How desirable are NC detachable hardtops?

Rob · Postby **Rob** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:16 am

I'm currently in the market for an NC (probably an 06 or 07 model). I'm taking my time with the purchase; looking to nail just the right combo of km's, colour, condition, history, location, etc, and basically I'm in no rush.

One thing I'm really noticing about a lot of 2005-07 cars is the number of detachable hardtops out there. Now, I have no interest in keeping a hardtop on my car, so wondered what the desirability was like, out there, for selling them on?

My gut feeling is $1500-$2000 would get a pretty quick sale. Is that off the mark?

Basically I'm trying to get a feel for the market so that if I bought a car for 'x' dollars, I'd know I could knock off a certain amount of money via a hardtop sale at a later date, which would make me more comfortable when negotiating for it.

Also, related to that, what's the go with returning the car to a stock-looking soft-top state? Would it be just replacing the Frankenstein bolts on the rear deck of the car? Anything else? Any wiring harness to fiddle with, etc? I'd want to do that, too.

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:24 pm

i have just bought a Hardtop for my NC

they range from $1200 odd for one with a few chips and dings here and there up to $2000 for a pretty immaculate one.

If you buy the car with the hardtop, there are side latches also. You could just swap them with the person buying the hardtop off you, as the top trims are different. The frankenstein bolts can be replaced with the ones from the buyer of the hardtop also

Thats what i did a few weeks ago.

Rob · Postby **Rob** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:36 pm

That's good advice, Regie. It's kind of what I thought might be possible, but I'd read stuff online about the Frankenstein bolts being hard to get off, and possibly damaged while doing so, making it hard to do a straight swap with the buyer. It would be awesome to just swap parts with the buyer. Everyone wins. Now to see if I actually end up with an NC with a hardtop. I'd reckon the odds are 1 in 3 or better. So many out there. Really surprised me.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:54 pm

The soft top was standard on the early NC and the fact hard top fitted over the topic the soft top remained in place The fact hard tops were an expensive bit of kit originally something like 3k. My bet is you are far more likely to buy a touring model without hard top. When the folding hardtop came in there was virtually no demand for tourers.

pcmx5 · Postby **pcmx5** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:24 pm

I sold an immaculate one for $1700 and the next week missed out on buying one that was as new and had all the fittings which sold while I was trying to contact the seller for $800!!!

Answer is probably somewhere in between!!Peter

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 4:53 pm

they do look awesome with the hardtop installed though

IMG_2487 by reggiewalker84, on Flickr

Rob · Postby **Rob** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:55 am

They sure do, Regie. I actually like the way the detachable roof looks when it's on, versus the powered hard top look.

For me, it's just practicality. I won't be racing; I really like driving top down (in all seasons); I don't have a huge amount of storage space. It would just become a white elephant for me.

So stay tuned, folks. If I end up buying a car with a detachable hard top, it will be up for sale.

(Even as I type, there's a silver NC for sale in Sydney with one for a great price and super low km's. The only reason I'm not jumping all over it is because it's silver. Don't stress Regie, I don't have anything against silver cars; quite the contrary, actually, because I've owned about 4 silver cars in the past decade, including my current daily drive... I just want something different when it comes to this next purchase!)