Elva

We were asked to fix the one vexing flaw this beautiful and rare British car: Its fiberglass detachable hardtop would not fit onto the body properly.

Someone had apparently built a top for this car using an existing hardtop as a model. While the shaping of the fiberglass was good, the trimming had not been done precisely enough. Instead of forming a tight seal to keep out wind and rain, the side window and the edge of the top were set apart by inches.

We trimmed the bottom edge of the hardtop and then cut the whole piece apart. To make everything fit, the holes for the side windows had to be moved down.

We made six brackets to hold the hardtop in place. The one to the right is attached to the inside of the body using the studs which hold the ragtop.

Hardtop puzzle

See more of this Elva on Flickr.com

The hardtop after its pieces had been fitted back together. We painted it to match the color of the car and made polycarbonate resin thermoplastic windows to fit the top.

We made this rail at the top of the windshield. The edge of the hardtop hooks over the top of it to form a tight seam.