:grin: Just purchased a 72 Skylark Suncoupe....What a ride this is! Can anybody tell me where I can get info on how to repair the Vinal Retractable top on this Baby....I would love to get her back to original....Bought her yesterday, and I'm so thrilled to work on my New BABY....Named Her "SLOTH" by the way....Just have to see it to understand!!!LOL Anyways, If anyone can tell me who does these tops to perfection, or If new one can be purchased.....Etc....I sure would appreciate it! Peace !
If any one gets back to you let me know. I posted the same question on another BB w/ little luck I thought I would try this one and see where it got me. I have had my suncoupe since 86 and had the top done back then. It looked good when I got her home but worked like crap. Now she looks like crap as well and I wish I had taken the origional apart myself to see how it went togoether. Ah well thats whatchaget. anyhow enjoy your suncoupe they are great cars. You will get alot of "wow that top opens?! did you do that yourself?" which is cool. better thatn hearing hey buddy nice chevelle. good luck, Michael
SUNCOUPE....Reply!!!! :Brow: Michael, I sure will keep you in touch....I will find someone or somebody that can help, Believe you me!!I'm bound and determined to get it to perfection....As soon As I do, I will fill you in on the details...Thanks for responding to my thread! Someone in the "BUICK FAMILY"knows this Information! Just a MATTER OF TIME! PEACE :laugh:
suncoupe tops I have a little info on these tops , i have a suncoupe GS stage 1 clone. I also have an extra top and a few extra parts parts frp them . I have had mine repaired in St Louis by a man that used to work for American sunroof co. If you want to e mail me at fitroffire@aol.com with questions and I will help all I can . Johjn GSCA#4322 71 GS 350 72 GS Suncoupe Stage 1 clone
Thanks John John, Thanks for the reply....I just E-mailed you! Hopefully you have some good info for me...Thanks again!!!!
My Suncoupe needs help also !!! WOW, I am in need of my top being replaced also. Please keep this information going. Maybe we can find an awesome person to do the work on all of our cars at the same time and get some photo shoots! I know, not very likely, but at least find the person that is good and will do us all right on them. I just got my car from the body/paint shop and need my top done badly. I do want a nice job done, but don't know where to go with it. I went to the only place in my area that still does tops and he was dimbfounded. He was supposed to talk with a guy he used to work with years ago that had done some of these, but has not called me back yet. Please lets keep this data going...:beer
All suncoupes are Rare? :Brow: Goodmorning all!!, Just wanted to do my part In kkeping this thread rolling right along! What are the production numbers on these cars. When I bought the car, the man showed me the original ad in Auto trader, and it said this one was 1 of 708 made....Does this sound True? IF so YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAA I got a RARE one! Thanks! O by the way, anybody know where to find the spindle assy that has the bearings inside and the lug studs on it...I'm needing new one and parts stores don't carry these they say! Let me know if you can help! THANKS AND HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!:bglasses:
There are a couple of good suncoupe only websites out there just check out google.com the links are there. Depending on who you tal;k to or what article you read there were 800-3200 of these cars made. no one around here (upstate new york) knows what to do with this top. I am about to have the body done again.(last time was 15 years ago.) and I WILL get the top done right this time if I have to become a suncoupe top specialist myself. I was told to look for a volkwagon restoration specialist to do the top as the older beetles had a similar top. Good luck guys and I would be interested in knowing exactly how many suncoupes there are around today. Maybe we could start a new forum for suncoupes only and see how many people repond? Have your people call my people and we'll get back to you. take it easy Michael
Suncoupe tops I am going to try this , I have had 4 Suncoupes. I have had the tops done several times, and have in my possession an extra top assembly and a sliding assembly. Both have the original top fabric installed , The original top was produced by ASC some of you know it as the GNX people. They set up shop near the factory and took delivery of completed cars then altered them and drop shipped them to the dealers. I bought my present Suncoupe from the original owner that worked near the ASC shop and bought one when he retired in 1972 then moved to Az. The man kept the original fabric on the top but the sliding section was replaced. The top had what appeared to be like alligator skin , when asked he stated that this was the way it came or he could have bought a regular top. The extra top has regular vynil, it has no seams and just cloth backing. When I went to have the Suncoupe top done last time I found a a shop that has done them before . It turns out that the owner used to work for ASC and installed the tops in 1971 and 1972 in several different makes.The tops appeared in Nova, Demon,Even a Mustang option. They started life on VW as the inventer worked there in the 50s or 60s . Herbie the love Bug was the first one I saw with this top. The info I have is that there were 3500 of these cars slated to be done but since there were no provisions for drainage from the channels people complained and the cars were recalled most people kept them but some had the tops filled in with metal and new headliners installed! I have seen all types of therse with the skylark being the most common of course but I have seen 4 Stage 1 cars 1 GS 455, and 1 GS 350 . And Poston had a GS 455 triple white that In tried to buy from him but he made another deal with it! He used a handle from me to make the repro. The original top material is hard to find and a lot of owners use conv top material for the sliding section as it wears well. I can be reached at 314-352-8093
TTT I wanted to put that as it has been almost a year and a half since the last post. Needless to say, it has been over a year that I have been trying to get my top done. I moved to upstate NY and found a guy here that has a Suncoupe also and found someone that did his top. Once I had all the stuff to do my top, it took over 7 months to find this guy. Well I did and he intended to have it all finished yesterday, but it rained, along with today, tomorrow and the next day or two. But it will be done soon. I had the headliner all done as well as the hardtop also. I am so anxious to get it back. All of you Suncoupe owners, we need to keep something going here somewhere. I will post pics soon of the results. Later, Mike
Inside with the top in... I should be able to tighten the liner with a hair dryer, but it was tough work stretching the liner to the roof cut-out...
Now with the top in. The passenger side needs to be adjusted down and we need to finish gluing the outer edges and it is back out right now to finish tomorrow...
