Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

[Vintage Merlot]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Gary's tonneau tucks under the deck about 1/4 inch. When the soft top is down the canvas is pulled away from the lip enough that it doesn't come in tight contact with the edge of the tonneau. All the other tonneau designs sit on top of the deck and can cause the same scratches as the hardtop is capable of doing. I also am very happy with the Kimmel design.

[Bradford]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Went with the flat style that folloews the curve ot the speaker area, covered in vinyl to match the darker color of Cashmere interior.

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

I AM JUST OLD FASHION, I WANT THE BOOT TO BE SOFT LIKE MY FIRST 1955 FORD SUNLINER.

[Bradford]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

I AM JUST OLD FASHION, I WANT THE BOOT TO BE SOFT LIKE MY FIRST 1955 FORD SUNLINER.

I'm kinda' like you Ron, I almost always have cover in place when driving top down, and 99% of the time it's the original boot / tonneau that came with my car. Only put the hard cover on if it's a event close by, I think that's why I covered it with vinyl as opposed to paint. Never use it when traveling with luggage, it fits in the trunk, however, I have no idea how to pack lite. Was just another thing to spend money on I guess. Have had convertibles for years, only two that had anything other than a soft boot was a 74 Buick Le Sabre my family had, it had what they called a fiberglass parade boot, and family had a older 280 SL that had a flip up hard panel that the top would fold into. That would have been the ideal setup for our Thunderbirds in my opinion. Power of course.

[camodude]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Does anyone have a good website and/or Contact info so i can get one made by Gary Kimmel. After reading through this form is sounds like thats the one to go with.

[JAB02LHS]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Does anyone have a good website and/or Contact info so i can get one made by Gary Kimmel. After reading through this form is sounds like thats the one to go with.

http://www.tbirdroadster.com/

[Vintage Merlot]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Here are three pic of our modified Gary Kimmel tonneau showing cockpit interior treatment and additional luggage rack.
More pics in my gallery.

[camodude]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

http://www.tbirdroadster.com/

Thank you

[JAB02LHS]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Thank you

Check this one out
Half price $$$$$ !

http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ad.php?t=31950

[camodude]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Here are three pic of our modified Gary Kimmel tonneau showing cockpit interior treatment and additional luggage rack.
More pics in my gallery.

Do you have any pictures of how it is attached to the car?

[Vintage Merlot]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

The tonneau comes with a single bungie cord that hooks into to the two joined sections of the tonneau and pulls down to a point behind the seats in the cubby area. I felt uncomfortable with the set up even though it was secure. I did not like seeing a bungie cord and I did not like the unfinished look where the two sections join. So the first thing I did was go to the Internet and find a nice looking chrome automotive clasp to hold the two tonneau sections together. It finished off the appearance and help secure the sections. If you look closely at the cockpit picture you can see the clasp between the headrests.

The next modification to the original tonneau was to discard the single visible bungie concept and replace it with two black bungies that are concealed behind the seats. When tightened they draw the center of the joined tonneau cover toward the outside of the car and create a triangular force to hold the top absolutely tight.

Since I did not like the look of the unfinished fiberglass tonneau behind the seats I designed two leather padded areas that go between the car's headrests and the tonneau to create a cockpit look. You will also see in the cockpit picture a small leather pad where the top edge of the door meets the window line. This leather addition covers a small bare fiberglass section of the tonneau that's important to the fit but looks like a manufacturers afterthought.

The two sections of the tonneau fit in the trunk with a week-end's worth of soft luggage. Now that we have the permanently mounted luggage rack we can take the hard tonneau, the soft boot and don't worry about having room for enough luggage and detail case for a extended weekend

[fums6]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

This has been an interesting thread as it goes back in time over 6 years. lots of posts from older members who I remember with Thunderbird love. I bought my first tonneau from Aaron Scott off of Ebay. He was just starting in the after market business. The name of his company at that time was Classicbird Accessories. I believe I bought it in 2003. For one reason or another he couldn't deliver the tonneau so he refunded my money. He was always honest and still is. Anyhow I pursued the tonneau and bought it from the manufacturer. A one man show from Las Vegas, NV. It is one piece and is still beautiful. It was advertised as being designed by Dennis Locandro who reportedly had designed tops for some of the early Corvettes. Anyhow, I still have it and use it in local parades, etc. It does not fit in the car or the trunk so it's use is limited. It has a waterfall and head rests that compliment the OEM hhead rests.

[007Cruiser]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Anyone know if the SVC cover is still available and where?

[THHNDR]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

It looks like Powersports picked it up in their line up.

[Guest]

Re: Poll: Hard Tonneau Styles

Yes, Powersport does offer the old SVC (Special Vehicle Concepts) 2-piece tonneau cover. The price is $ 995, which is less than the price of some of the others being offered. We added it to our product line mainly for T-Bird owners that wanted to be able to store it in the trunk. Our original 'Roadster-Style' tonneau cover is a one-piece with the 'waterfall' drop between the seats, and could not be stored in the trunk. Though with the hundreds we've sold over the years, I only heard from one owner that was ever caught in the rain while using it.

LA PHIL