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Just rec'd this e-mail from Tigga at Autostyle-Solution: 'I am meeting with a potential U.S. importer at the end of March at the Donnington Show in England. After the meeting, further info will be available.'
Gull-Wing Update
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Derek- a previous post noted the Middlemoor Mouldings top may leak (I believe) but that Tigga's does better. Perhaps the info was from SELOC?
--if someone's registered on SELOC could they do a "gullwing comparison" search?--
My main concerns would be: cost, weight, and leakage.
--if someone's registered on SELOC could they do a "gullwing comparison" search?--
My main concerns would be: cost, weight, and leakage.
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Below is a 'Nov. 03' e-mail from Tigga at Autostyle-Solutions that explains the installment, removal, leak-proof-ness, and 'fold-up' for storage:
"Our T-Bar roof is fitted by unbolting the roll bar cover that is on the Elise and then bolting our T-Bar centre 'T' section into the original Lotus mounts. This whole
process should take about 30 minutes. Once the 'T' section is fitted, the panels take less than a minute each to fit. Both
panels can be stored in the boot (trunk).
Any Lotus paint color can be matched exactly by supplying us with the paint code of your Elise. We cannot guarantee against leaking. However, our T-Bar roof went thru over 18 months of developing and testing including extensive testing of different types of seals around the 'T' section and along the top of the windows. Our roof is as leak- proof as a removable roof can be. Our T-Bar roof also incorporates rain gutters along the sides as an additional preventative measure.
"Our T-Bar roof is fitted by unbolting the roll bar cover that is on the Elise and then bolting our T-Bar centre 'T' section into the original Lotus mounts. This whole
process should take about 30 minutes. Once the 'T' section is fitted, the panels take less than a minute each to fit. Both
panels can be stored in the boot (trunk).
Any Lotus paint color can be matched exactly by supplying us with the paint code of your Elise. We cannot guarantee against leaking. However, our T-Bar roof went thru over 18 months of developing and testing including extensive testing of different types of seals around the 'T' section and along the top of the windows. Our roof is as leak- proof as a removable roof can be. Our T-Bar roof also incorporates rain gutters along the sides as an additional preventative measure.
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Price is my biggest concern! Otherwise, a gull-wing style top will be sweet!
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Probably will cost around $3,500 USD......if the damn thing doesn't keep dropping in value!Modern Wedgie said:
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How easy is it to remove the center piece and bring it back to stock? Or can one still use the soft top w/o removing the center piece? This might be useful if one was taking a road trip and would like the boot space, but would still need to have a top just in case.
The USD will keep dropping in value. The government is preventing the release of January and Frbruary PPI numbers. I guess the numbers point to inflation.Ridgemanron said:
I don't know: Time to drop the price of the gull-wing to a price that American consumers can afford. I say $1500 matching the Lotus offering plus another 10% group buy discount.
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Gullwing Price
I definitely want the gullwing roof. First/best option would be to have it painted and installed at the factory, but that doesn't look like a near thing. As for the price, it wouldn't be reasonable to expect a roof with hinged, removeable 'wings', along with the replacement roll bar cover/panel, etc. to be the same price as the simple one-piece factory unit. I would also guess that the factory isn't too keen on offering it, since their own roof is probably not a huge volume item.
I definitely want the gullwing roof. First/best option would be to have it painted and installed at the factory, but that doesn't look like a near thing. As for the price, it wouldn't be reasonable to expect a roof with hinged, removeable 'wings', along with the replacement roll bar cover/panel, etc. to be the same price as the simple one-piece factory unit. I would also guess that the factory isn't too keen on offering it, since their own roof is probably not a huge volume item.
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I agree completely. Needs to be under 2 G's and stowable for sure in the 'Federal boot'. Do this, and there will be a lot of orders I predict.agent.5 said:
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$3500 is just way too much money for what it is, hell that's essentially the track package and touing pack!
Alot has to do with the exchange rate, but still too expensive.
I can't imagine using the plain hardtop myself, fabric top is all I'll need.
CHris
Alot has to do with the exchange rate, but still too expensive.
I can't imagine using the plain hardtop myself, fabric top is all I'll need.
CHris
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I know but if the thing wasn't such a bitch to perfect, Lotus would have done it. Just the fact that they didn't, tells me a lot about the intracacies that must be involved in itszvezdah1 said:
going from concept to reality.
Without having seen the product, this probably is less than fair of me to say... but as a mechanical engineer, I think that the $3,500 price tag is obscene.
Let's put this in perspective: $3,500 would pay for 1/4 of a brand new 2004 Honda Civic DX. So, you could have 4 gull-wing tops, or one brand new Honda for a winter car.
The $3,500 just seems way out of line.
Thomas
Let's put this in perspective: $3,500 would pay for 1/4 of a brand new 2004 Honda Civic DX. So, you could have 4 gull-wing tops, or one brand new Honda for a winter car.
The $3,500 just seems way out of line.
Thomas
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I would / will jump in on a group buy in a heartbeat, if the cost were more in line. $2k US seems to be the ceiling, especially if they're selling to a prepaid group.
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I would love to have a gullwing hard top for my elise, but I could not bring myself to pay that price for it. I had the entire rear end of my montero sport replaced for only $3000 - and it is WAAY more intricate in parts than that gullwing top is. I will also be driving my elise as my daily driver. It tends to rain a good bit down here in GA, so I would hope that the top didn't leak. Hell, it had better not leak for a tag of $3,500! I have time to decide on the top though, since I wont be getting the car for about a year.
-Whit
-Whit
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