Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

I asked Roadstermike for info on his Factory Hardtop if he could send some photos of his top and latches

John Daly (owner) can you please shed some light on your "not factory" hardtop! I assumed it was OEM and it looked great at Solvang!
The trim is all plastic molding, not the original metal pieces as John told me.

I can see from the pictures that it does not have metal rain gutters which I believe that the factory hard tops have. The shape is the same as the two that I have, but both of mine have the metal rain gutters. I would love to see interior shots of the top.

spl310 wrote:I can see from the pictures that it does not have metal rain gutters which I believe that the factory hard tops have. The shape is the same as the two that I have, but both of mine have the metal rain gutters. I would love to see interior shots of the top.

What do you mean by "metal" gutters Sid? I found only 1 interior pic I shot, sorry. From memory, no rear window metal rod, and typical front latches.

zoom in on this picture below. Do you see the screws around window perimeter?


Hopefully John can chime in.

I talked with John Daly about this top when we were at Solvang and he said that despite it's profile, he did not believe that it was a factory top-- it looks very much like one though. John mentioned that there were two stepped relief cuts near the top of the quarter window.

John has done a hell of a job restoring this top (which he said was in very poor condition when he got it), and it looks pretty convincing as an OEM style top...

Michael

The photos of the OEM tops show what appears to be a metal rain gutter. John's top has what appears to be chrome push on trim instead of rain gutters. My tops have aluminum rain gutters riveted to the top around the window openings. My tops also had a thin aluminum extrusion on the front edge, but they were damaged beyond repair and thrown away. (stupid I know). I'd like to know more about the rear window trim. I wonder if John's top was splashed off of an original.

It seems that there were different Factory Tops made for our LW cars . One is the 1500 tops without the rear supporting rod which has rounded lower corners . We have photos of a top which has the rod and has a more sharper lower corner , were these the correct top for the later year LW cars
Both tops seem to have the same profile .Smoothline has an offer to use the 1500 Top to pull a mold from . Here is the question I'm thinking about , should we have SL modify the rear corners . For myself i like the sharper corner look better but would like to SL to produce a top that most of our members would want

Hey Guys , I would love to get some feedback on my last post ( below ) that i can pass along to SL and hopefully continue to move along with this project

It seems that there two different Factory Tops made for our LW cars . One is the 1500 tops without the rear supporting rod which has rounded lower window corners . The second one i have seen photos of shows a more sharper lower corner and a supporting rod used on the rear window, were these the correct top for the later year LW cars . The parts manual for the SPL and SRL cars show the hardtop with the supporting rod
Both tops seem to have the same profile .Smoothline has an offer to use the 1500 Top to pull a mold from . Here is the question I'm thinking about , should we have SL modify the rear corners . For myself i like the sharper corner look better but would like SL to produce a top that most of our members would want

I like the rounded look.

I'd love it to look as close to the factory hardtop as possible.

Side question: Is there a timeline on when this is going to happen? I was recently in the "Datsun Fairlady Roadster Modified Club" group in Facebook and some guy named Marcel Santini (not sure if he's on here) said they were going to begin reproduction of these hard tops. He posted his comment back in April 2015. Since his post there are several people that are also interested so it sounds like there's some sort of demand. And selfishly, I also want one Does SL require any kind of letter of intent or upfront cost?

Sharper corners.

so..... new to all this....so i will do my best.....i found this hardtop in really poor condition, it had a vinyl top coat, aluminum riveted on gutters,with a stepped up section over the wing windows which i fiberglassed in. The rear window was installed with an "H' rubber gasket with no trim...in trying to get it ready in time for Solvang i installed a lexan window to the inside flange with 2sided vhb and machine bolts and applied plastic chrome trim on the exterior. Lots of hours filling and sanding to get a smooth finish! John

Post pics sydjohnd

@spl310 I think the pics of John's hardtop are the ones that Alvin posted earlier - red hard top. (I think)