#YEAROFTHEVERT Convertible Boot differences and ideas

A few months back, I found a convertible boot in the junkyard.

The last few days, I’ve been calling it an tonneau cover in my videos. I decided just to see what would pop up in that context.

I didn’t even know there was a difference in the meaning of boot vs tonneau cover. I’ve heard both being used loosely for many years on F31club forums and others… but never really took notice of the definition.

I found this link: The Difference between boot covers vs tonneau covers by Topsonline (Credit/Great source)

“Two convertible top parts which are sometimes easily confused are replacement boot covers and replacement convertible tonneau covers. Both of these parts are used when the convertible top is folded down (i.e. open) but they have very different functions. Read below for a description of each.”

“A boot cover (also sometimes called a “parade cover” or “top cover”) covers the top opening. It gives the car a cleaner, tidier appearance, and can help prevent “crud” and road grime from working its way into the crevices, particularly if the top is down for an extended drive. Boot covers give a very finished and clean look to a convertible when the top is down and are typically seen in older year American convertibles, like 1967-1969 Camaros, 1964-1966 Mustangs and 1962-1963 Pontiac Lemans, Templest and Beaumonts.”

Example: Our M30 convertible uses a Parade boot

“On convertible cars, the tonneau cover is deployed to cover up the back and/or passenger seat. (Not to be confused with the term “tonneau cover” for pickup trucks, which is the sheet that can be used to cover the truck bed. Or with the roll-out screen on some hatchbacks, which can be used to shield the contents of the trunk from view.) Convertible tonneau covers are commonly found on two-seater convertibles, especially older model Europrean roadsters like 1953-1956 Austin Healeys, 1956-1960 MGA Roadsters, 1962-1963 MGBs and 1955-1957 Triumps.

A tonneau cover not only protects your upholstery from damage, it can also reduce the annoying buffeting effect from wind turbulence inside the cabin. Another benefit is that the tonneau cover helps the cabin retain heat, which can make driving in cold weather a more pleasant experience. Finally, tonneau covers can reduce drag, thus improving gas mileage. When shopping for a tonneau cover that extends to cover the front passenger seat you will need to distinguish whether you have a left-hand or right-hand drive model.”

I’ve never owned a convertible and so I never knew the differences or functions. This also had me conjure up some ideas!

But before I go into that, I also learned, there are 2 different styles of M30 boots (thanks to mmokm30!)

I posted a picture and he asked, “Is that the ziplock style boot”? I honestly didn’t know. He the said the newer boots would have black tabs.

So tabs would be able to tuck into the trim as the one I have would be like a ziplock back.

Here is a picture of my boot:

Here is a picture of a tabbed boot that Mark J (mmokm30) is talking about:

Ideas

Since we are on this topic, I wanted to delve into topics many of us talked about in the past.

Hard top – Celesteleopard on the forums brought this up and J (Jason) said he wanted to make one as he was going to do it to a 240sx convertible. Someone executed it and made their convertible into a coupe. (I’m only trying to figure out why not just buy a coupe).

I would do it this way, but I would also focus on making a fiberglass piece AND REMOVABLE. But that is just an idea.

Hard boot – would be like the normal boot, but obviously made out of fiberglass (at least that material I would make). Since it would be a big awkward piece, I figured I’d make it into 3 pieces like this:

Tonneau cover – after reading that, I thought it would be awesome to have a Tonneau cover made. I looked at some images on Google and found these (for a Mustang) really nice looking:

Actually need to add more mounting points, but pretty cool nonetheless.