Why cutting holes in vehicle can be scary !
Back in 1978 I worked for a Mitsubishi Main Dealer in Derby - at that time they were sold in the UK under the brand name of Colt. They were actually rebadged in the UK by the dealers for a number of reasons.
Mitsubishi had been imported under their own name back in the 1960's but there was no dealer network. Brand new Mitsubishi Cars were auctioned off at the docks where they found their way onto the forecourt of used car retailers. There was a Fina garage in Mickleover near Derby that had new Mitsubishi Cars for sale.
With a lack of spare parts the dock auctions stopped until Michael & Davis Orr formed Colt Car Company in 1974. The two Orr brothers had worked for the company that imported & distributed BMW's but that situation changed when BMW Germany took over the UK import franchise themselves. A move followed by Mercedes that used to be imported I think by by Thomas Tilling Group (that might have been Audi?).
In 1978 few cars were sold with sun roof options so some windscreen replacement companies and local Coach Trimmers started fitting aftermarket Glass Sunroofs. They did not wind back but mostly you could either tilt it open from the back or removes the glass panel much like a modern T bar. Retailing at £75-£120 fitted they were quite popular as were Vinyl Roofs.
The owner of the dealership where I worked ran a Colt Sigma 2000 GLX demonstrator & he wanted our local Coach Trimmers - the late Stan Chilton nicknamed as Stan Stan the Vinyl man to fit twin sun roofs. Stan knew his stuff and told my Boss that it was not something he would do as it would cut through too many reinforcing stays in the roof.
A few weeks later my Boss decided he would do the job himself so on a Saturday he set about cutting two holes in the roof but instead of going for front & rear sun roof both would be mounted side ways above the front seats to keep the centre brace from front to back in place.
Anyway he cut out the two holes - fitted the glass sun roof panel & it looked okay but as the hinges were at the side it made a lot of wind noise when they were opened - it was much quieter when both panels were removed & put in the boot. He sold it within a few weeks as it looked good especially from the inside.
All was well until the customer kept bringing the car back as it was leaking water when it rained as the glass contours did not match the roof. We ended up fitting a "free" Vinyl Roof to hide the roof contour issue. Eventually we had the car back and sold him a similar vehicle with just the one roof - fitted by Stan. We sold the twin roof motor at Auctions down south the get rid of the problem!
As an aside when the roof on our SL needed replacement due to cracking of the rear screen Stan got a darkish green hood from the USA and fitted it for me about 14 years ago, Photo below shows the unusual green hood.
SL with Green Hood by
Macabe Thiele, on Flickr
so many holes :lol
