WIND IN HER HAIR: Ronny Hochstetler drives her 2003 Ford Thunderbird convertible around Garden of the Gods rock formation in Colorado recently.
	Photos by DAVID BITTON/Freedom News Service

A top-down mentality

 

Convertible drivers enjoy freedom on four wheels

By CAROL McGRAW, Freedom News Service

They say falling for a convertible is like falling in love with someone your mom didn’t like: the rebel who wore a ducktail and leather jacket and rode a Harley; the bad girl in junior high who smoked in the school restroom and wore too much makeup.

Perhaps that explains the enduring appeal of the convertible — even in climates where the weather doesn’t always cooperate with the desire to go topless. It’s the devil-may-care symbol of everything that is not a sedate white minivan: sex appeal, in-your-face glamour, a touch of danger.

“Driving a convertible does something to your mental state for the better,” says Ronny Hochstetler, 64, of Colorado Springs, Colo., who has a 2003 Thunderbird with portholes like the classic 1956 version she adored as a teenager.

“I can’t quite explain it. It’s like riding a motorcycle. It’s freedom out there in the air.”
Though only about 1 to 2 percent of auto sales in the U.S. are convertibles, according to the marketing research company J.D. Power & Associates, their buyers are a dedicated bunch.

And there’s a good chance they’re members of the baby boom generation or older. Car clubs report that older Americans — with kids out of the house, tuitions paid and weekends free — are buying cool cars and fixing up old ones that remind them of their past.

TOP RIDES Convertible sales are an estimated 2 percent of the 13 million vehicles sold each year in the United States, according to California-based J.D. Power & Associates, a marketing-research firm. The cars sell best in the Northeast and West and worst in the Midwest. Here are the hottest convertibles, according to the firm, based on how quickly they turned over at dealerships in early 2007 • BMW 3 Series • Volvo C70 • Chrysler Crossfire • Saturn Sky • Volkswagen Eos • BMW 6 Series • Pontiac Solstice • Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class • MINI Cooper • Toyota Solara (spinoff of the Toyota Camry)

Many will go to any lengths, it seems, to own one. Hochstetler’s husband, Bob, sure did. Several years ago, she saw an ad for a restored one, but it cost $60,000.

“I told Bob I didn’t want a car I would have to be a nursemaid to, and have to drive 20 miles an hour,” she says.

Being a romantic at heart, Bob decided three years ago that a Thunderbird would be the perfect 44th-anniversary gift for Ronny. He had his friends keep a lookout for a convertible in red or black — her favorite colors.

Finally he heard about a 2003 model with only 900 miles on it at a used-car lot in Salida, Colo. A rancher had turned it in because it didn’t fit his lifestyle. Bob — who never makes a decision quickly, according to his wife — had only 30 minutes to say yes because someone else was interested.

He hid the car at a nephew’s house until the big day. Then he arranged to rent one of the earliest convertibles — a horse and buggy — to pick them up for the anniversary dinner, where the real convertible gift was parked. Bob casually pointed out the car to her. While she was enviously admiring it, he produced the keys.

“I cried, he cried,” Ronny recalls.

She admits that she keeps the top on in the winter. But come spring and summer, she tools around town with the top down. She doesn’t mind the occasional drenching.
“You get where you can put the top on pretty fast.”

BORN FREE: Convertible has a long history, dating back to the first cars  “All cars were open at first, having evolved from horse and buggies,” says John Tuthill of Golden, Colo., a car collector and historian. Here is some convertible history from Tuthill: In the early 1900s, the first cars had curtains and folding tops and two doors. One type, the roadster, had only front seats, a folding top, and side curtains that snapped on. Touring cars, introduced at the same time as roadsters, were four-door convertibles with front and back seats, and were popular until the 1930s. These cars evolved into four-door convertible sedans, which were never very popular. Convertible coupes evolved in the late 1920s. They had window glass in the two doors but no back seats. In the late 1930s, they became the first convertibles to have power-driven tops. Back seats were added in the 1940s. The Chrysler Town and Country convertible and Ford Sportsman had wooden sides and were popular after World War II. They had two doors and a soft top. In the 1950s, Ford developed an automatic retractable, all-steel top that folded into the trunk. Thunderbirds also had hard tops that lifted off and a folding soft top that drivers put up like a tent. Mustang convertibles became the must-have car in the 1960s. In 1976, the Cadillac Eldorado was advertised as the last convertible in America. Domestic convertibles all but disappeared because of costs and safety concerns. In the 1980s, Lee Iacoca, chief executive officer of Chrysler, started a convertible renaissance with the Chrysler LeBaron. Seeing its success, other car companies followed suit. Addressing safety concerns, today’s convertibles, such as the Volvo C70, Volkswagen Eos and Mercedes-Benz models, have equipment that senses potential rollovers and lifts up hidden protective steel beams.

One boomer, 59-year-old John Shady, found his 1953 Chevy Bel Air soft-top sitting forlornly amid rusted old tractors and other farm equipment in a field 140 miles southeast of Pueblo, Colo. One of his friends, who was dove hunting, was the first to spy it and took Shady to the spot on a dirt road. The car was rusted, and the farmer told them it had been sitting there for 25 years, since its engine blew.

“I bought it real cheap,” Shady says.

It took him six years to restore it; now it’s worth about $23,000, he estimates.

Shady, who belongs to The Lonely Knights, a custom and nostalgic rods club, says the old convertibles are becoming wildly popular. His car, painted turquoise and white with lots of chrome, has won restoration awards and gets a lot of attention on the road.
He says he can’t adequately put in words why he loves convertibles.

“I guess you could say I like to get sunburned and rained on.”

Shady’s partner, Lois Foushee, sometimes drives the Chevy and has had only one bad-weather encounter. In January 2006, she had to run an errand. The top was down and she was leery about taking the car. “John told me, ‘Go ahead; the weather is OK.’ Well, I got soaked.”

John felt so guilty, he toweled the car off for her, she adds.

But weather has not kept her from driving it year-round, albeit with the top up when needed.

“It’s fun and everyone gives you a thumbs up,” she says.