Why are there no T-tops?

I have always believed t-tops (or the "t-roof,’ or “t-bar roof”) to be the best configuration for open-air driving, but apparently auto manufacturers have stopped agreeing with me. Ten, fifteen years ago, it was easy to check the “t-top” box as an option for your new car, but in 2003, zero cars (by my count) offer them.

What happened? Have they been ruled unsafe, or too pricey, or what? When General Motors 86ed the Firebird and Camaro last year, with it went the only model(s) to still offer the venerable removable roof panels.

I love them too! They’re the perfect modern version of a convertible (a fabric roof in 2003?! I don’t think so!) I bought my previous car, a 91 Nissan NX, just because it had one.

I think the reasons they’re not made is:[ul][li]They’re expensive[/li][li]They introduce saftey concerns (failing crash tests)[/li]People never seem to use them[/ul]I especially notice the last one. People are too lazy to bother to take them off, they don’t feel safe leaving them off while parked (can’t lock the car, it might rain, etc.) If they really want the ‘open air ride’ they get a convertible for push-button convenience.

All those things, plus the hundreds of warranty claims from folks who got wet when the t-tops didn’t keep the rain out.

Yeah, mine leaked.

Mine had a lock cylinder in them as well. You needed the ignition key to unlock & remove them making them less easy to steal.

As nimble suggests, they all got stolen. It got to be a bad enough problem here that the insurance companies would not cut you a check for a loss - they provided you new ones instead.

I looked mine up in a Nissan parts book. $1200 each!

I wonder, might it also have been the reappearance of real convertibles? There was a period of about ten years - 1975-1985 when there were no convertibles made in the US and very few sold here. I suspected the T-Top was sort of an in-between measure.

Now, folding metal tops are all the rage.

I always thought they vanished along with (the old, good) Van Halen, chest hair (yuck!), and Trans Am’s (highway wonderland!). Not that that’s not a bad thing…

There may also be some technological, structural issues as well. For a long time, one of the most difficult aspects of making a convertible was to build one that still had a reasonably high level of structural rigidity. The metal roof, and the pillars that attach it to the car, play a big part in the strength of the car; when they are removed, the whole chassis is much more likely to twist and feel loose during cornering and other maneuvers. The t-top gave open-air motoring without the structural compromise of removing the roof and the pillars altogether. It’s possible that, as the ability to construct torsion-free (or at least torsion-minimized) convertibles increased, there was simply less need for a t-top design.

Convertibles made a comeback at the expense of T Tops…just as T Tops thrived when convertibles were darn near obsolete thru the 70’s and 80’s.

Rebirth of converts = death of t-tops.

Our last car was a Nissan 100NX with a targa top. We didn’t open the top very often, to be honest. This was partly to do with the British climate, but we also couldn’t really be bothered to unlock it and stow the bits in the back. The seal between the window and the top became slightly leaky, which was annoying.

*Originally posted by Una Persson *
**I always thought they vanished along with (the old, good) Van Halen, chest hair (yuck!), and Trans Am’s (highway wonderland!). Not that that’s not a bad thing… **

Well my cousin has a 2000 (or 2001) Trans Am with T-Tops. He bought is slightly used so he didn’t actually have it installed as an option. BTW I am sure he has an old/good Van Halen CD in there as well.

The Trans Am he has is an Anniversary Edition so perhaps they offered the T-Tops as a nostalgic type option. At least one person bought into it.

The chest hair I can’t attest to but the others are still roaming the streets together.

The Corvette coupe comes with a removable, transparent or body color panel, which is pretty much a T top (although it doesn’t split in two).

Aww, but without the twin panels, it doesn’t make a “T” shape!

*Originally posted by Colinmarshall *
**Aww, but without the twin panels, it doesn’t make a “T” shape! **

Exacty. That’s a targa design, not a t-top…

Ok my cousin must have a 99 Trans Am since that was the Anniversary Edition. Here a pic of someone else’s, complete with T-Tops, I found during a web search.

I don’t know what they were thinking with that paint job. The racing stripes do not work with that car.

http://www.fbody.com/members/30thWS6/MyWs69.JPG

Aren’t mullets standard equipment with T-Tops?

04-26-2015, 06:12 PM

Location: Riverside Ca 22,155 posts, read 29,561,421 times Reputation: 35334

I remember T tops being big in to 70/80/90s How come they aren't offered anymore? Safety/rollover stuff? I had a Camaro with t tops. It was a neat option even though I rarely had them off

04-26-2015, 06:17 PM

Location: San Antonio, TX USA 5,250 posts, read 12,514,676 times Reputation: 8199

I would imagine safety, and a leaking issue. The same goes with targa tops.

04-26-2015, 06:26 PM

890 posts, read 1,751,762 times Reputation: 961

I liked T-tops. But I imagine it might have more to do with people prefer the automation of the convertible or sun/moon roof. We have gotten lazy.

04-26-2015, 06:36 PM

Location: Sugarmill Woods , FL 6,232 posts, read 7,654,595 times Reputation: 13783

Leaks as the seals age, and they were hard to store because of all the space they need.

04-26-2015, 07:12 PM

Location: Prosper 6,256 posts, read 15,677,949 times Reputation: 9479

T-Tops were largely an American car company feature. I can only think of two foreign makes that built cars with T-tops, and those are Datsun/Nissan, and Toyota with their MR2. Most likely, t-tops faded away as American car companies tried to emulate and compete with foreign offerings, none of which had t-tops anymore.

04-26-2015, 09:24 PM

Location: Montgomery County, PA 16,398 posts, read 13,380,826 times Reputation: 14329

Sunroofs aren’t much better. The creaking of our RAV4 has been traced to the sunroof (although I seriously doubt that), which has taken the car off the road for over a week while they were trying to figure it out. Whoever thought cutting a hole in the roof was a good idea. Besides, it is does nothing to make it feel like a convertible.

04-26-2015, 09:30 PM

Location: Ft. Myers 19,717 posts, read 15,211,606 times Reputation: 41793

I never cared for T tops either. They leaked, didn't fit well, and you had to store them in those bags that took up trunk space. You also lost some of the stiffness that a full roof provided. Don

04-26-2015, 09:45 PM

Location: Southern Arizona 9,549 posts, read 29,861,058 times Reputation: 11526

Quote: Originally Posted by Electrician4you I remember T tops being big in to 70/80/90s How come they aren't offered anymore? Safety/rollover stuff? I had a Camaro with t tops. It was a neat option even though I rarely had them off T-Tops were probably phased out due to the popularity of Retractable Hardtops, Electrician.

04-27-2015, 07:07 AM

Location: On the Chesapeake 40,896 posts, read 53,077,343 times Reputation: 54755

Styling changed, the cars which had T-Tops generally had very flat roofs. Newer cars, I guess starting in the mid-80s, had more rounded roofs, which would make installing T-Tops problematic.

04-27-2015, 07:11 AM

Location: Seymour, CT 3,660 posts, read 3,061,854 times Reputation: 3079

I had one T-Top vehicle and I loved it! I didn't ever have a leaking problem, but I was lucky. IMAGE_199