1932 Ford Carson Top Install - The Return of the Carson Top: Part 1

Here Steve put "a step in the aluminum" for even more rigidity. There are actually two aluminum pieces welded together that will form a deep pocket to help anchor the rear window.

Look closely: That groove extends around the entire opening, leaving a 7/16-inch well inside. The flap is sewn on top, and along with the rear window, it's tucked into that slot. The headliner is also anchored into the slot so it won't sag.

Steve added tacking strips inside and under the window openings. The rearmost bow is a reversed channel, with the "ears" up to accept a layer of wood. Steve used three 1/8-inch-thick layers of Baltic birch plywood epoxy'd together. It's highly laminated with nine plies, so it accepts staples and/or upholstery tacks.

You can see here how the top has taken shape. Steve will install the headliner first because the listing (the upholstery term for the flaps that hold the headliner to the bows) wraps around the outer bows. The roofline has more loft than traditional Carson tops, and visually it's much nicer. My top is hand-stuffed with horsehair; now Steve uses a natural fiber that will last for many years.

Rather than re-using and re-welding the original top bows, Steve created this entire new assembly out of aluminum. Note how neatly it's welded. You can see part of the tacking strip. This top keeps its shape; it can't flap.

"That little ear (the small horizontal wood strip behind the front header bow) is where the Hide-em strip ends. I like to bend it back a little bit there," Steve said. "It gives it a little more speed."

On the sail panel, each bow has a little flair to the outside. "The radius on each bow is slightly different." he said. "It takes a lot of work to get those right, so when I finally do cover it with fabric, everything lofts over it correctly and forms a nice shape that follows the lower line perfectly, but without hidden snaps that would be revealed when the top was removed. With this setup, you don't have to overstuff to get the right shape."

"Houser's crew usually started with factory top bows, cut them, then arc-welded them back together quite crudely," Steve said. "It was cheaper to do and it was fast. They used solid rod to make up those other bows, but with my tubular aluminum bows and cross pieces, the framework is lighter and much stronger."

There's a lot of wood necessary in the front and the rear; that's what the headliner is fastened on, so there's no chance for wind to get up under the material and blow the top off the car.

Steve demonstrated that there's plenty of headroom. If necessary, he'd modify the seat, the seat roll, or the seat frame to ensure adequate head clearance and rear visibility. This roadster already had an interior, but Steve cut the rear seat roll down for better rearward visibility.