By Ryan
The roofs of most cars on road are integrated with the
car boy, but some sports cars has convertible designs, it’s interesting for us
to know how it appears.
When the first
car was invented, it has no roof top, later people find they need something
overhead so that they won’t get wet when it’s raining. Therefore, people
started to add roofs on the cars. But problems come again: although people
won’t be worry about getting wet on rainy days, someone miss the fresh air and
sunshine when driving outside on sunny days. So designers and engineers started
to learn how to make folded roof top on the car. The first type of folded roof
is made of textile, which is soft and relatively easy to store in the trunk.
The first car with textile roof: Renault
Voiturette type B
Rigid removable hardtops, many of which store in a car's trunk, have
been around at least since the 1950s. These offer generally superior
weatherproofing, soundproofing, and durability to fabric-based tops, some with
integrated rear window defrosters and windscreens. Many of the rigidity
concerns of a standard convertible are present, even with the roof attached.
However weatherproofing, climate control, and cabin security are improved.
In 1922, American Ben P. Ellerbeck created a manually
operated retractable hardtop prototype— for a Hudson coupe that never went into
production. After the World War II, Ford has the world first vehicle with
retractable hardtop—Fairlane 500 Skyliner, It has a complex set of electric
device and takes about 40 seconds to open or close the roof top.（Picture on the left is One example of detachable hardtop: 1st generation Ford Thunderbird）
By 2006, advances in electronics, hydraulics, and weatherproofing One materials had made the modern retractable hardtop increasingly popular. Pros
and cons include ease, enclosed
car quality climate control with the top up, improved crash resistance, and
passenger compartment storage security on the plus side and increased
mechanical complexity and expense and, more often than not, reduced luggage
capacity on the minus.
From the development of convertible cars, we can see the
cars’ design changes with people’s need and taste, and the technologies
involved are riper. Although there are limits in materials, humans inspirations
are unlimited, what’s the convertible in future looks like? Probably they will
beyond our imagination.
Sources:
Convertible - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Images
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