My 1958 Mk I has a canvas sun roof.
Is there a special name for this type of sun roof?
Someone told me that these could be special ordered from the
factory which sent the car out to a supplier who installed it,
returning the car to the factory for final finishing. Is this correct?
How rare are these sun roofs? How many Mk i’s had them or
what percentage of the Mk I’s had them.
I suppose that they should add something to the value of the car.
Any idea of roughly how much this might be?
As far as I know the later Mark 2 folding roofs were generally either Golde, or Webasto, and they were not installed at Browns Lane.
If yours is a Webasto, then you’re in luck. R&S is still making them new, and can supply new parts, including pre sewn covers in the material of your choice.
I bought a full new folding roof kit for my S-Type, but my bodyman refused to install it, and threatened me with violence if I installed it myself. Too bad he hadn’t made his feelings known before I glued the wooden frame together. If anyone needs a complete new folding roof, and is close enough that they can pick up the already assembled frame, give me a bell.
I did not say that they were installed at the factory.
I said that a customer could specify a folding roof.
Then the factory would send the car out to another shop
to do this. The car would be sent back to the factory
for final work and then sent on to the customer.
Is this correct? Or did the customer have the folding
roof installed after he purchased the car and so if had no
connection to the factory whatsoever?
By the way, my car is a Mk I not Mk II.
I don’t know for certain. I believe they were installed by the (importing) dealer in most cases, but I’m sure that the factory arranged to have them installed in cases where the car was going to some place where it might be a problem to find an installer, and there will certainly have been customers who organized it for themselves.
Have you got a picture of your roof? The handle is enough to identify a Webasto.
Here are some pictures of the Webasto kit as R&S sells them.
Handle:
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the outer cloth, but it came pre sewn and ready to fit.
Doing a Search of Webasto on the Saloons forum I got 50 hits including some from Mark 1 owners.
I believe we came to the conclusion that Jaguar sent finished cars down the road to Webasto for these installations.
Golde was another brand name mentioned.
Our MK2 is equipped with a Golde Continental Power Sun Roof. It’s a well engineered installation. The ‘factory’ manual sliding sunroof that could be ordered directly from Jaguar is not nearly as well executed.
We absolutely LOVE having a sunroof in our MK2.
By far the nicest execution I have ever seen. Nice, Brian!
Lin
Brian really does have a beautifully built sunroof.
My folding cloth sunroof is indeed a Webasto.
The handle to open it has the following engravings:
TUDOR WEBASTO RIVIERA SUNROOF.
Made In England.
I looked through Bob Reilly’s search results about Webasto.
It appeared to me that about 1/2 thought that they were nice
modifications and about 1/2 thought that they were bad.
I live in northern New Mexica on a high desert at about 7,000’.
Summers are somewhat but not really hot. Even though I have
plugged many holes in the engine compartment, the engine
finds a way to make the car interior hot. The sunroof does
help cool the car.
Bye the way, I think that mine is the only Mk I in New Mexico,
and I wonder how far away is the next Mk I with a sunroof.
