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If you've been around Corvettes for a while, you know what the Flying Roof Club is. If you’re new to Corvettes, allow me to explain...
After you’ve driven around with the Targa roof off your Corvette Coupe for a while, you pull over to the side of the road, stop the car, put the Targa roof back on, but for some reason you neglect to engage the three locking handles. Maybe you got distracted by your passenger. Maybe you simply forgot. You start back up and get back on the road. All of a sudden, the wind catches the Targa roof, it lifts off the car, flys off, landing on the pavement behind you, most likely shattered. If you’re lucky, there is no car behind you and no one got hurt.
So if you’re new to Corvettes and you have a C8 Coupe on order, get it in your brain now that you need to lock the Targa roof after you’ve put it back on the car. Don’t be the one that says, “it’s not my fault, it’s the car’s fault for not alerting me that I didn’t lock the roof”.
(And BTW, I’m not speaking from experience. I’ve owned Corvette Coupes since 1992 and I’ve never forgot to lock my roof, yet).
I don’t see any reason why the generic Corvette version wouldn’t work for the C8. I like the “Replace Before Flight” version....a takeoff on the “Remove Before Flight” streamers attached to aircraft caps, covers and pins that must be removed before flight.
"(And BTW, I’m not speaking from experience. I’ve owned Corvette Coupes since 1992 and I’ve never forgot to lock my roof, yet)."...Boy you are tempting fate there dude
"(And BTW, I’m not speaking from experience. I’ve owned Corvette Coupes since 1992 and I’ve never forgot to lock my roof, yet)."...Boy you are tempting fate there dude
Don’t be the one that says, “it’s not my fault, it’s the car’s fault for not alerting me that I didn’t lock the roof”.
As a legit full member of this embarrassing club (1997 C5, no injuries, $1k for a new top), this has got me thinking about WHY DOESN’T A FLYING ROOF PREVENTION SYSTEM EXIST IN 2020? We have sensors that tell us when doors are ajar, hood open, trunk open, etc... why not a set of sensors to detect an installed but unlatched roof? Seems to me it would be pretty simple. A pressure switch to detect the weight of the roof, and then position sensors on each of the latches to check if they are open or closed. If top is on and unlatched, vehicle should not shift into Drive and display a warning message.
As a legit full member of this embarrassing club (1997 C5, no injuries, $1k for a new top), this has got me thinking about WHY DOESN’T A FLYING ROOF PREVENTION SYSTEM EXIST IN 2020? We have sensors that tell us when doors are ajar, hood open, trunk open, etc... why not a set of sensors to detect an installed but unlatched roof? Seems to me it would be pretty simple. A pressure switch to detect the weight of the roof, and then position sensors on each of the latches to check if they are open or closed. If top is on and unlatched, vehicle should not shift into Drive and display a warning message.
Because that is unnecessary weight and cost. If you're not 5 feet tall, the latches will likely intrude on your headroom or at least be close to your head.
When I was selling Corvettes we had a salesman go out on a test drive in a C4 and when they got back he just set the top back on and didn't get out the wrench. He went inside and forgot about it. The next time the car went out the driver hit about 50mph and heard a big FOOOMP and the tinted top went out and up like a kite. After flying about 25 feet in the air it hit the pavement, crazed the top, and twisted the frame. The first salesman bought a new top for the car.
When I was selling Corvettes we had a salesman go out on a test drive in a C4 and when they got back he just set the top back on and didn't get out the wrench. He went inside and forgot about it. The next time the car went out the driver hit about 50mph and heard a big FOOOMP and the tinted top went out and up like a kite. After flying about 25 feet in the air it hit the pavement, crazed the top, and twisted the frame. The first salesman bought a new top for the car.
Just to clarify for new Corvette owners, the 4th Generation Corvette used a mini wrench to tighten bolts to hold the Targa roof in place. Starting with the 5th Generation, the bolts were replaced with three locking handles (two along the front of the roof panel and one along the rear). The C8 (like the C5, C6 and C7) uses three locking handles. No wrench is needed to lock down the Targa roof panel.
12-28-2019, 03:38 PM
Flying Roof Club
