Removing the car roof.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:52 am

Any suggestions on the removal of the roof off of the car? I've searched a bit and haven't turned up with anything to date.. Thanks.

HateMyAuto · Post by **HateMyAuto** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:16 pm

Why do you want to remove the roof?

1988GTU · Post by **1988GTU** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:31 pm

The roof is mounted in with tack welds, crimps and glue type puddy sealant.
The headliner, rear interior panels, plastic trim around the doors and the panels, also if you have B pillar seat belts... All that must come off/out.

Who cares what/why they want to take out/off the roof? I don't, not my car.

HateMyAuto · Post by **HateMyAuto** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:00 pm

If he wants to remove his roof, by all means that's fine by me. I was just wondering why he wanted to? Was there something horribly wrong with it, or does he just want a (permanent) spyder?

JeffD · Post by **JeffD** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:21 pm

i've replaced a quarter panel, and a roof before, they are no picnic! like 88 GTU said it's held in with pinch welds and putty. one thing that he didn't say was that you need to remove the rear window also, which i think is quite a pain it's self!
so if you are doing this for a replacment of the roof panel you have been warned. if you are just removing the roof to have a really BIG sunroof i wouldn't advise it, you kneed the extra side support (it stiffens the Chassis) that the roof offers, that is unless you wanted to make a rollbar or somthing but it's your car and you do what you want

1988GTU · Post by **1988GTU** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:13 am

I forgot about that rear window.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:52 pm

The car will fold in 1/2 unless you do some serious reinforcement.
I was working in the fab shop at Cars & Concepts when they were building convertibles in '89,'90. Tommy Kendall was GTU champion dricing C&C Beretta, Max Jones was their #02 car in that class.
The program got sh*% canned by Chevy a month before pre-pilot launch.
I was working on W-body convertable, which did go into production.
The reinforcements needed to keep the cutlass from folding added over 500# to the total weight of the car.
You need to fixture the A-pillars, B-pillars and C-pillars all keeping square with rockers BEFORE cutting anything or it will spring. We were finding 1/4" out of spec in production bodies (out of square, cross corner, side to side, front to back, all directions).
Added reinforcements included heavily reinforced A-pillars from the rockers up, heavily crowned rocker reinforcements, door jambs, B-pillars (they retained the B-pillar seatbelts with a heavier clevis latch up high).
Lots O work and weight.
Has anybody seen any of them?
I believe they only built a dozen or so of them, and some got crash tested, but there were a few drivers and show cars for ad campaigns.

Dan

HateMyAuto · Post by **HateMyAuto** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:56 pm

I've seen loads of convertible Cutlasses, and I swear to god there's some chick driving a red Beretta convertible around Roanoke, VA. I've seen it a few times and at first thought it just had a fabric cover on the roof, but the rear window was different, and upon further inspection I could see the ribs of the convertible top inside. I don't know if it's a Beretta shell on a Cutlass or some custom shop actually made it into a Beretta. I've never been able to stop her and ask about it...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:42 am

I'd be interested to know if it IS a real beretta convertable, they were pretty cool, don't know why GM pulled the plug, but they were building them using complete cars right off the assy line.
I'm sure they all either got destroyed or distributed among engineering staff, so a few may be on the road.
A few pre-pilot cars made it to showrooms for market study, and got sold along the way. Could be one of those.

I have a friend that owns a P-code prototype Turbo Pinto. Get's **** all the time from cops, because the car was not intended for consumer use.
An engineer pulled strings and got it for his 16yo daughter. My friend bought it from her, and her dad was climing the walls trying to buy it back. Mark knew what was special about it, and still has it to this day.

The cutlass build was different in that we got body in white. Made the project a lot more cost efficient, not having to strip a new car before doing structural upgrades.
If it is a beretta convertible, it's one of those cool "wasn't supposed to get out in public" cars. I'm sure a few custom builders may have done a version, but as for a converted cutlass with beretta body... doubtful. The structural IDEA was the same, but the bodies were very different.

It's all kinda interesting to me, as that was my first fabrication job, and I learned a LOT about vehicle structures while there.

Dan

HateMyAuto · Post by **HateMyAuto** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 5:42 pm

The plug got pulled because the convertible failed rear end collision tests, badly. I'm not sure what the deal with that car is, but I am sure it's a Beretta and a convertible. If it was one of those that "leaked out," someone obviously had no idea about the little gem they had, because the paint was really faded and the car looked a little beat up.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:27 pm

Ahhh, that explains it, I was just leaving for another job when all that happened.
We got to see the crash tests, but I missed the last few.

My friend's turbo pinto is basicly a shambles at this point, though he has all the original turbo parts, he built a high compression NA motor for it, and dropped a T5 behind it. That coupled with daily driver in MI adds up to some serious work to restore.
One of those "some day I'll restore it" pipe dreams... at least it still holds the prototype VIN...SOMEDAY

Dan

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