A T-Series is a fair-weather car at heart, but its hood, sidescreens and tonneau are what make it usable in a British summer. They are simple, characterful, and worth understanding — both for comfort and because a poor fit lets water into a car that does not love being wet.
The weather gear, piece by piece
The T-Series weather equipment is a set of separate, packable pieces rather than a single folding roof:
- The hood (soft top): a fabric roof over a folding frame, erected when needed and stowed behind the seats when not.
- The sidescreens: detachable side panels, with celluloid or plastic windows, that clip to the doors in place of wind-up glass — the T-Series has none.
- The tonneau cover: a fitted cover over the whole cockpit when the car is parked, or driven with the hood down.
Together they make an open car weatherable; apart, they stow away for open-top motoring.
How it goes up
Erecting the hood is a deliberate, two-handed job: raise and lock the frame, then stretch the fabric over it and secure it to the screen rail and rear body with the lift-the-dot fasteners and press studs the T-Series uses. The sidescreens then clip into the doors. It rewards practice — done in the right order it is quick; fought against, it is a wrestling match in the rain. Put it up dry at home a few times so you are not learning the sequence on a wet verge.
What perishes
Being fabric and old, weather gear wears in predictable ways:
- The fabric hardens, fades and tears, especially along fold lines and where it meets the frame.
- The windows in the sidescreens and rear panel craze, yellow and go brittle with age and sunlight.
- The fasteners — lift-the-dot studs, press studs and their fabric surrounds — pull through or corrode.
- The frame can bend, seize or lose its pivots, so the hood no longer pulls tight.
A hood that will not tension properly, or windows you cannot see through, are the usual reasons to renew.
Why fit matters beyond comfort
On an open car, weather gear is the first line against water getting in — and water inside a T-Series means damp floors, rotting timber in the frame, and rusting steel. A hood that leaks or will not pull tight is not just uncomfortable; it feeds the very problems that are most expensive to put right. Treat a poor hood as more than a cosmetic niggle.
Care and sourcing
Keep the fabric clean and dry, and stow the hood dry where you can — folding a wet hood away invites mildew and creases that become cracks. Fold the sidescreen windows carefully rather than forcing them. When the time comes, complete hoods, sidescreens, tonneaus and the fasteners and frames to fit them are all available from the T-Series specialists in a choice of materials and colours; a matched set, fitted properly, is money well spent on a car you mean to use.