Correct topping material for a1937 coupe

The original material was called Pantasote. The only reproduction of this material that I have found is Jonarts Classics, Pantasote Replication, #200/B. I obtained this material from Eric Haartz, at Haartz Corp., Acton, MA.

Eric is a great resource for us early car guys, he helped me tremendously getting a period correct fabric for some very early tops, even to the point where he “restamped” the surface on 40 yards of special material. A lot of the discussion was about Pantasote, which was widely used in the teens and twenties. To my knowledge and research, there is no exact current match to that original material, what is called “replicated Pantasote” is basically a vinyl material. By the 1930’s, vinyl was in use (it was “invented” in the 1920’s), so a light grain vinyl top would not be out of place.

On a side note, the insert top was wood slats, chicken wire, padding, and top….on the 1935 coupe which I owned a while back, the chicken wire was the antenna for the radio, isolated from the top metal and only touching the wood…..

David,

Thanks for the side info on the antenna. I haven’t started on the body yet but noticed the ant. lead going up the RF pillar and didn’t know where it ended. Jim

Attached is a picture when I was trying to match original Pantasote material….what you see on the right side of the photograph is original Pantasote. This material was made by laying a water resistant coating on fabric. The random pattern you see is partly the fabric showing through, partly the uneven coating, and partly age, although the top material of that particular top was very well preserved. If Eric can duplicate the look of that material, I would be very interested, as it’s correct for so many early tops and top inserts. I worked with Eric to make a replicated Pantasote with a whipcord backing, but his guys were still not able to really get the true look of the original. He took some grained top material, and “melted” and restamped the surface with a smoother pattern; a happy circumstance was that in the right light some of the original grain could be seen, which was similar to the fabric grain you’d see on original material. The second picture shows the two early tops I did with this material.

I have a 1934 12 and and two 840As. Both need new top material. I am interested in purchasing sufficient material to do all three. If enough of us contact Eric and place orders, is it likely he will be encouraged to do one run for all who need the top material?

Does my 27 Series 80 Sedan have the same material? I thought (guessing) mine was original but it appears to be more “ribbed”” than your picture David. I will try to get a close up picture tomorrow afternoon.”

Joe & Greg,

Email me the photo. I’ll try to figure out what is going on….

Paul

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Paul, thank you,

This is an image of Walter McDaniel’s original 1934 Top Insert. Please note in the bottom left of the image the distinct linear texture. This texture is NOT what you see in a Pantasote Replication or in the LeBarron Bonney T-5.

I would ask those of you who have original tops ( especially in the 30’s) to confirm or deny the match of you top insert texture with the image above. I believe you will soon see a second image.

P.S. Paul tells me that the file was too large to permit posting. He used a period correct pixel shoehorn to make it work.Thanks again.

Joe

This second image (above) of Walter’s top insert will show the linear texture best if you enlarge, drag the cropping in the lower right to reveal the right hand side of the image which shows a good view of the texture.

Your comments and samples please so we can establish what is correct for our kids.

Joe Malone

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