
 
Thanks a lot Gar and Marco.

I like authenticity, still i don't want to end up with a car of which i don't like the visual appearance. I think the problem is really that in the tiny sample I got from Le Baron Bonney, the olive drab looks very dark, however, in a larger format as on your cars, it looks really good.

Indeed, I think that from the pictures that you have posted I would not really have thought about it unless I was aware of the issue.

From what I can assess from your photos, the olive drab comes across more or less as tan, unless you see it next to a car with a really tan top. Am I right ?

Now I am planning my cabriolet in Black, and my girlfriend has insisted on the apple green rather than the vermilion striping, so a slight greenish hue to the top may work out just fine.
 
Look at the current issue of the MARC magazine on the cover is Peter Mendola's Dlx Pheaton which is Black and has the T14 green top. It looks great.
 
I've seen Marco's Roadster and a couple other cars with the olive top at the national meets. I think you will like the olive material, not only because it is correct, but, IMHO it has a richer more pleasing look to it.
 
Also the new T14 is a stay fast material so it is less prone to fading which was aproblem with the past materials.
 
I have a cabriolet with the tan top. I've been fine with it because I didn't install it. I was on the car when I bought it, so I'm just going to enjoy it for now.

I've also seen Marco's roadster in San Diego and the "green" top looks fantastic.

If I re-did the top on my cabriolet, I would go with the darker, more vintage looking material.

Same with my leather back Vicky. Totally wrong top and wrong top pattern because that is the way I purchased it. Even other Model A owners (not the Vicky owners) don't notice that it's wrong. However, I notice it's wrong every day, but it doesn't bother me enough yet to pull it off. The paint is old, and when I get the new paint job, I'll be doing it 100% correct.
 
The tan material on my Cab has faded to almost bright white. I'm due for a new top and it will be T14 Olive drab. Anyone have a guess what the T14 will look like 20+ years later. Can't be as bad as the white the tan becomes.
 
Here are some photos of the original "green" top material from my '34 Phaeton. They are nearly eighty years old, but have not faded much, because they have spent most of their life, locked away in the original black pouch.
I am assuming that it is the same material. I could be corrected on that.
MIKE :)
 

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Mike Petrosino, your car is beautiful. Thank you for staying with blackwalls and black wheels; it looks perfect. No tire covers, step plates and other fluff. Well done.

less truly is more...
 
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