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I had a long conversation with Karl in Hanover (1924 sport 136), and this is not going to be an easy "open and close" fix if I want to do it right. If I want to save this top, it would basically mean removing the whole top, sewing in some fabric to the rear most ~2 inches of the top as a re-enforcement, putting in a new tack strip, and then re-assembling. This all assumes that I can remove the top without tearing anything.....This is not a job to take lightly.
I did look here, and new tops are a god chunk of change, but not a rediculous amount of money if the quality is right.
top guys
It seems that the rear tack strip is wood from what I can see.
I'll attach a few pictures of what I uncovered so far.
-As you can imagine from Karl's work on his 124, he explained me what would be needed to do a very good job... he sets the bar very high!

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I did a little bit of driving and some adjusting of the voltage regulator and am pretty happy with about 7.4 volts. The headlights are still pretty weak though. Last year I had a problem that the circuit breaker blinked a few times after a long run at night, and so I replaced that. At the time we discussed cleaning the switch and all contact points, and also the option of adding relays. -as usual, I still haven't done either I did however just measure the voltage drop from the battery to the headlight terminal at the junction block by the battery... There was a voltage drop of about 1.5 volts!! no wonder the lights are dim....
I am now newly motivated to give the headlight circuit a thorough cleaning of the switches and terminals. It will be interesting to see where the resistance is getting into the circuit.

I was in Pittsburgh last week and picked up some parts. Also got to meet HPH from the forum!
I got a grille crest that has some red color in it, so on that went. The car looks much more regal now. I also installed a new dimmer switch to remove some resistance from the headlight circuit. Next up is cleaning the main headlight switch...

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I was in Pittsburgh visiting my uncle, and helping him fix his current fleet of SVO, SHO Fords and a Karmann Ghia. One evening over a few Hamms beers, I got some history of the Caribbean and a few old pictures. Here is the Caribbean when Dale Kendall still owned it at the 1972 National Meet in Wichita Kansas.

At the time it had a black top on it. The original was white, but that material is no longer available, hence the beige top on it now....
Here are also two pictures from 1980-something in Boston? My uncles blew a head gasket pulling into the parking lot of the national meet that year. It was fixed in the parking lot f the hotel. I'm sure the management loved that! They got the "Hard luck award" that year.
Top left is Michael Barbush. Top right is Danny Barbush. I don't know the others in the pic.

PS, if anybody is also into Ford Taurus SHO vehicles (late 1990s), I know of a basement full of spare parts. -going cheap!

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