I have a daily driver soft topped NC that lives in a garage at the end of a long drive. It regularly sits in a company car park on work days, never had an issue with vandalism or water ingress. The wife has mentioned on numerous occasions that I really should get a hard top for the winter months. On a totally different subject, don’t mean to high jack the thread but; the ROB WALKER concern, F1 and all that? Please do tell.
Jeff.
quote=Chris Phillips;652586]
“When I worked as a motor mechanic for Rob Walker’s in the 1970s”
His F1 connections were in the 60s of course, and by 1975 when I started to work at the RW garage in Corsley (between Frome - where I live - and Warminster), he had really retired, but there were still a few of the ‘old gang’ from the earlier days still working there - and boy did they have some stories to tell !
We used to see Rob Walker a few times a year, the highlight was usually when he brought his Mercedes Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ in for an MOT.
We started looking for a soft top but found our retractable hard top and decided that was the one for us. I love it but I’m sure I’d be as happy with a soft top.
I think it’s all down to how the car looks on the day you buy it. I doubt that there’s much difference in practice although if you’re looking to squeeze every ounce of performance out of it bear in mind the PRHT is a lot heavier than the soft top.
As far as I can find the PRHT weighs another 13kgs over the soft top - 1248kgs against 1261kgs.
When you take into account the crap we keep in the boot together with our variance in body weights (I weigh in at about 82kgs), I can’t see that being too much of a problem… it’s actually less than 1% of the overall weight… that’s if my maths is correct of course!
I suppose most of the extra weight in the coupe models (or PRHT if you prefer), is in the electric motors that operate the whole retractable roof section. If it comes to that, I suppose fitting the detachable hard top to a normally soft-topped car will add a few pounds to the weight too. Anyway, I would have thought that the engine would be powerful enough to compensate for any small increase in weight under normal road-driving conditions, so as not to make much difference.
Rob Walker, one of the great unsung F1 heroes in the early days.
I recall he had a Gull Wing merc ROB 1 or WALK 1 or something similar
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Hey Joe,
Old age being what it is, I cannot remember the reg. no. of Rob Walker’s ‘Gullwing’ Merc, and an internet search doesn’t seem to be able to throw any light on the subject.
He also used to bring up a Ferrari for its annual test too. This one I only saw once, and the memory is a bit foggy on that one. I seem to recall it was red (what else ?), a completely topless single-seater (no weather protection at all !), but with a fully-enclosed body - ie: not exposed wheels like an F1-type single-seater car would have. I can’t remember anything else about it, nor have I been able to find out what it was on the internet.
I did manage to find on-line, a photo of his Mini Sprint - a white example reg. no. RRW 1. Mini Sprints were a special edition version of the old BMC Mini, which had been completely lowered - not only on the suspension, but a lowered roof-line too, all done (if memory serves (!) in Rob’s own workshops).
Boy, that seems like another life ! And two divorces ago as well !
Previously we had Mk2.5’s for over 12 years with soft tops (mohair) and the latter one had a removable hard top that was stored in a bag from Oct to April. Really liked the extra security of the hard top and the coupe look it gave the car. The hard top was just a bit of a lump to store out of harms way.
So we looked for a PRHT when we got our current Mk3.5. For our needs, the PRHT has been a great choice and we are very pleased with it. Very impressed with the speed and slickness of the action. Defo thumbs up from us, and the smart top module we like very much.
Soft top for my NC as there are many crisp winter days with lovely blue sky to get the roof down. Can’t see the point in a hard top to be honest, might as well buy a ‘proper’ car!!!
I haven’t seen any crisp winter days around here for a long time. I only use the detachable between November and March and prefer the added security. Each to their own, horses for courses and all that.
I forgot, it’s grim oop North! Down in the South it is beautiful blue sky and sunshine as I write this, so I guess hard tops in the North and soft tops in the South?
I’m somewhere ‘in the middle’…Lincolnshire. Not a bad day today, sunny but cold. Even so, I’m not going out topless. I must admit a retractable hardtop is very useful, I just prefer the look of the soft top and the detachable top for the few months that it’s on.
Then there’s the BIGGER rear window … far safer than the small one fitted to the soft top and retractable top ones.
Maybe, but we always have the option between hard top and lid-hid on a day to day basis without the problem of stretching behind me to try and grab the soft top hood - “■■■■■■, where is the damn thing… Ouch, that hurts, it can stay down!”
On Sunday it was frost, Monday bright sunshine, today overcast with a bitter wind… and the difference?
7 seconds… I don’t have a problem with that, and I’m shallow enough to enjoy seeing the hood come up and over when I press a button!