two man top

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Chuck Stevens
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:48 am
First Name: chuck
Last Name: stevens
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1921 roadster
Location: webster fl

two man top

Post by Chuck Stevens » Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:26 am

Does anyone have tips on restoring a two man top. where to buy it and any other information on the installation will be a great help.

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George House
Posts: 2258
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:25 pm
First Name: George
Last Name: House
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: ‘10 Maxwell AA, ‘11Hupp Model 20, Two 1914 Ford runabouts, 19 centerdoor, 25 C Cab,26 roadster
Location: Northern Caldwell County TX
MTFCA Number: 115
MTFCA Life Member: YES
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: two man top

Post by George House » Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:44 am

Well, a top consists of sockets, bows and fabric. Assuming you only need the latter, the fabric consists of bow covers, padding and top material - usually long grain or copra vinyl. My recommendation is Classitique. Mark provides the entire kit for either touring or roadster. But the best time to apply the vinyl has past / unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere. The hotter the sun when stretching the vinyl the better. Ideally someone will let you borrow the excellent DVD from the late and great Vince Iaccino that depicts the steps involved in installing a top. Sorry but I don’t know to what extent you’re at at “restoring” a two man top. Patching original material ??
I don’t know why I turned out this way. My parents were decent people 🤪


Russ T Fender
Posts: 404
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:39 pm
First Name: Val
Last Name: Soupios
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: '10 touring, '12 touring, '13 hack, '14 runabout, '14 touring, '14 speedster, '22 centerdoor, '27 touring
Location: Jupiter Florida

Re: two man top

Post by Russ T Fender » Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:14 am

If the car you are looking to put a top on is the '21 roadster and you already have the body irons, sockets and bows all you need is the kit from Classtique and a little bit of patience. I did my '14 Runabout using their kit and it came out great. I had never done anything like that before but it isn't rocket science!


John kuehn
Posts: 3891
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:00 pm
First Name: John
Last Name: Kuehn
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 19 Roadster, 21 Touring, 24 Coupe
Location: Texas
MTFCA Number: 28924

Re: two man top

Post by John kuehn » Thu Oct 31, 2019 10:19 am

2 man tops are used on the 14-early 22 Touring cars. A Roadster top in the 14-22 era isn’t called a 2 man top. It’s simpler to install than a Touring top as it has just 1 set of bows. ( 2 bows). Touring cars have 4 bows in there set.

Make sure your top bows are in good stable shape and the wood in them is good. Usually it need to be replaced.

Lang’s T parts catalogue has a lot of information about identifying Roadster and Touring tops along with the top bows. You can get replacement wood for the top bows from them.
Also do a search on this forum about 2 man top or Roadster top installation. They are posts on the new forum and several on the older forums. You can get an idea and what to do for your car.

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