Canvas type top for 1931 Auburn

Mike,
I am also in the process of restoring a 1931 898-A and know your car as I was a friend of Bill Butler. The folks at L&L Antique Auto trim are where I bought my mouldings. They can be reached at 417-476-2871. I hope that they are ok as they were very nice people to work with. Check the Auburn Judging Notes for Tops. They can help guide you as to what was available for your car. Frank

Ken is correct in that the majority of top material was a greenish tan referred to a drab in color. "Haartz and Burbank" cloth were the ones referred to in original literature. "Burbank" was a trade name of the Laidlaw Company in New York City. These sedan top covering materials were often oiled to water proof them rather than rubber lined as on convertibles. The rigid tops would not be subject to folding and would stay water repellant for a long time. I know at least one company used linseed oil and modifiers to make their cloth water repellant. Also, the covering needed to be pliable so it would stretch tight over the quarter top panels.

There was a black material used on a very few Auburn products and it shows a pattern in the weave like silk morie. "Chase" was another company that Auburn used for occasional orders of top covering.

The drip rail aluminum used to be manufactured by L & L Extruded Mouldings in Pierce City, MO but we haven't been able to establish contact with anyone since their town was struck by a tornado 2 or 3 years ago. The original mouldings can be straightened and polished if a little patience is supplied. Herzim was the original supplier, Herron-Zimmers Moulding Co. Detroit. If your mouldings have the cloth covered rubber insert, this can be fabricated out of a section trimed from rubber hose and material glued over it.

The blue would look nice but will likely hurt your score if the car is to be judged.

Stan

I believe the original top material offered at that time was either a greenish tan or black. It all faded very quickly to look tan to almost white. So when these companies started to reproduce material, people asked for the tan, that was on there car, because it had faded and they thought it was supposed to be that color. As I'm sure you have noticed most restored cars have a tan top no matter what they color scheme is. If you are going for a 100 point restoration you may be knocked a point or two for a blue top. But if you are building a driver and you want that color, go for it and do as you want.
As for the correct drip rail, I do not know if the correct is being reproduced, but there are some new drip rail that will do the job just fine.
Ken Clark

Hello members, I am in the late stages of having my 1931 898-A restored. I do have two questions about replacing the canvas type top. The first relates to replacing the metal trim moulding pieces (3) -one in front and the other two on each side. The man doing the work suggested trying to obtain new ones as the originals are somewhat bent and although they would work we think new ones would look much nicer. Any suggestions where one might obtain new ones ??

Second question pertains to manufactures of the canvas type cloth used for covering the car top. I am looking for a medium blue color to match the new paint job but Hartz cloth and Stafast only offer a dark blue, almost black color which will not work with my color scheme. I recently contacted Acme and they are to send some color swatches but it doesn't sound too promising so does anyone have any other suggestions ??

Much thanks for your help. Mike Arata (<a href="mailto:[email protected]][email protected][/url])