Mondial Cabriolet - real world experience as a convertible

I've had my 1986 3.2 Mondi Cab for two years and by the second warm month had the top process easily sorted out. Now I put it up or down in less than a minute ever time, the most consuming time spend is unbuttoning the boot. The one challenge was my original leather boot cover had shrunk over the year and was almost impossible to put on; the second spring I owned the car I bought new one from something like Beverly Hills Tops who lists both replacement tops and boot covers on ebay. One of my best purchses as I now don't need to be nearly as precise to get the top folded tightly to get the boot on.

Just tonight I was at a car show and there were passing showers - so I pulled out of my garage, put the top up for the trip to the show in light showers, got there and put it down and boot on, showers came back so boot off and top back up. Never more the a minute for each process.

There are a number of threads on this forum with instructions and pictures on the best folding process - use the search feature.

Good Luck

 

The only hard part is closing the latches. The design does not allow doing it from inside the car. Also, it is impossible to open if you forget to lower the rear windows (which I often do). Operating the top doesn't take long and it lets you get intimate with the car. Kind of like foreplay before you jump on the gas. Or something like that.
Dave

 

can someone post the best procedure to lower the top?

 

This procedure works well for me too. Once you get the hang of it it isn't difficult. However, my dealer told me that you SHOULD store it with the top UP to prevent shrinking. If you store it down for extended periods of time, you may need to wet the canvas and stretch it so it will close easily again. Well, as easy as a Mondial top can close anyway.

 

Buy a tonneau cover. I used mine all of the time. The hardest part in putting the top down is getting the frame folded properly so that it stows as flat as possible. That is s trial and error issue that will vary from car to car. The time it takes to put the top up is directly proportional to how much rain is starting to come down.

 

I still refer to this thread to remind me of the sequence of folds/bars in dealing with the Mondial t cab.

The three things that are key in my opinion are:

1) Using the THUMBSCREWS....retract when folding, extend when attempting to close with the latches.
(also, you can pull forward a bit on the window pillar when closing the latches to keep the stress off the weak point in this assembly, the U-shaped part of the hinge assembly)
2) "raising" the first bar (with the finger holds) as to start to take the top back from the windshield.

and MOST IMPORTANTLY to a nice, compact fold is to ensure that the rear window plastic is folded on itself OVER the rear bar of the top assembly. If you allow the window to go under it, it still folds, but in my experience it allows for more pinching possibilities, and takes up more room. It can also catch the fabric, and risk a tear.

 

As mentioned earlier, the worst part is getting the tonneau cover on. I also have a shrunken leather one. At least the snaps are readily available, and the black Ferrari cavallino covers snap onto them.

Putting the top down takes 2-3 minutes. Lift the center stay up and it folds quite nicely. It could probably be done in 30-seconds if you weren't worried about getting creases in the wrong places, like the window.

Putting the top up is faster, although I walk it forward on the caches, tightening the screws side to side. I did replace the fragile cast aluminum catches with Ron Frohock's steel ones, which takes a lot of stress out of it. And cost. Note that my car came with every replaced part--including a box of broken catches--and I snapped one myself.

I store with the top up to keep the window stretched. Except the weather has been pretty nice...

Overall, it's one of the worse top designs I've come across, but hardly an issue of concern--just less convenience.

It's worth it.

Peter

 

Never leave any car's top down for any length of time - IT WILL SHRINK.

My car's PO never put the top up. It took me about 3 weeks of gradual stretching combined with water to get my top stretched enough so that it will close in a position that seals against the windshield. Still it is very taut, and makes funny noises at freeway speeds.

All that said, I think it is silly to fiddle with the latch adjustments - mine are almost all the way back, in other words, my top is almost as tight as it can be, and I leave them that way. Until I got Ron's latches it was sometimes a bit of a pain to get the latch caught on the hook after a long drive with the top down. Now I have the modified Frohock latch. It allows me to open the latch up all that I need to get it hooked on the catch. It is not difficult at all anymore to put the top up or take it down. I will confess that I do still sometimes forget to put the rear windows down, but other than that, piece of cake!