kyootie

What does everyone think about the t-tops that were one some of the models in the 80's

I heard they were a bad idea cause they always leaked and were high maintenance.

Olds_71_442

Not that bad. They leaked when the rubber got old. Replace the rubber and you're good again. Most guys I knew with those cars were too cheap to replace the rubber and they'd put silicone in the cracks of the rubber.

Magna86

They were not too bad if you maintained the seals as noted. One this to be careful of when looking at a car with T-Tops is to makesure who installed them. During the 80's the craze for T-tops had aftermarket companies installing them and their design and or seals were not the same as factory. this makes finding replacement parts very difficult if not impossible because the company went out of business. I'll take a car with factory T-tops any day! Miss my 79 TA with T-tops.

chip-powell

The biggest problem that I remember wasn't that they leaked (which they did...allot), it was that when people put the tops in their trunk, they wound up breaking them, either by not strapping them down or throwing something on top of them.

Allan R

I had them on my 82 Cutlass Supreme. First and last car I'd buy with that option

Pros
- You can take the roof out and enjoy the fresh air!
- A nice selling feature when getting rid of the car
- uhhhh, looks cool?
- Not a real high maintenance item.
- Easy to remove and reinstall.
- (T-tops from similar bodied GM brands are interchangeable in the respective model years)

Cons
- No protection from the sun with the roof in place. It needed something more to block the sun other than wear a baseball cap.
- I found they were noisy (air leaks at hiway speed) at the door seals
- Took up a LOT of trunk space
- An expensive option from the factory and on the dealer lot.
- One more thing to worry about getting broken or stolen.
- Poor drainage on the roof metal structures/weather seals promoted early rust.
- A LOT of noise at highway speed, and LOTS of wind turbulence also.

BlackGold

I had T-tops on an '86 Cutlass that I drove from the time it was about 15 years old until its rusty grave. They never leaked once. I loved them and took them out for any long drive on a sunny day. Really, almost as good as a convertible. I kept the original storage bags in the trunk and never had troubles breaking the tops.

starfire

My '87 has factory t-tops. No leaks. I did put limo tint on them so I wouldn't bake to death. The original tinting on them were not enough for me. Mine have locks on them so I don't have to worry about them being stolen. Love cruising down the highway with the tops out.

They do take up a lot of room in the trunk.

They were pretty expensive, $895 on a $16836 car. What's that work out to 5%?

Allan R

Yeah, even more expensive up here. My CS was around 14K but the option was close to 1K. Worst part is that with winter and cold weather being what it is up here, I didn't really get the opportunity to use them all that much. They were great for touring in the mountains in the summer if you wore earplugs and didn't mind the wind from the open top. Hated having them open in city logjam traffic - all the other exhaust was right in the car. So most of the city driving was with tops on and AC going. Kind of a wasted effort huh?

ThePackRat

Had them on an 84 Calais.

Seals were replaced once with GM parts & despite several adjustment attempts never got them 100% leak free.

Had a real nail-biter on the interstate one day .....

Was rolling along @ 80-90 mph when I heard a loud pop & was immediately greeted with both tops having "bowed" upward in the center.



The rivets of the center channel each side tucked into had come loose. That same channel also had a curved part at the very front that tucked up under the windshield trim - which had broken off as well.

Still can't believe the force of them bowing up like that at that speed ..... didn't shatter them into a million pieces.

As enjoyable as t-top (& moonroofs) are when the weather is nice .....

I am not that enthused about them as I once was.

I'm of the mindset now you better have money (to chase leaks) & space (to keep if out of the rain).

Go figure .....

I had a ratty 79 T/A I bought just for the rebuilt 403 that had ZERO leaks from the t-tops.

Both the windshield & rear window leaked like sieves ... but nothing from the t-tops with flat dried up seals.

That still annoys me to this day.