Hard Top - Now Obsolete

[grillo giovanni]

excusme for my enghlish but i'm italian and i love lotus elan.<br>I'm interested for your product, but where do you live? I think in US, it's not a problem i have a friend in US please  contact me<br>Ciao Ciao

[Kuching]

Grillo,<br><br>Good to hear from Italy.  8) <br><br>I am in the northern county of Cumbria in England. This is a most beatiful land of mountains, lakes and green valleys, which has been an inspiration for poets, artists and vehicle designers. <br><br>Transport should not be a big problem to Italy. I am sure that we could arrange that. I will e-mail you with more information.<br><br>Ciao <br>Simon

[Kuching]

[quote author=Dave M. link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#63 date=06/09/04 at 10:31:30]I'm in if we can get it to fit over the Auto Europe rollbar.  May need to make some measurements for you Simon, unless you've gotten a way along...[/quote]<br>Dave, if you could e-mail me some pictures of the rollbar, especially the area around the convertible frame mount, and give me some overall dimensions, I could check how it will fit.<br><br>It's not too late to modify the design as the patternwork has not been started yet. The first quotes have come in a bit over budget so I am still working on getting the costs down.

[Kuching]

[quote author=Johndy link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#62 date=06/08/04 at 07:27:56]I'll Have one as long as it aint 10 billion squid.[/quote]<br>10 billion?....Hmmmm, I think that gives us some room to work with.

[otter]

When you say a bit over budget ... how much do you mean?<br><br>Are we talking 10s of thousands here or £50 ?<br><br>Just interested, not pushing for a hard figure<br><br>

[Kuching]

I am still working hard on getting the cost down and I am a bit reluctant to frighten people off by giving a price at this point. <br><br>However, currently the cost to produce the tooling is £30000 but I expect to be able to reduce this. The component cost is more difficult to estimate as it is very dependant on the number of orders. My own suspicion is that £2000 is too expensive and I simply won't get enough orders to recover the costs, so if this is going to be viable it has to be a lot less than that.<br><br>I will keep you posted as things progress.

[otter]

I think people are going to have to be realistic here. <br>Mass produced hard tops come in somewhere between £1200 and £1500 ( MX5 MGF etc). For a custom hardtop that would probably only get a run of maybe ?100?, being very generous,  £2k is reasonable and £3k or more would not be unexpected. <br>I'm not trying to put the dampeners on this though if you can get it under or around 2K that would be great. I'm just not expecting miracles, and would rather have something that was decent quality (and water tight, if thats posable )rather than as cheep as humanly possible <br>Any other onions? <br>I'm guessing there may be 1 or 2 <br>

[Doug]

[quote author=otter link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#69 date=06/17/04 at 08:52:54]Any other onions?<br> [/quote]<br><br>Hey otter, opinions are like assho!es--everyone has one !!<br><br>I'd bet we all agree with your other statements.  Lumpy, cheap top or bitchin expensive top . . .  ::)<br><br>Well I too will take the bitchin cheap one . . .  :P<br><br>Two things I said would never happen: (1) Elan hardtop, and (2) US Elise.  Well, one is supposed to happen--to my defense though I call it the start of the demise of the company again though.  Should we have a poll started on that  ::)<br>

[Kuching]

[quote author=AV8NDOC link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#70 date=06/17/04 at 12:10:36]<br><br>Hey otter, opinions are like assho!es--everyone has one !!<br><br>[/quote]<br>But I would still like to see them...........opinions I mean!

[F1 LOTUS]

[quote author=Kuching link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#71 date=06/17/04 at 12:53:35]<br>But I would still like to see them...........opinions I mean![/quote]<br><br>Well seeing as you asked...What I have in mind for a Hard Top is a replacement deck lid or even an add-on molding that replicates something like the Ferarri 360 Spider's Roll Hoop windstop design on to which the 2-piece stowable roof panels would attach?

[Kuching]

[quote author=Brian_MDB link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#72 date=06/17/04 at 13:34:54]<br><br>Well seeing as you asked...What I have in mind for a Hard Top is a replacement deck lid or even an add-on molding that replicates something like the Ferarri 360 Spider's Roll Hoop windstop design on to which the 2-piece stowable roof panels would attach?[/quote]<br> [smiley=eek2.gif]

[F1 LOTUS]

[quote author=Kuching link=board=body;num=1081474915;start=60#73 date=06/17/04 at 13:44:38]<br> [smiley=eek2.gif][/quote]<br><br>It's no good trying to hide it from me I've said something wrong haven't I???<br><br>Perhaps smaller more manageable pieces would help reduce tooling costs?

[Kuching]

You're not wrong at all Brian. I think it's a great idea and for sure would reduce the pattern volume. <br><br>I was taking the approach of keeping the engineering as simple as possible as additional joints provide more potential leak paths. This was the reason for making the rear deck surface integral with the roof, thus eliminating another joint.<br><br>Having said that, I do like the idea of a stowable roof, [smiley=naughty.gif] and I will be looking for another project soon.........

[stevo]

lets all remember the lec rule that nobody should sell any parts/products over this site to the rest of the devoted elan comunity for a profit. we are here to help with hassles of elan ownership and to futher the mark. so if a mx-5 or mgf top costs £1500-£2000 including the dealers mark up then a low production run of elan lids should not cost much more.<br><br>i personaly would love a hard top but to make it a worth while exercise it would need to be affordable. i would happily pay £1500 for one either painted or in primer and i would expect a simply grey fabric lining and a heated rear screen as a cost option with switch kit. as long as it was easy to fit/remove and did a better job of keeping the weather out than the rag top. i would happily put down a deposit of £500 tomorrow. [smiley=1poke.gif]<br><br><br>this just my honest opinion, stevo. ;D<br>so there

[Scott J]

I like Brians idea.<br><br>Would a 2 piece targa style roof be cheaper to tool up for as it'll be smaller pieces rather than 1 large moulding ?<br><br>And with a targa you can still get topless on cold sunny winter days.

[WillB]

3rd the idea. 1 piece to replace the hood cover and provide the rear part of the roof (bolt/clip to existing mounts) and then 1 piece for the targa roof. You wouldn't then have to worry about rear deck seals as well.<br><br>Hmmmmm....

[stevo]

with holes in for a roll over bar? <br><br><br>hmmmm.....<br><br><br><br><br><br>project creep strikes again! [smiley=devil2.gif] [smiley=evilimu.gif]