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TIP-TOP CONVERTIBLE ROOF

INSTALLATION

Installing a new convertible top on a luxury car

Upholstery  professional    D.  Chase   begins  removing    the convertible

top of  a   1984    Buick   Riviera,    noting  how the top was originally

installed   in  order   to  reinstall   it  in  the same    manner. The location    of

holes,  staples,    studs   and glue    are all noted   and photographed.

By D. Chase and Angelo Van Bogart

ot all cars are equal, nor are their convertible tops. No-frills cars are
likely to have relatively simple tops, but luxury cars often have
more complicated tops, such as the roof covering on the featured 1984
Buick Riviera convertible. Like their blueblood Cadillac Eldorado
counterparts, Buick Riviera convertibles of the 1980s were built for
General Motors by American Sunroof Corp. (ASC). Ironically, ASC built a
top that, when in the up position, mimicked the steel roof it cut off to
make the convertible. Although this in itself is complicated, ASC also