Hi all, I recently purchased a top from Rich and Famous in California for our Mondi. Of course, the top does not come with instructions and when I called Rich and Famous they warned me not to attempt to install it myself. Fellow fchater Gianluca, who makes the temporary targa tops, lives nearby so I asked him what he thought and he didnt think it would be that difficult. He agreed to help install it. While removing the top we found a broken latch, a heavily rusted rear window area attachment bar, deteriorated leather on the forward top structure, and faded carpeting on the firewall. Also, the straps provided by Rich and Famous did not have the necessary nylon reenforcement sewn into them. Gianluca rebuilt the broken latch with a new U-arm he made from stainless steel. He also cut and hammered out a new attach bar for the rear window, re-sewed the straps, replaced the dried leather, and cut and bound new carpet. Here are the disassembly photos: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here are photos of the reassembly. The fit is good and fitting is fairly straight forward once you remove the original. We havent completely finished yet but it is looking great so far. Dave Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The cabrio top and back seat carpeting are finished. Looks Great! I chose a lighter carpet (café latte) for the firewall. I much prefer it over the original and Luca has agreed to re-carpet the entire car. He really did a fantastic job with what turned out to be a bigger job than we had originally thought. Gotta love that new car smell. Too bad the snow has started. Dave
Here are the photos... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great job, it looks fantastic! Well documented with great photos. What a project indeed. Now, think spring...but try to get it out before then!
Thanks for taking the time to document this. I will be needing a roof sooner than later and this will be very helpful. I did notice that you have a broken toggle on your clamp assy. Send me a PM if you want a replacement. I have a few remaining. - Ron Frohock Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sorry, we pretty much just winged it and I don't remember much of the details. Luca is very skilled in upholstery, leather work, metal work, etc. so I relied on him for most of the planning and detail work. Dave
Very nicely done Dave. Question, if you hadn't a Gianluca as a neighbor, would you attempt it alone? If not, would Gianluca do another for payment? My top is fine but for those who need it done? Obviously they would need to be close by, or willing to be. Love the photos but another question i had.. i didn't see you or Mike in any of those, whats up with dat? How is the new top in comparison to an OEM one? Recommend?
Hey Ted, I'd tell you I was in charge of the beer but Luca doesn't drink beer when he's working on something. Considering the top was only $600 and there was little chance of damaging the car itself, I think I would have given it a try alone. However, I can't say that I wouldn't have totally screwed it up. Mike was still a Porsche guy when we did this and I don't associate with Porsche guys. The quality of the Rich & Famous top is "Top" notch. I much prefer the R&F black headliner to the original tan and it still has the exact same corrugated look and feel to the fabric. However, the rear buttresses didn't fit perfectly (slight wrinkle/slack in the fabric). Don't know if it was a flaw in our specific top or what. We tried every adjustment we could think of to eliminate it (short of trying to shrink it with a heat gun and aircraft dope). Anyway, for the money you can't beat it. I am sure Gianluca would be happy to do another top if someone wanted to contact him. Dave Edit: I found a picture of me helping... Image Unavailable, Please Login
