Seventy-something and sunny and not too humid in Broad Ripple today after what seemed a week of solid overcast and rain, and so I dropped the top on the Zed Drei to run errands this morning.
At one point on my rounds I found myself sitting at an intersection next to a 911 Cabrio buttoned up like a Sherman during an artillery barrage, and I thought to myself "Y'know, I would be flat-out embarrassed to be seen driving with the top up on a day like today."
I mean, I have done so in the past for one reason or another, but I really did feel a little embarrassed by it, and I'd find myself making excuses to people for why the lid was up on the roadster... I have to go on the freeway. There's stuff in the passenger seat I don't want blowing around. Things like that.
I mean, there are starving children in India who have to drive hardtops. Show some appreciation for what you have: Lower your roof!
Let the comments about you driving with your top down begin in 3... 2... 1...
ReplyDeleteThe only thing worse is if someone has the top down and the windows up.
ReplyDeleteThe top is ALWAYS down on the GoldWing.
ReplyDeleteCan I make it an electric-powered motorcycle if I put a wind-turbine on the pillion behind me?
Soooo, a cabriolet simply with the top up and windows up is "buttoned up like a Sherman"? I armor is thinner up top, but nylon?
ReplyDeleteBesides, if it was a 911, wouldn't be "buttoned up like a Tiger" or "a Panzer" or something?
See that's why I'd never own a drop-top.
ReplyDeleteWell one is the loss of frame rigidity from the docking of the roof.
But the other is in New England the weather is always threatening to suck ass, much like a New England house with a pool...its a waste because you'll maybe use it one or two months out of the whole year!
Why bother!
I wished my 69 911 was a drop top many times. No a/c by the way. Although i had owned three converts previously & ran top down quite often.
ReplyDeleteRan around a bit in the sploder with the sunroof and all windows open, whoch is as close as I can get. A shame to waste days like this, don't get too many in these parts.
ReplyDeleteI ride around in my Jeep, "buttoned up like a Sherman," for one simple reason. It takes two people 15 minutes to take the top down & another 15 to put it back up!
ReplyDeleteBut, I DO have A/C & it feels soooooooo good during our triple digit summers!
Ulises from CA
P.S.
@North
You naughty man! :-)
Don't worry about the starving kids in India, all the bullock-carts I saw there were rag-tops. Flick that whip-stick. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe only starving kids I worry about are the ones that'll be pulling my rickshaw around after work. Hopefully they've bathed this time around. You think sitting behind a horse for a couple of hours is bad, try a gaggle of rounded-up street urchins. Horrid!
ReplyDeleteAt least I've got spinners, ground effect lights and hydraulics on my rickshaw now. It's important to prioritize your transportation expenses.
I put the top down on a rental car in Missouri at the local Wal-Mart parking lot.
ReplyDeleteThree cars collided (none of them with me).
If its a Porshe, it is Buttoned up like an "Elefant".
Somebody has to take one for the rain gods. If everyone dropped their top at the first sign of sun, the skies would be guaranteed to open up on you.
ReplyDeleteThat's the reason I don't wash my car - helping out all the folks with their shiny clean cars.
The novelty of a convertible wore off (along with most of my exposed skin) following a trip from Dallas to Houston in a friend's VeeDub Cabriolet.
ReplyDeleteThey ought to have a gizmo that pops up a bottle of sunscreen at the same time you retract the roof...
Not a big fan of top-down travel on the interstates.
ReplyDeleteA two-seat roadster with the top down on the superslab is like an unlimited hydroplane in a 1-acre farm pond: Sure, you can do it, but it's kinda missin' the point. ;)
Top down around Maui is ok because the limit is 35 or less most places, but the drive up the west side gets a bit frazzling after a few trips to La Perouse. I imagine the superslab is no better than on a bike.
ReplyDelete...buttoned up like a Sherman during an artillery barrage...
ReplyDeleteFor some reason this reminded me of one of my favorite Mauldins: "Able Fox Five to Able Fox. I got a target but ya gotta be patient."
Okay, so it was a Sturmgeschutz in the cartoon....
I love the targa top off on the Vette so much I sometimes wonder why I didn't get a convertible.
ReplyDeleteI also am baffled on perfectly wonderful days why more people have their tops up.
Didn't they buy a convertible for a reason?
Cars have tops for the same reason houses have roofs, and I want one on all of mine. Isolation from nature suits me just fine at this point in my life.
ReplyDeleteInterstates...?
ReplyDeletedo they all have a speed limit, or is it a funny road like in Germany? No speed limit on the autobahn.
That's ... exciting, I think. Unless you have a low powered car..
My first thought was "he's been in-theater for a while, and knows the intersection is a registered target..."
ReplyDelete