Driver's Seat

[Dave Herndon]

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to late summer in Florida. Yes, it’s hot, but that’s not going to slow us down. Suncoast Region has places to go, people to see and fun things to do. See the calendar inside these pages for dates and locations.

Over the last several months, the plastic rear window on the Boxster finally began to wear out. Most every day, the top was lowered and put back up. Sometimes this would happen 3 to 4 times a day. Basically, if Laura was in the car, the top was down, even if the trip was between the parking lot and the softball field. I promised her that I would never be unhappy about wearing out the top, as my sincere hope was that she would thoroughly enjoy the open air driving as much as I do. My father said the same thing to me at her age. She may enjoy it even more, and that’s hard to do.

The time came to do something about the top and the plastic rear window. The window had a few big cracks in it, on either side about half way between the top and bottom. I looked new tops, at a wide range of installed prices. The choices narrowed down to original equipment (OE) German canvas, knock-off American canvas, and relatively inexpensive replacement tops.

This article was almost a documentary about ol’ Dave doing the installation job himself. Yes, I was going to do it right in my garage over a weekend (or two!!). A top vendor in California was kind enough to send me step by step instructions, complete with detailed photos of the known trouble areas. After checking this over a few times, I decided to give it a go. I was growing very tired of looking at the make-do temporary fix of clear box sealing tape covering the cracks while I investigated my options. It’s not a nice look on a really pretty car.

While I was in the midst of all of this checking around and deciding what to do, we had a DE at Sebring. I brought the Boxster to drive in the event. On the way to the track, I kept thinking to myself “Hmmm…. 125 down the back straight, windows down, lots of air pressure on a plastic rear window held together by clear box sealing tape. Going to lose the window. Will probably hit Bassett on his windshield, and I’ll never hear the end of it.” I was just hoping for no rain. At the track, I decided to put another layer on the inside also, just to make me feel better. It actually worked. Absolutely nothing happened to that window. A full weekend of running with the instructors, and it was intact. I digress.

One of our Suncoast members, Sean Epperson, saw my problem as he walked through the paddock. He indicated that he had just had his plastic rear window replaced, and it turned out very well. It saved him an outrageous amount of money, as the new window was only $200. + tax, installed. The top on my car was still in fine condition, and it didn’t take much thought about which way to go. Sean called me a few days later with the name and phone number of the convertible top shop. Sure enough, I set the appointment to drop it off in the morning, and the job was done, ready to pick up by 4:30 the same day. What a deal.

The top shop removed the entire top from the car, double stitched in a new plastic window, reinstalled the top without a single wrinkle, all for a couple hundred dollars. The more I think about it, that top might still be off the car in my garage if I actually did it at home. The main criteria we used to save or replace the top involved the condition of the top and textured rubber lining fused to the inside of the factory canvas. If it was soft and pliable, without cracking or checking in the visible wear areas, then it would be fine to just replace the window. That decision became very easy. I was perfectly willing to tackle the job, but good sense prevailed.

It would have made a pretty funny article about the trials and tribulations of learning a complicated new service procedure, buying any needed special tools, just to do the job only once. Ever. Anyone else experienced this kind of fun at home? I’ll bet you’ve been there too. Let me know if you would like the contact info for the top shop Sean and I used, or the top replacement instructions if you’ve got the nerve to try it at home. If so, you get to write the article about your experience.

I’ll see you in the Driver’s Seat.