Steel sunroofs

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Brett Johnson
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Steel sunroofs

#1 Post by Brett Johnson »

According to Conradt, Golde sliding steel sunroofs were first installed in June 1954. There are two distinctly different mechanisms. I am interested in color detail photos of both. I have never seen either one with any trace of the original headliner. My 54205 has the later version and while I know how it works, I don't know how the interior perimeter was originally configured. When purchased it was filled in with fiberglass resin.
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Eric Meyer
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Re: Steel sunroofs

#2 Post by Eric Meyer »

Here's a shot of a 54 car's sunroof slider area. This is the Golde "painted slider rail" style... as differentiated from the "polished aluminum slider rail" style. Note how the paint along the slider edge is scraping... this is because they needed to increase the felt padding of the clamp and fully release the latch prior to moving the sunroof.

Tragically... this car was a total loss in the Santa Barbara fires.
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Last edited by Eric Meyer on Thu Dec 27, 2018 4:06 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Steel sunroofs

#3 Post by Eric Meyer »

here's a few detail shots of an original V sunroof "painted slider rail" clip I found at a swap meet... Lots of felt (and or leather) buffers everywhere to keep the painted bits from scraping one another.
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Last edited by Eric Meyer on Thu Dec 27, 2018 3:58 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Eric Meyer
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Re: Steel sunroofs

#4 Post by Eric Meyer »

a few more shots of the original "painted slider rail" V sunroof clip:
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Last edited by Eric Meyer on Thu Dec 27, 2018 3:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Eric Meyer
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Re: Steel sunroofs

#5 Post by Eric Meyer »

more misc vintage "painted slider rail" V sunroof mechanism bits... for detail of headliner wrap and location misc... (note this white headliner is NOT correct... its just some old vw material a previous owner used somewhere along the line... probably in an effort to, cough, update, cough.

the last three shots are of 1955 Continental... chassis 53821. a "painted slider rail" sunroof opening.

SPECIAL NOTE... all my photos in these posts are ALL of what I'll call the "painted" V sunroof slider mechanism type . This is QUITE different than the "polished aluminum" V sunroof slider mechanism" versions. That "polished aluminum" mechanism version is more like the later sunroofs in the 356 A cars.
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Last edited by Eric Meyer on Thu Dec 27, 2018 4:04 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Eric Meyer
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Re: Steel sunroofs

#6 Post by Eric Meyer »

sunroof drains... 1954 car in the engine compartment... with metal tabs spot welded in to hold tubing... and along interior behind dash below A pillars...

note how the tubing exits the engine compartment... via hole between the inner and outer body structure at lower edges of decklid opening....
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Brett Johnson
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Re: Steel sunroofs

#7 Post by Brett Johnson »

Eric, are you saying that the polished one came after the painted one or that it was more like the 356A ones, but came before? I have seen only one of what I assume was the polished style on a '54 car and since my 54205 is a really late 356 and has the painted version, I assumed it was an evolutionary change. I am still interested in the way the original cloth headliner was fit around the perimeter of the opening on both types and to see what the slider track looks like on the polished one, preferably installed on the car.
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Eric Meyer
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Re: Steel sunroofs

#8 Post by Eric Meyer »

Brett Johnson wrote:Eric, are you saying that the polished one came after the painted one or that it was more like the 356A ones, but came before? I have seen only one of what I assume was the polished style on a '54 car and since my 54205 is a really late 356 and has the painted version, I assumed it was an evolutionary change. I am still interested in the way the original cloth headliner was fit around the perimeter of the opening on both types and to see what the slider track looks like on the polished one, preferably installed on the car.
Brett, I’m not sure if one style predated the other... I just know there are two styles. One of them is more like the A style with aluminum sliders and one has painted sliders. I think the only method to ascertain whether one is early the other late would be to do a forum questionnaire asking v sunroof folks to list which type they have and their chassis numbers.

As to the headliner detail you’re looking for... unfortunately I don’t have any more info for you. I’ve sent all my v sunroof shots to this thread just so others searching for v sunroof details might be able to view them upon a site search.

Eric

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