In reviewing this forum, I see Kee, Electron Top, YearOne, and Legendary. I have an offer from SMS auto fabrics for $695 custom bronze color for my 63 Fury vert. Anyone have advice? Thanks!
Convertible top quality?
- Thread starter Geff McCarthy
- Start date
If I had a convertible again I would buy from Legendary,YearOne gets theirs from them. I dont know the other two. Hope someone will chime in for you.
SMS is the leading purveyor of automotive fabrics in the US, even Legendary buys their NOS material from them. They do “top” quality work, and are very thorough with their workmanship. I bought my 67 GTX copper colored headliner from them. It was over $300, when you could get a store bought black one from everybody else for $80. But, it was made of NOS material, and was a beautiful piece. They are probably more on the top as well, but you will get a nice product.
I know two people that have done convertible tops recently... So this is fairly current info...
Kee (Who makes the tops Legendary & Year One sell) appears to have misplaced their B & E body patterns... That's the only explanation that makes sense, because they've made tops for B & E bodies for years that always fit... Lately the tops don't have enough material... The one guy went to a reputable shop in a nearby town & was given a heads up about this & found it hard to believe so he decided to use a different shop & they ordered a Kee top since that was what had been used when the car was restored thirty years ago... Well when the top arrived they had him bring the car in and they laid the new top on the old top before starting work.... It was 4" shy of reaching the rear well area with less than an inch of overhang in the front...
In the end both guys wound up using Robbins tops... Super high quality but Robbins won't sell to the general public, only to a upholstery shop...
Kee (Who makes the tops Legendary & Year One sell) appears to have misplaced their B & E body patterns... That's the only explanation that makes sense, because they've made tops for B & E bodies for years that always fit... Lately the tops don't have enough material... The one guy went to a reputable shop in a nearby town & was given a heads up about this & found it hard to believe so he decided to use a different shop & they ordered a Kee top since that was what had been used when the car was restored thirty years ago... Well when the top arrived they had him bring the car in and they laid the new top on the old top before starting work.... It was 4" shy of reaching the rear well area with less than an inch of overhang in the front...
In the end both guys wound up using Robbins tops... Super high quality but Robbins won't sell to the general public, only to a upholstery shop...
thanks to all, it is SMS for me, and I am buying local!
Be oh so PICKY about top sizing. I went to a reputed shop that screwed up the width and length. I measured carefully what looked WRONG giving him the specs. He put on a 2nd one and effed that one up too – just less. Remeasured that one, and nope, he didn’t hear me, though he got the length correct. We had some words, then tells me he has trouble fitting older mopar tops; doesn’t like doing them. I said you didn’t have to take the job pard, I have other places I could have gone to.
Photos show top one and two. Crappier and crappy. Tops look like a shirt too small. Ruins the look quickly. Talked to another place, one I used eons ago on another resto that did good work. He asked who did the work and he wasn’t surprised it wasn’t done right. Grrr
If you’re installing yourself, great, I'm sure you will be careful checking the fit, I'll see what happens with the THIRD top.
Photos show top one and two. Crappier and crappy. Tops look like a shirt too small. Ruins the look quickly. Talked to another place, one I used eons ago on another resto that did good work. He asked who did the work and he wasn’t surprised it wasn’t done right. Grrr
If you’re installing yourself, great, I'm sure you will be careful checking the fit, I'll see what happens with the THIRD top.
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