Re: Convertable top for caribbean 55

Posted by Leeedy On 2015/3/18 22:31:49

As I mentioned earlier, I only did a handful of tops in color inside (all were blue except for two that were done in pink by Robbins Auto Top Company-one for me and another for a friend). But this was a lot of years ago...decades ago. If anything, dyes ought to be better and easier to find today.

I bought the convertible top fabric from automotive convertible top fabric suppliers in bulk on a roll, got it placed on a large flat trimmer's table outside in the sun, spayed it with special dyes I found many years ago... THEN sent the material out and had it made into tops. Just like the factory did.

While it may be possible in some circumstances for dye to leak past vinyl, if dyed in proper sequence on material that has not been over-stretched, there should be no leakage. And the type of dye I used was for fabrics, not vinyl.

On pre-assembled tops, of course, this begs the question of who made the top and how? Perforations around edging beads are unavoidable-but those can be carefully masked. And cotton dye should not do much of anything to vinyl if used properly and cleaned off immediately But other top seams OUGHT to be dielectrically heat sealed (welded) and really ought not be leaking anything-in or out.

As far as matching up pads in colors... often such color materials are already out there if you look hard enough and long enough. In the Los Angeles area there used to be several wholesale sources for automotive fabrics. Among these were King Textiles in Long Beach; Boething & Francis or Lindsay & Hall in downtown Los Angeles and several others These companies may no longer exist. No idea who is left still in business, but I used to look for the oldest suppliers and then go ask to check their stocks. Even they were often surprised at what we could find.

For tops with the pink insides, I remember finding some nice cotton fabric in magenta which I gave to Robbins Auto Top and they used it to make pads for the pink tops we did. Looked dead factory if you were sitting inside the car. But... I was mortified to discover later that after all that money spent and all the work done to get the top right, a subsequent owner very proudly yanked the beautiful top with the pink insides. THEN replaced it with an awful black canvas top thingie... tossed the pink interior in favor of a Halloween pie color... and then repainted the car black (it was originally Dover White, Scottish Heather and Maltese Gray)! Wow. It was then promptly dumped out onto the good 'ol classic car auction circuit... where it was deemed a "magnificent meticulous restoration"...and then several somebodies in a row paid increasingly huge dollars for what had been turned into a franken-bean. That poor car.

Anyway, if you are working with a professional trimmer, have him or her contact old trim shops in your area... also old time top suppliers like Robbins, Acme, Electron and others. Some of these old businesses still have bolts of old fabric sitting around.

If all else fails, with doing pads, just knuckle down and go searching general old fabric warehouses. you don't need a huge amount to do color pads facings. I never had to dye pads because I always found existing fabrics in the right colors to make professional-looking pads.