No ordinary Shelby build

[Street|Terror]

mintt. love these cars.

[gallopingford]

Damn, I need to see this thing in person. Hopefully you can get the hardtop situation resolved soon.

I'm still looking for more car meet ups in the area. I go to Katie's C&C when I get time though. I do hope this top works out too, I'm in the middle of two projects and this was suppose to be the easier one. lol

mintt. love these cars.

Thanks!

Here is a pic that a photographer took at the C&C a couple weeks ago.

[MikeyP3]

Top notch for sure!

[gallopingford]

Here is my writeup on the Removable Hardtop...

When I bought my convertible I knew I wanted to do something different with it. Almost immediately after I got it I went ahead and contacted Smoothline Custom Hardtops to have one made. From the beginning I knew this was not going to be an easy task. Unfortunately it ended up being a nightmare task for us from the beginning to end.

The top was originally ordered June 2013. We actually ordered two of them since we were going to sell one to a customer as well. In August, the first top arrived at our body shop and when it was opened it was cracked. This was unfortunate but we could not do anything about it. Our customer ended up canceling the order and it was understandable. When the replacement (second top) arrived in September, at our body shop it looked good until we examined it closer and it was also cracked. Jack at Smoothline ensured us that this has never happened before and because they decided to use a new shipper they were to blame. At this time I was already ticked off. Having originally ordered the top nearly 4 months ago I called Jack and told him we were going to drive up to PA from VA to get the top for safe measure so it does not get damaged in transit. In addition to this, I asked if we could bring my car down there so they could fit the top properly since after all they designed it and would be most suited to do this.

Well October 8th rolled around and we trailered my convertible up to PA to get the top fitted to it. We told Smoothline what time we would be arriving so they could expect us. When we arrived the guy we needed to fit the car was not there. They told us they couldn’t touch the car to fit the top. I was pissed considering I just towed this car 3 + hours for shits and giggles. Again… what was I going to do? Ended up loading the box in the trailer and we went on our way. Got the top back to the store and when we opened it, we realized it would have to modified to fit around my the CDC light bar. No problem, except when I called Jack it took about a week for him to find the template, and when I finally got the template it was so far off from where the bar needed to be cut out of the fiberglass.

This was the nightmare I went through before the top even made contact with this car, lol.

Finally I dropped my car off at the body shop around Christmas and they got started with it. Instantaneously we knew it needed a ton of work… more like an astronomical amount of work. The fiberglass was primed like it was ready to be painted but was no where near ready. The primer was not of quality and there were a ton of imperfections. Not to mention, the fitment of the top was not even close to the car. If you were to push the front of the top down over the windshield frame, the rear of the top would not clear the convertible top. The first time I saw this, I was livid. Again the nightmare of this project continued.



You can see there is a noticeable lift in the front of the top where it meets the windshield frame.





The back of the top is sitting up way to high since it is not long enough to clear the convertible top.





Top clears the CDC light bar properly after the fiberglass was cut. The template was useless and they did it using steady calculation.



You can see how the rear corner of the top is somewhat high, this is because this top was designed on a 05-09 S197 where the rear quarter panel is level across. On the 10-14 they are slanted downward.





You can see how the convertible top is still intact and just in the lowered position.



A short list of the things the top needed
*Incision made in the fiberglass to get more length out of it to fit properly
*Reinforcement bracket was made after the incision
*1/4 windows holes were absolutely screwed up and windows did not even fit in the cubbies
*Anchoring points for the front of the top to latch down on the windshield frame were not lining up properly and they had to be moved.
* +Much more that I’m forgetting

A came by a couple weeks later and they started cutting the top to add fiberglass and adjust the angle of the front to fit properly.



After about a month of work (it was a low priority project since I am in no hurry) the top fitment was much better but more work was needed.

Rear is sitting much better, and even the corner gap was minimized.







Front sits perfectly snug now.



Eventually it was ready for paint a month later and I just got back possession of the car this past Friday. I have to say that I was incredibly impressed with the workmanship and quality of this thing once the body shop got done with it. I never envisioned it looking this perfect.





Convertible Top Up



Convertible Top Down



Hardtop mode engaged



And here are more pictures. It is currently shit weather out here so I’ll have to get better ones later on.











Up close fitment it incredible now





Knowing that the top was not really intended for the 10-14 was unfortunate but in person you can’t notice the gaps.







Yesterday, I dusted off the right pedal and even at high-speeds the top is whisper quiet. No extra noise was detected and the rear window visibility is great. I ordered this top with a defroster grid, but will probably forgo hooking it up. The CDC light bar looks really cool inside the car and since the top is in the down position it will function as an additional third brake light, however if you are driving at night it will light the interior up like a damn Christmas tree.

Because the car is black, the gaps between the body and top are hardly noticeable to the untrained eye. I had people asking me if I traded my convertible in for a coupe or asked why I installed a light bar in a coupe. Silly people

In the end, I’ve finally ridded myself of this 8-month ordeal. It was a major burden, pain in the ass, hole in my wallet and headache for all of us. The body shop tried calling Smoothline to inquire on issues they were dealing with but did not receive call-backs. I know a custom piece like this was expected to come with a handful of issues but the box of worms I opened up was more like Pandora’s box. This is one modification that I’m happy to own, but I would never do again. There is no doubting the truth though, the car looks absolutely stunning in person.

Feel free to ask me questions about this project and I’ll be happy to answer them. Just don’t ask me to buy and have one put together again, Lol.

I will be putting up a video of a walk-around the car soon and I'll eventually post another video of the removal of it.

[rice4life]

Wow, that's quite the ordeal!

The top looks great, and that gap between the fender and the rear of the hardtop are barely noticeable.

[xXp_ExoTiic_qXx]

This thing looks friggin' badass, with the hardtop even more. Respect for the amount of work done on this.
Any more plans for the future?

[gallopingford]

Wow, that's quite the ordeal!

The top looks great, and that gap between the fender and the rear of the hardtop are barely noticeable.

I'm pretty OCD and it doesn't bother me one bit. The pictures really don't show the top well though.

This thing looks friggin' badass, with the hardtop even more. Respect for the amount of work done on this.
Any more plans for the future?

Thanks, it was a total PITA but I love the new addition.

Not sure yet since I'm in the process of building another car.

[gallopingford]

Weather was pretty decent on Monday so I took it out.



I hope to realign the front soon. It's begging for more camber in the front so I can air it all the way to 0psi

[gallopingford]

Not too much to update, but here is a picture from last month when I was down in Charlotte for the Mustang 50th Anniversary Celebration.



I've managed to realign the car and have gotten about 2.5* of camber for ride height so the wheels now tuck at 0psi.

[tyler589]

This makes me so happy, Awesome work.

[bimmerspotter]

That too makes the side profile look similar to a gtr

[dvious]

Maaaaaaaaan.

[swervninthevan]

Not usually a huge fan of newer Shelby's, but god damn.

[cheaptalon]

Top notch work. It is refreshing to see one of these not done in the typical cookie-cutter fashion. Usually Mustang owners all follow the same mod path and all jump on the same cheap wheels and huge tires.

[jcbe34]

That's really cool, I've never really liked these cars because no one ever does anything original to them. Yours however is very unique, I think the hard top came out great and was well worth the time and work you put into it.