It's Convertible Season!

The first bit of warm weather has hit the Okanagan! Joggers are wearing shorts and t-shirts, cyclists no longer look like refugees from Siberia and the convertibles are starting to return to our streets. The latter is most assuredly the most reliable sign that winter's over.
Nowadays, a car with a folding or retracting top is considered the top of the line. Something you buy to show you've had a bit of success and don't always have to be completely practical with your money. This wasn't always the case.
In the 1920's and 30's some of the cheapest cars were convertibles. But back then they were more often called a roadster or a touring car. Most didn't have roll up windows, but there were side curtains one could install to keep out some of the wet if the weather took a turn for the worse. To make matters worse, even a heater was an extra on many cars including the Ford Model A.
My dad, who we always called Pop, said he had bought the third Model A roadster sold in good old Winnipeg. He would have been just twenty or twenty-one years old at the time, probably had just started working an entry level job with the Canadian National Railway. With not much money to throw around, I can imagine him being able to scrape together enough cash to cover just the bare-bones $385.00 purchase price. I'll bet his car had no heater and likely no side curtains either! Can you imagine a better way to really experience a Winnipeg winter?
Yes the convertible has come up a long way from Pop's roadster. Now they have backdraft barriers that come up behind the seats to keep the wind buffeting to a minimum. Mercedes even has "air cap" a series of deflectors on the top of the windshield that can be raised to direct airflow over the occupants heads. In their brochure they describe it as follows, "The air deflector consists of a total of 211 individual components and 32 different materials. 14 different coatings and surface finishes are employed to afford protection from environmental influences. Mercedes-Benz has registered 20 patents for the AIRCAP®." That's a lot stuff to keep from mussing your pompadour.
Compared to their closed counterparts, convertibles have security issues, weigh more and in most cases COST more. But there's no denying that on a warm spring day, driving a good open car with your "significant other" at your side, is worth the price of admission.