[ihc] 1966(?) IHC SportTop

["66 Sporttop" <sporttop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My brother-in-law and I are mid-restoration with our SportTop and have a
few questions for the readers here.

(1) 1966 seems to be the only year they made a SportTop... Anybody
confirm or deny this?

(2) What about those plastic gas tanks? The "never rust" idea seems a
good one to me, but anybody ever have problems with puncturing (or
anything else)? We can get the existing ones repaired, but at
(estimated) $500 a pop, it's a bit rich for our blood.

(3) The SportTop crank-up window in the door seems to have a different
trailing edge shape (squared-off vs rounded). Somehow we've ended up
with one SportTop door and one non-SportTop door. Anybody know if we can
just replace the window frame, or if we'll have to find an entire door
somewhere? (3a: anybody know where there's a sporttop window frame, with
or without the door?).

(4) Fibreglass repairs for the top? Any ideas where to go? We're
considering a boat yard, but not sure if that makes sense...

We know exactly how Peter Shubin feels ("Pretty much everything comes
off only with a grinder and cutting wheel"): our SportTop has had major
galvanized "band-aids" applied over the years, and we've found that a
torch is a handy tool as well (!). 

Currently, we're racing against the weather, as our SportTop is "the
plow". Last year, before we started the restoration, we plowed all
winter without a driver's door. It was kinda cool looking THROUGH the
passenger floor to keep an eye on the road (rusted right through it
was)... We'll miss that this year.

Today I ripped out the driver's side floorboards (two layers of
galvanized "band-aids" over the original very rusted floor) and
discovered a scissors jack hiding under the driver's seat. I suppose
it's too much to hope for it being an original IH jack (did these things
COME with one?).

We'll post some pictures soon.