Value of 356A Cabriolet Removable Hardtop

[Paul Giganti]

My '59 356A Cab came with a removable Porsche hardtop. I find that I never use it so I'm thinking about selling it (keeping the car!) and just relying on the standard convertible top. I have no idea what these are worth or how to go about selling one. Mine is in good original condition. It's painted silver, but I'm not sure if that's original paint or not. Paint is in good condition, but at least 27 years old. Rubber seals between car and around windows seem to be in good condition as are the side windows themselves, though I've never had it on the car in a rainstorm.

Just wondering what it might be worth and advice on how to sell it. If anyone thinks there are better reasons to keep it rather than sell it, love to hear those comments as well.

[Adam Wright]

I would keep it, they aren't worth much, and it goes with your car. I wish they were worth more, I've got a bunch...

[Doug McDonnell]

Or you could put it on bAT and see if another fool will give you 6K for it: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1961-porsche-356b-6/

[Thomas Tuccillo]

paul also have an a cab. with orig. h.t. always good to keep, if orig to cab. + it's a good selling pt. restored mine last yr.[$7k] by jon paterek. I'm told unrestored, worth is between$1500 and $2500.. doesn't cost u to keep it! tom tuccillo

[Jay Wiener]

The soft top frame (did not come with the cars with removable hardtop), if you can find one is $7500- $10,000. Sadly the hardtop is maybe $1,000 and will cost more to ship. They make great art pieces in the living room or something to hang from the garage and hit your head on it in the garage.

[Paul Giganti]

It appears these removable hard tops are not worth much. I guess I'll find a way to store it and sell it with the car if and when I decide to do that at some point in my life. Ironically it seems that if I was to sell the Cab with the removable hard top on, but WITHOUT the soft top, I could make more money selling the soft top and frame separately!

[Jim Alton]

While the removable hardtop--if original to your car--will be worth its absolute most associated with the car it came with, attempting to sell the car without the [non-original] soft top would hurt its value, too.

Back when people drove this cars in the winter, salt be damned, having the hardtop made sense. Today, everybody (well, almost everybody) wants the soft top.

In principle, cars might have come with both. I downloaded this somewhere along the line:

From somewhere on 356 Talk

It shows a hard top option for soft top cars and a soft top option for hard top cars. Soft top cars came with leather seats--hardtops had standard leatherette.

You might want to invest in a Reutter "Certificate of Authenticity" which should include the original Verdeck numbers (I think). See:

1. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44796
2. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44570&hilit=reutter+certificate
3. http://goodiestore.porsche356registry.o ... =4&t=45864

By the way, it looks like reproduction soft tops are available (see http://www.sierramadrecollection.com/35 ... arts-c825/) but the all-up cost will probably be around $10,000.

[Paul Giganti]

My car came with the removable hardtop firmly bolted on when I bought it, and NO soft top. I don't know if it ever had the soft top. However, back when I bought it about 20 years ago, I found a soft top frame for sale and bought it for $700. I guess the frame's value has increased considerably! I only need to cloth top and head liner; I have the bows. Though I removed the hard top immediately upon buying the car, I never got around to installing the soft top. However I've had a lot of fun driving it around like an open bathtub. Someday soon I'll get the cloth and headliner to install the soft top.

[Jim Alton]

If it's any help, here's something else I downloaded:

One thing that may not be currently reproduced is the side cover which covers the hinges on the soft top.

[Adam Wright]

This car was one owner, very original, and hardtop only.

[Paul Giganti]

Jim Alton sent me instructions for installing a removable hard top. I took those files and created a multipage PDF file, which I've tried to attach to this message. Thanks Jim.

InstallingARemovableHardTop.pdf

(373.81 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

[William Block]

I'll have a very nice 356C cab fabric (small slit in very bottom) and new headliner at the Stoddard swap meet Saturday $800.00.
bill block