Photograph Courtesy Mazda • Illustration by Colin Wood
Mazda, Honda, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce–virtually every company that builds cars has offered a convertible at some point in its history. But can you name a car company, big or small, that never made a convertible–and probably should have?
And to define our terms, "convertible" includes cars with Targa (and Targa-style) tops, barchettas, landaulets, drop-head coupes, roadsters, spiders, and any other car that doesn't feature a fixed hardtop roof.
I tried to get smart and started googling odd balls like Tatra, but any company that existed pre WWI for certain, and effectivly pre WWII pretty much had to have a convertible as closed cars weren't originally the norm.
Best I've come up with so far is Alpine, as in the small French (now sub brand) of Renault, not the models from Talbot, Sunbeam etc.
Delorean and Bricklin for sure. FSO Warszawa maybe? Tiny ones line ErAZ, Bulgaralpine. David Brown Automotive, Vector.
Has Subaru offered a factory convertible?
There must be Chinese DM OEMs who qualify, but the brands are so interrelated it might be hard to make the case.
paddygarcia said:Has Subaru offered a factory convertible?
Sort of. The 360 had a removable canvas roof with sedan sides.
Beyond the occasional one-miss-wonders, it looks like Lamborghini built a few targa-roof cars but nothing you could completely put the top down on.
Rivian. They have cars on the road now, so I'm counting them.
Scion. Not sure if we can count them different from Toyota or not.
Oh, a few more I just thought of:
mtn said:Oh, a few more I just thought of:
- Ram. Are they different than Dodge?
- Hyundai. I don't think they've had one anywhere at any time, though I could be wrong. Definitely not in the US. Kia did have a Sportage convertible, as well as a rebadged Lotus Elan, so they're out.
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RAM is different from Dodge but I'm not sure that they should produce a convertible.
Actually, now that I've typed that I think a ragtop, short bed 1500 with the Power Wagon package would be pretty cool.
APEowner said:RAM is different from Dodge but I'm not sure that they should produce a convertible.
If we're going to wade into that particular gray area, this has only been true since 2010 and that was simply a spinoff of Dodge's truck lineup. So I'd argue that any Dodge truck prior to 2010 would by today's standards be a "Ram" brand vehicle... Thus 1989-1991 Dodge (Ram) Dakota Convertible.
Alpine sold rather pretty cabrio versions of the A108 and maybe A110;
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Well damn!
APEowner said:Actually, now that I've typed that I think a ragtop, short bed 1500 with the Power Wagon package would be pretty cool.
Isn't that just a Gladiator?
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