Choping, chaneling, and other such offenses to a car??

[JimIsbell]

I know its a monocoqe construction so the body is the frame, but has anyone considered what it would take to beef it up so the top could be cut off to make a roadster???

Yes, I know, the mileage would suffer, maybe not so much with a convertible top, but just think what a great looking car it would be ! Also, you could retain the old top as a hard top convertible so it could be replaced in the winter.

That would be worth a few miles per gallon just to look at it. And even with the lesser mileage it would still have better mileage than any other roadster in the world.

I dont think I would want it for my ONLY car, but for a second car...WOW.

Some of the weight to strengthen it could be compensated for by chucking the AC system which a roadster wouldnt need.

I think I will start looking through the junk yards for a rolled and totaled Insight !G

[02insight]

I had dreamed about a convertible insight too some time ago, since my last car was a convertible, but I realized it would be very very difficult to do it. But here are some photoshops I had done back then...

[Fl_Fyr_Fytr]

Hell ya!! Targa top it like a Sol!!!!

[02insight]

I think the problem is that the back end of the insight is too high to make it look good in any other configuration than a hatchback. The whole back end would have to be somewhat redone also to make it look right, like how I did in the bottom most photo.

[boogetyboogety]

Sighhhhh... as a long time 'verter, I would have loved to have the option of an open-air Insight. You're right about the lines and proportions, but you do give a hint of what could have been (and nice Photoshops, by the way)... but just imagine, had Honda diverted design, R&R, and manufacturing assets to include a 'vert model, it's quite possible they would have sold even fewer Insights...

Oh, and the probable Cd of not 0.25 would certainly have worked against the "mileage king" title (I wonder what it might rise to)... no telling what kind of buffeting you might have inside, although with the lovely lines of the Insight, I would guess it wouldn't be bad at all...

And apropos of nothing... the newest Bentley "Speed" 'vert claims 195mph capabilities even with the top down... now that's a scary ride... better Gorilla-glue that toupée on!

[ikhoudvanu199]

as i was driving and at work today, i was thinking about this thread

the only feasible idea i came up would be similar to the green insight photochop 02insight did

i was thinking of a t-top design, like a camaro...you could keep the spine running up the center of the roof and just take either side off...this keeps it(mostly) structurally sound, as well as keeping the lines of the hatchback

being a hatchback makes it difficult to make it any more of a convertible

look at all the other cars in the world...all the convertibles are sedan type with a trunk and most of the t-tops are hatchbacks

[02insight]

there were actually some convertible conversions done to the original Honda CRX, but even for those, they had to totally loose the hatchback and go with a sedan trunk look:

[JimIsbell]

I really like the first one best. The open two seater, i.e.roadster or as the Jaguar people call them OTS. No top at all and streamlined head rests.

Now, no one has addressed how I am going to put a frame under the thing. Or maybe beef up the bar behind the seat and put two fore and aft aluminum "I" beams on either side of the underbelly