'64 'ragtop' dilemma

Hey everyone, its been years since I have posted but I am back into my
VW hobby. Having had a '68 and a '63 bug I have ventured into the world
of ragtops. I recently purchased an early '64 ragtop. Car is in great
shape but when I was sold the car I was told the ragtop was missing the
rollers and didnt seem to line up correctly to close entirely. I
assumed it would need to be taken apart and reinstalled. Well I started
working on it last night and after removing the headliner on the
inside, I found a very odd latching mechanism, nothing like I see in
the VW service manual. Almost homemade to a point. Also the rails seem
to be a bit narrower and have plastic sliders instead of rollers in the
rails. There is 2 sliding pieces, each with the 'floating' bow for the
headliner. I also pulled the headliner back where the slot in the body
is for the latch to fasten the top down and discovered that it looks to
be the whole thing is fiberglass.
Also when looking where the latch goes into the body there isnt
anything to hook onto in order to hold it closed.

This whole thing has me really disappointed as it seems as though I
didnt get what I paid for. I will try posting some pics for everyone to
look at. I think I can get it cleaned up and at least functioning
better than it is now even though its not original. I am just hoping
someone out there may have some suggestions on what I can do to get the
top to actually latch closed.

Sorry for the rambling, I hope it makes sense.

Please go to http://vwjason.blogspot.com/ to see pics of what I am
talking about.....

Anxious to hear what everyone thinks can be done.

It looks to me that someone got crafty and made the front bow section,
its for form anything stock I've seen. You should try to find an
original front bow, wolfsburg west sells the rollers and other parts
for the rag tops. Try The Samba.com for a front bow.

Mario
Vintage Werks resto

On Oct 10, 4:25*pm, wrote:
> Hey everyone, its been years since I have posted but I am back into my
> VW hobby. Having had a '68 and a '63 bug I have ventured into the world
> of ragtops. I recently purchased an early '64 ragtop. Car is in great
> shape but when I was sold the car I was told the ragtop was missing the
> rollers and didnt seem to line up correctly to close entirely. I
> assumed it would need to be taken apart and reinstalled. Well I started
> working on it last night and after removing the headliner on the
> inside, I found a very odd latching mechanism, nothing like I see in
> the VW service manual. Almost homemade to a point. Also the rails seem
> to be a bit narrower and have plastic sliders instead of rollers in the
> rails. There is 2 sliding pieces, each with the 'floating' bow for the
> headliner. I also pulled the headliner back where the slot in the body
> is for the latch to fasten the top down and discovered that it looks to
> be the whole thing is fiberglass.
> Also when looking where the latch goes into the body there isnt
> anything to hook onto in order to hold it closed.
>
..
>
> Sorry for the rambling, I hope it makes sense.
>
> Please go tohttp://vwjason.blogspot.com/to see pics of what I am
> talking about..... *
>
..

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Hey everyone, its been years since I have posted but I am back into my
> VW hobby. Having had a '68 and a '63 bug I have ventured into the world
> of ragtops. I recently purchased an early '64 ragtop.........snip
>
>


........My recollection is that the last ragtop bug was the '63 year model.
Have you determined that the VIN is correct for '64? A true '64 with a sun
roof should have the later type which is all steel.....no fabric and no
fiberglass!

.......Either way, your pics look like a custom installed aftermarket device
to me.

The old school sunroof was available in other countries until '67 but I
doubt that this is an original setup.
"Tim Rogers" > wrote in message
...
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>>
>> Hey everyone, its been years since I have posted but I am back into my
>> VW hobby. Having had a '68 and a '63 bug I have ventured into the world
>> of ragtops. I recently purchased an early '64 ragtop.........snip
>>
>>
>
>
> .......My recollection is that the last ragtop bug was the '63 year model.
> Have you determined that the VIN is correct for '64? A true '64 with a sun
> roof should have the later type which is all steel.....no fabric and no
> fiberglass!
>
> ......Either way, your pics look like a custom installed aftermarket
> device to me.
>



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