I daily my NA Miata. With non-working AC, the top is down unless it is raining. Rest of the projects are all convertibles or targa tops, except for the GT6 and Citroen SM. Always liked them, since my first car was a 67 MGB. Nothing like a convertible sport car on a windy county road in the fall on a beautiful day.
common sight as I leave for work
I seem to be ok with them
I'm ready for one. I've always loved them but Mrs84FSP is not a fan. It just has to happen...
I always treaded my convertible (64 Corvair) like an open cockpit plane. The only time you cover the "cockpit" is when you park it to protect it from the rain / sun.
Ergonomically, convertibles are often inferior to coupes.
I always drove convertibles in my youth but witched to coupes when I realized that fir long trips there was no comparison - I was running true roadsters, TR3, MGA and such. Driving to a cross country marque meet for maybe 1,000 miles or so each way, ws completely different. The roadster drivers looked like they had been running in a wind tunnel and were sub burned and fatigued while the coupe drivers were relatively fresh. Plus some, like the Interceptor convert piled the top, when down. on the tonneau panel which meant that the rear view mirror became useless (backing up was a real challenge)..
I ended up selling my roadsters and keeping my coupes.
Gone:
Kept (except the Lambo which has passed on to different ownership)
OMG five and a half years and this thread just won't die!
In the years since I started this thread (which was actually about the used car market undervaluing certain convertibles) , I bought another convertible, my 3.4 V6 swapped MGB.
Ironically one of my first upgrades to that car was acquiring and installing a factory hardtop. However my reason for the hardtop has a lot more to do with my long term goal of turning the car into a loose replica of the illustrious MGB endurance racers of the early 60's than a love for driving it with the top on. Most times I drive it without the top, and find that removing the HT isn't too much more difficult than the ancient ritual involved in dropping the softtop on one of these.
I had a 1969 Datsun Roadster, and while I enjoyed it, it sort of weaned us off convertibles. Louder than a coupe, colder/warmer than a coupe, less secure than a coupe, less interior space, and if you care about chassis stiffness, less so. Yes, modern convertibles solve several of the above issues, but not all of them. All depends upon one's priorities.
Fun story: I pulled up behind a Miata at a light, top up. It was a very nice day, and a pedestrian was crossing the street, saw the Miata and its driver, got down on his knees in a prayerful stance, gesturing to the sky and motioning to the driver's top being up. She smiled and pointed at her hair, and the pedestrian just shook his head in disappointment and went on his way.
Never been a fan of top down cars. When I went looking for a C3 at age 19 I declined on several convertibles. Now I my dermatologist say I couldn’t afford to own one even if I actually wanted one. I have a motorcycle who needs a convertible!
For me, the thrill of dropping the top doesn't offset the noise, the leaks, or, since I live in an area with a crime problem, the ease of which it can be vandalized. Miatas have gone up in price recently, but before that it wasn't uncommon to see a fiberglass hardtop selling for more than the entire NA that it would mount to. I wonder why?
Unfortunately, when there are both convertible and hardtop versions of cars, the coupe usually sells for significantly more: I'm especially thinking of the Germans: Z3, Z4 and Boxter/Cayman.
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