Cabriolets

A convertible is a statement by its owner that the practicality of an auto with a hard top isn’t all that important, that it’s best to motor through the world with a carefree attitude, facing an open sky while feeling the wind in your face. Any cabriolet is almost ageless. Even older models with faded paint have a young, carefree spirit about them. An old red 1950s Ford convertible, or even one from the 1930s, has the same sporty spirit as the latest BMW cabriolets off the line. The youthful spirit of the convertible has long been recognized and appreciated. That’s why aging movie stars have always been fond of them. And that’s why many auto dealers keep a shiny convertible front and center among sport sedans in their showroom window. Young motorists take to them immediately.

Cars that always have been the most fun have been designed mainly for warm-weather driving, such as cabriolets. Even legendary Enzo Ferrari once said, “Convertibles are for playboys. Hardtops are for serious (driving fun).” When Johnny von Neumann, the West Coast Ferrari distributor, asked automaker Ferrari in the 1950s for a special Ferrari convertible for America, Ferrari built von Neumann a convertible and called it the “California” – a state Enzo felt was loaded with wealthy playboys.

Like robins, convertibles signal the beginning of the warm-weather driving season. With the sky as a roof, they hold out promises of motoring sprints toward a May twilight’s red horizon, with the wind rustling your hair.
There’s a romance to cabriolets. Unlike other cars – pickup trucks or sport wagons – they don’t seem best-suited to younger drivers. Drivers of all ages look good behind the wheel. For older motorists, convertibles are a temporary passport to youth. Even beat-up convertibles look good with the top down. Lowering any “convert” top is thumbing a nose at practicality. That’s why even big, garish, 1950s to 1970s U.S. cabriolets were considered nearly as sporty as sports cars of those decades.

The record year for convertible sales in the United States was 1963, when 542,000 were sold. Last year, 178,800 were bought in an auto market that was considerably larger than the market of 30 years ago.
But 1992 cabriolets sales were much higher than in 1982 – the low point for sales of “topless” autos. Only 43,200 convertibles found a home that year, when they took just one-half of a percentage point of the car market.
Also, convertibles didn’t have the large number of competitors they now battle, such as sport/utility vehicles. And driving conditions were more appealing because there was less traffic congestion. Convertible owners didn’t have to drive as far from the city to appealing country vistas.

The 1976 Cadillac Eldorado seemed destined to be the last factory-built U.S. cabriolet. But, desperate for sales, Chrysler’s new boss, Lee Iacocca, brought U.S. cabriolets back in 1982. Ford followed suit in 1983, and soft-top sales began climbing. Today’s cabriolets are superior to the old ones because most have far fewer shakes and rattles and less cockpit wind buffeting with the top lowered.