Remember our 1982 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible from January? We saw her just after a light drizzle in the fall, top up, what turned out to be her last appearance for 2011. Now that Oregon summer has arrived in its full splendor, so has the Flying Lady. Today her top was down, as all convertible tops are meant to be.
Almost down anyway, and parked here all day so far as I could tell. Why is this wonderful and rare automobile exposing its leather and hardwoods to the open sunshine? I’m guessing the top goes down as far as it can one time in spring, and stays down all summer. What the hell, much better out and driven than shut up indoors. That leather smells grand, nothing like it, not on wheels anyway.
Fat chance of having the top down here in the UK !. has not stopped raining since April.
We Brits love our rag tops. First sign of sun the roof is down which is not much!.
In Pittsburgh, USA, we have the opposite problem. No rain to speak of all Spring and Summer. 90 degrees and sun has been the norm, so top down is misery. I’ve only had the top down on my 85 Lebaron three times this year, the latest on our Independence Day. So hot and miserable, I put the top up.
Golf has been misery, too. Being retired, I’ve tried to go out as early as 7 AM. Still extremely hot. Not my cup of tea. The golf courses and lawns look like a brown wasteland. Have not seen this extent since 1988. Vacationed at Disney World that year and 45 minute waits for rides were the norm. What misery! As a young guy, I had no problem with walking golf in 90+ heat. Not now.
That Rolls is sweet. Don’t see them very much. In neighboring Sewickley, PA, a Rolls dealer serves the robber barons that drive them, or are liveried around in them. I seldom get to that town. Too imtimidating for Hoi Polloi like myself.
Cheers!
Middle of winter here so definitely not top down weather
If it’s the middle of winter for you in the southern hemisphere, isn’t it still somewhat warm?
If you live in Australia, wouldn’t it still be like 15 degrees outside? (Celsius) Being from Canada, anywhere from 17-25 degrees is just perfect ragtop weather, as long as there’s a warmish wind.
Bryce, like me, lives in New Zealand, which is rather colder than Australia. It hasn’t been 15 Celsius out for a while now – for the last 3 weeks at my home it’s been between 2 degrees and -4 overnight, with a high of between 8 and 12 during the day. Mind you, it all depends to what folks are used to – 8-12 during the day would be positively tropical for many places lol!
I’d expect you’d only leave a car like this alone/parked for a short period of time, so roof-down is not much of an issue. I bet it beats waiting for the top to go up & down too – doubt this is a sub-20 sec exercise like modern soft-tops!
Not impressed with any convertible owner that doesn’t take the time to put the boot on.
I doubt it would fit. That top went much farther down when new, don’t you think?
Nah, these always had a huge stack when the top was folded, it doesn’t go cleanly down into the well like say, a 76 Eldorado.
Looks like you’re right. No boot, too bad.
Or, if I’m not mistaken, a Brit would say its hood folds back on top of the boot. Do I have that right?
If so, then what do Brits call the snap-on cover over a folded-down hood, which Yanks call a boot?
“what do Brits call the snap-on cover over a folded-down hood”
Tonneau.
I drive a Miata daily in San Diego. Sometimes the top is down briefly. You can barely see the boot anyway.
The temp gauge on the dash read 103 degrees as I headed home from work the other day. Not a cloud in the Iowa sky. I finally relented and drove home with the top up and the A/C blasting. My lovely bride was amazed at my sudden shot of sanity.