Published: March 18, 2019, 10:30 PM
Updated: March 25, 2019, 5:13 PM
A look at the bridge between coupe and convertible
The third Tuesday in March has recently been flagged as an annual tradition to share a cup of tea with a friend. Not very automotive-minded, is it? So, to get those people in the mood, here are 22 examples of classic (and modern) T-tops
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Tasco prototype
Back in 1948, Gordon Buehrig (known in previous decades for his Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg and Stutz designs) created an airplane inspired sports car to inspire the Beech Aircraft Company to expand into automobile production, producing this prototype featuring the first ever application of removable roof panel (glass) in a car shown under the banner of The American Sportscar Company (TASCo, for short).
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C3 Corvette
The 1968, redesigned Corvette is widely regarded as the inventor of the T-top roof (but wrongfully so, in light of the 1948 Tasco), though it was the first mass-produced car to use the roof design. The car also featured a removable rear window to turn it into a convertible without the body-shake issues common to the roofless bodystyle. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Vegavairbob)
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Pontiac Firebird/Trans-Am
Outside of the Corvette, one of the most famous T-top designs was available in the Pontiac Firebird and Trans-Am, starting in 1974 as an option (which had fit issues) from an aftermarket supplier, but then brought in house and gaining mass appeal in the late 1970s with the Smokey and the Bandit franchise. It retained the roof style right up to its demise at the turn of the millennium.
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Chevrolet Camaro
Naturally, Firebird’s more popular twin, the Chevy Camaro, could also be had with a T-top but it was more popular in convertible bodystyle than with the T-tops. It wasn’t until well into the 1980s that Camaros T-tops started to become more popular, but even then, many customers bought them to make it easier to chop the top off and create a convertible in the aftermarket.
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Ford Mustang
Naturally, the Camaro/Firebird main competitor, the Ford Mustang, was not going to be left out of the blossoming open-air boom and it could be argued that the T-top may have maintained Mustang popularity through some years when the cars were shadows of their past glory. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Sicnag)
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Ford Thundebird
The T-top really came to prominence during the demise of the convertible through the 1970s, due to wind buffeting as road speeds increased and also because the US brought in more stringent safety standards. As a result, the North American Big 3 started offering the pseudo-convertibles across most lines, even on premium vehicles such as the Ford Thunderbird at the time.
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Cadillac Eldorado
Chevy Malibu, Olds Cutlass, Cadillac Eldorado, they all got T-tops for that open air motoring excitement. Of course, as you climbed the price ladder, you also got more for your money. The 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz had a power T-top option, with an extra-wide “T” for the roof panels to slide into at the push of a button. Only 3 were reportedly ever made (retrofitted by an aftermarket company).
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Buick Grand National
One of the premium brands that sort of fit in with the sportier intentions was Buick, which hadn’t marketed a convertible since the end of the 1960s, but whose performance coupes had garnered a following due to the brand’s participation in NASCAR. One of the most popular was the awesome turbocharged Grand National, which proved especially popular with the T-top.
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Plymouth Volare
The 1984 Dodge 400 is acknowledged as the first convertible produced by a North American manufacturer since 1976. But before it came along, just about every Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth car went through the T-top phase, including the Plymouth Volare (one of the 400’s predecessors), which used the pop song (with altered lyrics) sung by Sergio Franchi.
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Chrysler Cordoba
Further upscale, Chrysler’s premium Cordoba, with its rich Corinthian leather (promoted by Ricardo Montalban), was also fitted with T-tops.
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Custom Camaros
The roof design was actually not very good, with early T-top owners reporting creaks and leaks from oversized gaps and poor seals, but they were still beloved by many (probably due to the absence of new convertibles at the time) to the point that when retro designs like the new Camaro came along, customizers started offering T-top modifications.
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Custom Trans-Ams
And to take the nostalgia one step further, there’s nothing like turning a modern retro-inspired Camaro into a modern retro-inspired Pontiac Trans-Am, even if the brand and model hasn’t existed since 2002 and the marque since 2010. You can get your Firebird-fix through Florida’s Trans Am Worldwide customizers.
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Toyota MR2
You may get the impression that T-tops were an American phenomenon, and to a certain extent, they were, since other nations’ carbody safety regulations didn’t spell an end to their convertibles, but in order to sell in North America, some like the compact 2-seater Toyota MR2 did go the T-top route, even though it came in at the time that convertibles were ready for their re-emergence. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Charles01)
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Nissan 300ZX
T-tops helped with body shake. In the days before ultra-stiff lightweight metals and composites, taking the roof that bridged windshield header to rear-window base caused a bunch of flexing and twisting of body panels. The 2nd generation Toyota Supra used a Targa roof panel that when removed sent shivers through the car over even mildly uneven roads. The Nissan 300ZX at the time went with T-tops that resulted in a much less jittery ride. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/OSX)
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Nissan Pulsar NX
In fact, Nissan liked the roof structure so much, that is started experimenting with other modular body panels, with the classic example being the Pulsar NX (EXA in other parts of the world) which not only had the two removable roof panels but also a rear notchback that could be replaced with a shooting brake canopy. And all panels could be removed (not easily!) to create a convertible.
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Nissan NX
The Pulsar NX wasn’t very popular, maybe because the hatchback pieces were too bulky to manipulate and store, so Nissan dropped the car and replaced it with the NX, which was more of a traditional compact hatchback but kept the roof design. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Teun Lucassen)
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Suzuki X90
In fact, it seemed that if you were small and sporty, you could benefit from a T-top, as evidenced in the diminutive X90 crossover from Suzuki, which was about as useful as a Mazda Miata for transporting anything but two people. Although with the X90, you had to take up trunk space with roof panels, if you chose to go open-cabin. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/AKO)
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Suzuki Cappuccino
Suzuki also had a more down to Earth compact (meaning it looked like the X90 but sat closer to the ground) that never made it to North America. Cappuccino had a Targa 1-piece roof panel AND two interlocking T-top panels that could be used instead. Further, the rear window structure could be fully retracted to make a full convertible. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Rudolf Stricker)
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Jeep Wrangler
The previous generation Jeep Wrangler also used interlocking T-tops that could be individually removed to open up a plastic roof over either or both front seats, and a larger panel that could be removed over the rear section, making the Unlimited the only production 4-door utility vehicle with T-tops.
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Subaru Brat
The odd Subaru Brat not only had individual rear-facing seats (fully fitted with seatbelts) in the bed of the vehicle but it too opened up the cabin for front seat occupants through T-top panels, though these were rather small due to the compactness of the cabin.
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Rover 200 coupe
The Rover 200 coupe bridged the gap between sunroof and T-top with a glass roof between the door frames. Each panel could be tilted or removed, sitting on each side of a T-bar that could also be removed. The glass itself was coated with titanium to reportedly reduce solar heating by as much as 6%.
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Triumph Stag
The last word goes to the Triumph Stag, which was a 4-seat convertible that met the American standards that proved the demise of so many others by using a T-bar to connect the windshield header to a rollbar behind the front seats, but never got around to creating the individual panels to slot into the gaps, instead choosing to just put the fabric top (and later removable hardtop) over the entire structure.
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