Plymouth Offered the First Power Ragtop (article)

[BobT-47P15]

Originally written by Robert F. Mehl for Old Cars Weekly in May of 1986.

Through most of the '30s, Plymouth was number three in sales. Plymouth

appealed to conservative family buyers and didn't have Ford's sport appeal.

Youngbloods who favored open cars paid little heed to Plymouth or Chevrolet. Their open

car sales were less than Ford's. The flashing V-8 seemed to go with the open car spirit.

Open car sales were, by then, a small part of sales (one to five percent).

Essex moved away from open models with the first cheap coach (two door

sedan), and buyers have favored closed cars ever since.

In the 1930s, dealers always had an open car or two on the showroom floor to draw traffic.

Auto makers did not make much from open car sales, and many dropped roadsters and

tourings early in the decade. Later, some dropped convertibles for a time.

Convertibles with wind-up windows were expensive to build after mass production made closed car

bodies relatively cheap to make. Convertibles had heavier frames, top irons with many

individual pieces and required tailoring of the top.

Prices for convertible coupes and sedans were a hundred or so dollars

more than the closed coupes and sedans.

While many admired sporty ragtops, few bought them. Most didn't like the hassle of folding tops

(no great effort on convertible coupes, but a two-man job on convertible sedans).

Then Plymouth got a better idea: a power top for it's '39 convertible. Engineers came up with a

power mechanism for the ragtop coupe. It consisted of two vacuum cylinders mounted, one on each side,

by the rear quarter panel.

Top irons were redesigned so the power units, working in unison, could either pull (for dropping)

or push (for raising) them.

The rewards of innovation did not go to Plymouth. Other carmakers adopted this idea and sold more.

But Plymouth did make a major contribution to the development of the convertible, nevertheless,

and ragtop owners have power tops today.