How do you guys think a carson top would look on a 51 F-1? My roof has some extensive rot in it and I was looking at a few different options......replace it with a solid roof......cut it up and weld in several patch panels......go topples....or build a custom removable carson top for it......what are your opinions on this?

a lil bacground on my 51....it was used as a service truck by a Sunoco gas station and they drilled a hole in the center of the roof for the beacon light, which wasnt sealed properly so there is a good amount of rot there....and across the back of the cab at the seam above the rear window is rotted pretty bad, and at the drip rails there is a good amoun of rot there as well.

the nice thing about going with a carson top...I can fabricate an extended sun visor off the front as well.

 

As with almost any subject, go to eBay and see what's posted.

This truck is currently being offered:



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-...spagenameZWDVW

 

The only problem with the rag top is that the cab, as designed, needs the roof for strength and rigidity. You will have to add a good bit of bracing to compensate.

 

Ugh, Ugh Ughly!!!

 

Yes indeed.... ALL the topless pick-ups that I have ever seen all have a console from the upper part of the firewall running across the floor to the rear wall of the cab. Under the console is a framework of reinforcement. I have seen some under construction and noted that it was made from 1" thinwall tubing , braced along the way, and about 8" or so above the floor. I have a few custom rodder and rod & custom mags that show similar projects on cars that were made topless from sedan's.
Jon

 

Thank you for asking. Bobj49f2 was kind enough to post a picture of why a Carson top is inappropriate. Setting aside structural issues, aesthetically the Carson top challenges any vehicle to look good beneath one.

This is not to say that you shouldn't give it your best shot if you are so determined. I'm just wondering how one would go about making such a thing look good. You might be starting a new and exciting trend here! Good luck.

opinionated, himmelberg

 

The "Carson Top" is not removable, at least as origanally designed. It was a wood frame covered by chicken wire, to which a thick padded material was attached, usually jute, and sacrificial Naugahides.

The very vivid picture from either Hot Rod or one of the other "Little Pages" mags from about 1953 is etched forever in my mind. The Book, just delivered in that days mail, belonged to my much (13 yrs) older Brother who hadn't seen it yet and I "The Twerp" was molesting said book when he came home from where ever. Thustly I once again was religated into "Dead Meat".

 

Anyone notice the fuzzy dice on the power scooter in the background?

 

Carson tops are DEFINATELY REMOVEABLE!!! Trust me I work in an old school upholstery shop, and we've been doin this stuff for 44 years! The one you are talkin about that was NOT removeable is the predecessor to the "Sim-Con" and was used on a number of Mercs of the 50's as to cover up all the frankenstein bodywork.


Although I do agree with some of the others, as I think they are "visually unpleasant" or UGLY on a truck. If your roof is too bad to fix, why not look for another cab cut? there was a fellow FTE guy on here a few threads back who had a cab cut and doors he wanted to get rid of? I'm not sure who he was, but that would be how I'd fix it. The reason I'm so against them is Fat 54's truck had the roof cut off in preparation for a removable top, and it was a mess!!

 

Exactly = Bolted on. They could be removed, but only if they were unbolted.

Don't confuse the padded Carson Tops with the later style of removable hardtops that mimiced the types used on 1955/57 T-Birds (which are fiberglass).

These custom removable hardtops were also of wood framed construction, had headliners and were covered with Naugahyde or leather.

Inside the top were clamps that hooked to fasteners on the body and windshield. Several different suppliers sold portable hoists to remove these tops, which weighed at least 200 lbs. Without the hoist, it took two ppl to remove them.

Most of the Carson Tops I remember seeing "way back when" were on chopped and channeled 1949/51 Mercs. They were called Carson Tops back then for one very good reason: The Carson Top & Upholstery Shop of Los Angeles built all of the originals.

(Truxx1956 = Carson Tops became a generic term, so all the types of padded tops were called Carson Tops whether they were or not. I've been collecting, restoring and writing articles for car mags and car club publications far longer than 44 years, plus I grew up in the birthplace of custom cars = Los Angeles. I bought my first old ride in 1956, a 1936 Lincoln Zephyr).

btw: The Nauga, which somewhat resembles the Jack-a-Lope, but with different antlers, was native to South and Central America. It was virtually wiped out by all the customizers of the 1950's. Not only was the hide of the Nauga used on tops, but on prolly 90% of the custom cars interiors back then. There was also Lizard Skin used on these interiors. The type of lizard, whose name escapes me, is also extinct.

 

man thats ugly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I do not think the "carson tops" look very good on our old trucks.

I took these pics of a removable hard top at the 2006 supernts. The hard top sat on their "trailer" when not in use.





Not sure how (IF) it was braced up. It looks more like a show truck than a driver.

 

This is in no way, shape or form, a Carson Top.

It's prolly made from fiberglass and is similar in construction to the tops used on 55/57 T-Birds.

While the 1955/57 T-Birds bodies are steel (with copious amounts of lead), these cars have the first removable fiberglass hardtops ever installed on a production car.

First fiberglass production cars: 1951 Glasspar, 1952 Woodill Wildfire, 1953 Corvette, 1954 Kaiser-Darrin, and 1954 Edwards all had convertible tops.

The first Carson Top (it took a little digging to find this out-no I didn't use Wikipedia. I have over 2,000 books on auto history) was installed on the 1947 Comet, by the Comet Manufacturing Co of Los Angeles, located on Avalon Blvd. Comet was located close to Carson's Top Shop.

 

I know that. I said this was a removable hard top I took pics of. You missed a line.

 

I didn't miss a line, I confused the line you typed in the 2nd sentence about the removable H/T with the Carson Top ref you typed in the 1st sentence.

Whew...After typing this crappola, now I'm more confused than ever!