Thread: 27 T Roadster roof

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Hi all just a simple request if poss ?

does anyone have a removable roof picture on a 27 t roadster ? or turtledeck (?) is it usually called

plan is to do this using a quick theory drawing as the body has fixed doors and decided to try make it with a flip up front to get in/out

also had thoughts about removing it/stowing it away behind the seat so any pics/drawings would be good for comparison - as always it all worx in theory but practice is a whole new matter

and it rains too much over here

Just replying because nobody else has. I guess the "turtle deck" name made sense on the T up through '25 but for the '26 & '27 there was the rounded deck lid you have. In '28 that became higher and was either a rumble seat lid or a trunk lid. About a year ago there was an article in Street Rod Builder about a new '32 body in steel that allows a flap around the back of the seat to lift up and hide the top bows and top there after folding down. Do you have a fiberglass body or a steel body with a welded door? Speedway Motors here in the U.S.has a door kit for a fiberglass body to saw out the passenger side and add one door for entry/exit. What you are asking sounds possible to me but ONLY after a LOT of trial and error bending aluminum tubing with motorboat fittings. I think you could get it the way you want to fold down behind the rear of the seat but you might waste a lot of tubing in making your own bows. It's not impossible, but maybe if you added one door to the body you could make do with a chopped top using parts intended for a stock '27. There are some folks here on the Forum who can do almost anything in a professional way, but it would be beyond my talent and so I would add a passenger door and try to set up a regular chopped top for a '27.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I actually did this once to a model A ford roadster that I had purchased, which someone had welded the doors shut on, before I got it. I built a framework out of 1/4" steel rod that picked up all the lines that would normally show up in a fabric model A roadster top. The rear section that sat directly on top of the roadster cockpit area was made from 5/8" steel rod, which was heated with a torch and bent to follow the exact curvature of the body. The 1/4" rod is easy to work with and can be bent "cold" by hand. I had a friend who worked in the machine shop at the company I worked in machine me a set of "split hinges" that bolted to the "daisy panel" directly behind the cockpit, and bolted to 2 tabs welded to the round 5/8" bar that wrapped around the back of the cockpit area. The 1/4" rods which defined the top shape were attached to a home-made header that bolted to the top of the windshield posts with a pair of draw-down brackets similar to those on a good quality toolbox. The 1/4" rods were covered with a fabric padding material, and the top upholstered with canvas. This top was not a folding top. When you wanted into the car, you flipped the top open by lifting the front of it and folding it back on the hinges, untill it rested on the daisy panel, more or less like a crocodile with its mouth open. You then climbed into the car, reached up and pulled the top down (it wasn't very heavy at all), then snapped the draw-down latches into the locked position, and drove away. If you wanted to go driving topless, you just pulled the hing pins out, set the top aside in your garage, and left it at home.

sounds cool idea (croc mouth) and is simpler than the idea i was thinking of doing - mind you over engineering is possibly the worst thing to do as it will be mostly roof off anyway

a bit like a baby's buggy rain cover is what i have at the moment and seems to work well - just messing and adjusting to see if i can get a nice shape to it

looking good though - cheers for the tip on the slide hinges - will save me a lot of hassle doing similar