Re: Alpine Hardtops
John C. Slade (edalsj(at)igs.net)
Tue, 11 Jun 1996 19:07:27 -0400
>I've recently located what has been described to me as a black
>hardtop for a Sunbeam Alpine. I seem to remember
>that the tops on the early cars differed from those on the later
>cars and that there were minor differences among the series.
>Could anyone who knows or has a hardtop post what to look for
>here? Is it possible to modify an early hardtop to fit a later
>car? I'm going to check it out this weekend and any information
>would be appreciated.
>
>Steve Semeraro
>Series V Alpine
>
>
Hi Steve,
The reply from T. Wiencek is exactly correct. I have one of
each hardtop in my garage, as well as windshields, doors etc which fit
each. The early hardtop will NOT fit a later car. It is about 1.5" shorter
than the later top, and although it fits nicely at the rear of the later
series, it needs its own early windshield, which slopes back slightly more
than the later one. By the way, the mounting holes for the two types of
windshield are not exactly the same, and a small amount of filing is
necessary to install an early windshield on a later car. Since the early
windshield slopes back more, the doors have to be changed as well since the
later doors now interfere with the early windshield. Early doors did not
have the small fixed triangle at the front, and the whole window went up
and down as one piece, with a short chrome piece at the top front of the
door. The early doors fit beautifully in later cars, except for the not too
obvious rounded front bottom corner (about a 1" radius curve). Later car
doors have a square corner which matches the hole in the body. Hope this
helps.
The early hard top very closely resembles the Healey top,
and looks very smart, better, I think, than the later more angular top.