Rolls Royce Corniche and Bentley Continental convertible top failures

 

A fine 20,000 Series Corniche convertible from 1987  (C) JE Robison

Convertible tops on the Corniche-era cars tend to be fairly reliable.  They usually wear out, rather than fail catastrophically.  Usually.

There is one issue that can lead to sudden and disastrous failure, and extensive damage to the car.  That is separation of the convertible top from the windshield header bar while the car is moving at highway speed. 

If that happens the force of the wind will almost certainly blow the top fabric out of the frame, and the metal top frame will be badly deformed or destroyed.  With parts going out of production this may make the car a total loss.

How does this happen, you ask?  It comes about when the header bar latches break, and they can break without any warning.  That’s the purpose of this post – to encourage you to check your latches and change them if they show signs of failure.

Look at the photo below.  It’s a typical 1980s convertible, and the latch looks pretty normal, right?  Look closer – it’s not “normal.”

The photos below show the latch base with the lever removed.  As you can see the cast base is cracked and moments away from breaking.  The thing is, you would never have seen this defect unless you pulled the latch up and made a point to look under.  We do that on every Corniche we get for service now, and I suggest you do the same.

If you find cracks like these the only safe action is to replace the latch.  OEM latches were $3,000 when they went out of production but Albers sells a reproduction latch for under $1,000 as of summer 2015.  We are using those with good success.

A reproduction header bar latch (c) JE Robison Service

When you fit the latch don’t forget to look at the header bar seal – a common source of water leakage.

This post applies to 1967-on Shadow drop heads, and Rolls-Royce Corniche and Bentley Continental drop heads with header latches.

(c) 2015 John Elder Robison

John Elder Robison is the general manager of J E Robison Service Company, celebrating 30 years of independent Rolls-Royce and Bentley restoration and repair specialists in Springfield, Massachusetts.  John is a longtime technical consultant to the RROC and other car clubs, and he’s owned and restored many fine vehicles.  Find him online at www.robisonservice.com or in the real world at 413-785-1665

Reading this article will make you smarter, especially when it comes to car stuff.  So it's good for you.  But don't take that too far - printing and eating it will probably make you sick.

Trouble with tops - 2007-2011 Bentley Continental GTC convertibles

2007 Bentley Continental GTC at Robison Service

Over the years, Robison Service has acquired a reputation for knowing convertible tops on Rolls Royce and Bentley cars.  As a result, we see cars with all manner of problems.  Intellectually challenging as that may be, it sometimes makes me long for the days when service was simple and the only convertible top problems we saw were from something obvious, like vandalism.

This week we saw out first failure of a new Continental GTC top mechanism.  This car came in with an opening problem, and damage to the outer fabric.  The owner thought he needed a new outer skin and some straps he’d seen broken.  He’d done some research online and found people talking about strap breakage, and the holes in his outer skin made that part of the problem self-evident.

However, as is often the case, we found more to the story.  When we cycled the top we saw the rear edge of the top (which folds up) was scraping the edge of the swing-up boot.  This had been going on long enough to scuff the paint from the boot and cut the fabric bead of the top right through to the metal.  In addition, the top was folding wrong, and there were several patched holes to the left of the rear window. 

“The dealer I bought it from must have done that,” the owner explained.  He told me he’d assumed the car would need a top, and he’d budgeted $3-4,000 to make the change. 

When we looked closer, we saw that one of the inner securing straps was broken, and the cables and headliner were beginning to unravel on the left side.  It was cleat that something had gone wrong on the left side of the top.  It looks like the straps (which keep the top in place as it folds) had ripped away from the top, which left the top bunch up and tangle in the bows.  We’ve seen that happen on Azure cars, and it often leads to big trouble there, as the tangled fabric causes the bows to bend, and the now-misaligned top will never work smoothly no matter how you adjust it.

Indeed, when we made some measurements, we found the two rear bows were slightly out of alignment or bent.  The way Bentley engineers designed this system it does not take much misalignment to cause a collision between top and boot, with the virtual assurance of additional trouble.

Looking at the workshop manual, it appears the only reliable way to fix this problem is to install a new top assembly, at a cost of $14,500 plus installation.  Looking online, I see there are aftermarket suppliers offering the Haartz top skins alone for $2,800.  However, a skin alone won’t fix this situation.  And once you get into replacing the pad, liner, and inner bow pieces the costs quickly approach that of a complete assembly.

The owner of this car looked at three other similar Bentleys in Florida, and saw the same damage on each.   That makes me wonder if this is a designed-in problem that will plague every Bentley convertible, or if these are just four unlucky people.

So here’s my question:  How many Bentley GTC owners have experienced convertible top trouble?  What was done to fix it, and how long has the repair lasted?  

John Elder Robison

About John:

John Robison is the founder of J E Robison Service Co of Springfield, MA. His company specializes in the repair and restoration of Rolls Royce and Bentley motorcars.  John is also known as an author and advocate for people with autism and neurological differences.  His books include Look Me in the Eye, Be Different, and Raising Cubby. John has also written numerous articles on Rolls Royce service and repair, and he’s a frequent contributor to the RROC technical forums. He’s always available to advise owners about the care and feeding of their fine motorcars.  www.robisonservice.com  413-785-1665