Tooling along taking in the bouquet of the landscape, the wind coursing through your hair, nothing beats a roadster for the full experience. But sometimes the experience can be just a little bit too...full. Like when the overnight cloudburst fills your car with water. Or when someone takes a criminal liking to something they just happened to see as they were checking out your car. Sometimes it helps to have just a little bit of protection.
As luck would have it, there's a solution as affordable as it is time-honored: the tonneau cover. Land-speed racers employed them as a means to improve a roadster's aerodynamics, but a tonneau serves an even greater functional purpose: it's a swatch of material that covers up tender bits. A bikini for your car, if you will.
But just because bikinis and tonneau covers look simple doesn't mean there's nothing to them. True, a tonneau cover is probably one of the most straight-forward trimming jobs out there, but they do require a few tricks. Paul Reichlin knows those tricks. What's more, he's willing to reveal them.
The tonneau he created for this '29 Ford is about as simple as it gets: it's two pieces of vinyl linked down the middle with a simple zipper, doubled and bound along the edges, and attached to the car by run-of-the-mill snaps. Leave it off for full exposure, attach the passenger side for partial shelter for solo runs, or zip it up for full cockpit protection.
Exceptions exist but Paul said he prefers one of two materials: Stayfast canvas or pinpoint-type vinyl. "A tonneau isn't much different from the top on a car and those are top-grade materials," he explained. "Some people like using upholstery vinyl because it stretches and is more forgiving, but that's not good. A tonneau made from stretchy material will flap. It will also stretch and collect water if it rains," he added. "Yeah, a tonneau made with a top material is a little harder to build, but it's worth it."
Given its simplicity, a tonneau cover is an ideal project for a novice trimmer. Given its functionality, it's pretty much a required accessory for any roadster that actually sees use.
Prior to our arrival, Paul...
Prior to our arrival, Paul installed snap bases in the body. Their placement isn't absolutely critical, but he noted to maintain consistent space between them and to install them at the apexes of corners.
After 30-plus years trimming...
After 30-plus years trimming cars, Paul has found some neat tricks. One trick is called a Quick-Fit Pin Socket from a marine trimming supply outfit called Sailrite. It's a snap-positioning tool with a sharpened stud that pops on the snap base.
Paul creates his templates...
Paul creates his templates from press-polished vinyl (Plastipane brand). It pierces easily over the pin sockets yet won't readily tear when stretched. Bear in mind that he'd trimmed the vinyl templating material prior to our arrival. Generally speaking he cuts the vinyl a few inches too long.
Despite their convenience,...
Despite their convenience, Paul doesn't rely exclusively on the pin sockets. He marks some of the snap locations on the vinyl manually with a permanent marker, noting each centerline with a cross.
As mentioned earlier, the...
As mentioned earlier, the vinyl template would ordinarily tail over the snaps by a few inches. Paul calculated that the tonneau would look best if it overlapped the snaps by about 3/4 inch. So he measured the same amount from the centerlines and trimmed the vinyl.
The rear of the cockpit presented...
The rear of the cockpit presented a bit of a challenge: there aren't enough snaps to reliably freehand the corner. So Paul used a drafter's tool called a spline curve. This particular one is an ACU-ARC Adjustable Ship's Curve, and similar ones are available at art supply stores.
A single layer might tear...
A single layer might tear at the edges, so Paul doubled-up around the perimeter with more topping material. He began by chalking a line 1 3/4 inches inboard the tonneau perimeter.
Using the template as a guide,...
Using the template as a guide, Paul transferred the vinyl's shape to vinyl. Even though the tonneau will split down the middle, he used a single sheet wide enough to cover the cockpit. At this point he disregarded the snap positions.
Paul made a 2-inch wide doubler...
Paul made a 2-inch wide doubler out of remnants and sewed it at the chalk line, letting the doubler tail out a bit.
Then he trimmed the doubler...
Then he trimmed the doubler flush with the top tonneau panel and bound the edges with vinyl binding tape.
The tonneau splits down the...
The tonneau splits down the middle, but before Paul cuts the vinyl in half he sews the zipper in from the backside. "Otherwise it's almost impossible to line up the two sides while sewing in the zipper."
Once Paul sews in the zipper,...
Once Paul sews in the zipper, he opens it and cuts the two panels apart. The overlapping tonneau panels conceal the zipper. He binds the cut edges with the same material he used on the perimeter. This photo illustrates the cutting, but he'd already bound the edges by the time we shot this photo.
Paul used the template to...
Paul used the template to establish the location of the snaps on either side of the zipper but only at the rear side of the tonneau.
Since he does this every day...
Since he does this every day he has the luxury of a Pres-N-Snap tool, but the conventional snap-setting punch and die work just fine.
Since the vinyl template doesn't...
Since the vinyl template doesn't stretch the same as the final material, Paul couldn't rely exclusively on the snap locations marked on it. Instead, he stretched the material to his liking before skewering it on the snap pins. The snap pins include covers that prevent the pins from unintentionally skewering other things like elbows and bellies-a nice touch if you think about it.
But not even the snap pins...
But not even the snap pins are 100 percent reliable. The tonneau eventually gets tight enough to not readily stretch over the pins. In those cases Paul pulls the material directly over the bare snaps and chalks the centerlines.
With the tonneau adequately...
With the tonneau adequately sized and stretched, it should lay wrinkle-free and sag less than an inch across the cockpit. Now all this one needs is a good drizzle to test its effectiveness.
Plain snaps are fairly effective...
Plain snaps are fairly effective in shear but, for the best hold in highly-stressed areas like sharp corners, Paul used Lift-the-Dot fasteners. They consist of a post that attaches to the body and a socket that attaches to the fabric. They cling like aging trophy wives until you lift the post's head or "dot".