sub £1000 4 door cabriolet??????

[Darrel]

Hi all, with the cold weather here I'm looking forward the summer and the 2 days of hot weather we are going to have. I'm looking for a Cabriolet, but would need to have 4 doors and be under £1000. Also if it was a 4x4 it would be quite fun.
The only retro 4 door cabriolet I can think of that would be under £1000 is a 2cv. Have I missed anything out?

[Mystery Machine]

You're gonna struggle to find a 4 door cabriolet - especially for £1,000!

Think structure and you start to understand why 99.9% of cabrio's are 2dr. The only ones I can think of are some American monsters but forget trying to find one for £1,000

[alexg]

Its a one off but...

[robg2]

Make your own!

Here's one I did last weekend:


Ps - the roof skin's going on one of my rally cars.


Seriously, I think you'll struggle to find what you're looking for. The only other 4 door cabrio I can think of apart from what's been mentioned is some of the specials such as Crayford Dolomites. Hardly feasible...

Plenty of 4 seat cabriolets for less than a grand though.

[PandaSelecta]

Ahem..........

[dclane]

The only European one I can think of is the Citroen Visa cabrio - which has 4 doors:



There aren't many of these - but come up time to time. I nearly bought one last year off eBay.

[akku]

As said the only 4 door open tops I can think of for cheap are what the yanks call "parade cars" which is a regular 4 door saloon with the roof cut off.

You could try do the job properly. But its a lot of work. People often think the structure/strengthening is the hard bit. Its not. Its the making a custom watertight roof. See how many unfinished cabrio conversions there are on eBay where "all thats needed to finish is a roof"

I have seen all manner of British 4 door rag tops, usually Jags and occasionally Granada Mk2 or whatever. There were a couple of coachbuilders did a lot of these in the 70s and 80s on new and nearly new cars. These days big cars like that come with air con.

Lincoln Continentals of the type Kennedy was shot in are the only factory 4 door cabrio of modern times I can think of.

[Darrel]

Yep thinking about it I saw that Visa Cabriolet on E-bay last year too. It was a silver one and a bargain. Problem is the reason I want 4 doors is I have 2 young kids and getting them in car seats in a 2 door is very hard on my back. As much as I love 2cv's I'm not 100% happy about one in an accident with my whole family in it.
I think I might look at a 4 door car and cut a Webasto style roof in. Does a Shogun, Vitara or Frontera have a seperate chassis? I'm thinking If I was to cut the roof about on one I wouldnt lose the structural integrity so much as a Monocoque? When I was 18 I had a mini with a couple of weeks tax and Mot on it with no chance of passing another. I just angle ground the top half of the car off for 2 weeks of summer fun before the scrappy had it. Problem was the doors used to open by themselves when going round corners after

[akku]

oh yeah - 2CV!

[Dom]

Peugeot 504. Good luck finding one though...



But get a 2-door. Where's the fun if you can't climb over the side!

[Dom]

Oh right, you have sprogs.
A Jeep with no doors?

[alexg]

Might be a bit out of your price range... and impossible to get hold of.

[HARDCORE]

Choppy choppy



Alistair is bob-on about the roof tho, complete PITA! Which is why I've never bothered - Roadster FTW.
Unfortunately I don't live in So-Cal so have got plans for a very simple soft top (just in case I get caught short) using a modified Vitara hood frame (just the main hoop) at the B-pillars and a fastback style hood clipping on at the tonneau mounting points. Not bothered about rear screen but the hard bit is yet to come - mountings around the windscreen and door windows.
Doubt it'll ever be fully watertight or survive a storm / driving fast in the rain but like I said, it's a Roadster with hood I could throw up if I get caught short

Potatoshop of planned front end & rim re-vamp:



;D

HC.

[yantorsen]

There is a soft top maxi for sale on carandclassic atm, but it's up for £1800 I think... might be able to get that down... www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C106432/

[Oldbus]

sorry, hardly in your price class but a nice car until you see it with the roof up

[HARDCORE]

Jan 7, 2010 14:40:25 GMT Oldbus said:

sorry, hardly in your price class but a nice car until you see it with the roof up

Lol, that's probably what mine'll end up looking like... (although shorter & without any back windows)

HC.

[popuptoaster]

Converting a car is gonna get you into BIVA territory unless its got a seperate chassis, something like a big 4x4 would work, if its only for sunny days don't bother building a roof for it.

[veedubman]

VW 181?? not for £1000 though

[markbognor]

Jan 7, 2010 14:40:25 GMT Oldbus said:

sorry, hardly in your price class but a nice car until you see it with the roof up

I phisically recoiled away from the computer when I saw that!

[milfordcubicle]

Some early Citroen Berlingo Multispaces have full length fabric sunroofs, but I doubt if you'll find many under £1k.