Here is a '83 Corolla that came up for sale. Here is the listing:

> 1983 toyota corolla convertible sr5 matrix - $5000 (polk county)
> Reply to: sale-999806110@craigslist.org [?]
> Date: 2009-01-19, 9:21PM CST
> 50,000 miles mint shape extremely rare! runs perfect. new tires. serious
> buyers only!!!! Email to: sconistud@hotmail.com

Very nice '84 Mazda RX7

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/1296304245.html

1984 Mazda RX7 GSL-SE Convertible one of a kind and its made well, 93k miles, It was painted 8years ago and its been in the storage for that long just took it out, It has 13B motor fuel injected with 137 horse power rotary motor and its a rocket, Car runs and drives well will need minor TLC and a new convertible top, comes with an extra set of original rims in excellent condition, Car was bought 11years ago from an auto wrecking yard with minor electrical issue was easy to fix. Its a head turner every where I take it, Must sell serious buyers please. Call me at 415-515-0902 9am-7pm

http://mohave.craigslist.org/cto/1262022221.html

1985 Honda CRX convertible custom made (done
right) 1.5, 5 speed - $1950 (ft mohave)
Reply to: sale-bpkym-1262022221@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-07-09, 4:06PM MST

85 crx convert. neat little car. runs and drives. great gas mileage and the top goes down. Cheap at only $1950
cash. no trades
928-279-5099

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/1279607221.html

1983 Toyota Corolla Convertible! - $4000 (South Side)
Date: 2009-07-20, 2:17PM EDT
Reply to: sale-fzhnp-1279607221@craigslist.org

Runs great and a blast to drive!
101,000 miles.
Inspected to 6/10.
Design and detail work by Custom Car Coachments Ltd (Beverly Hills, CA).
$4,000.00 or best offer.

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/1277269248.html




DATSUN 200SX - $5500 (CAPE COD, MA)
Date: 2009-07-18, 11:13PM EDT
Reply to: sale-rtgvf-1277269248@craigslist.org

1982 Datsun 200SX Roadster Convertible
Automatic 78,000 miles
4 cyl
New battery, altenator and muffler.
This was custom made by American Coachworks ,Beverly Hills California.
I wrote to this company in 1997 and they told me that they only custom made 11 of these Datsun's in 1983.They also did a tracking of them and only 3 were still registered in 1997 This Datsun was appraised by Classic
Car Service of Cape Cod in 2005 for $8,500 This car "talks" says things like "your door is ajar" when door is open, etc. Asking for $ 5,500 or best offer. We babied this car and it is stored year round and only taken out for local joy rides on rare occasion. Please contact for pictures. I tried to upload them but they wouldn't load.

1983 Corolla SR5 Sport. I have sold this car already.

<table><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ziEm5fYYl9ZO2vsKvJJhgg?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2XxZ3F1tPd-wE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XTNU9RV2mJU/SoBWDz_M-dI/AAAAAAAABrk/4NQdiRYnSGY/s400/GEDC0717.JPG"></a></td></tr><tr><td>From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/wbaker33/RedCorolla?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2XxZ3F1tPd-wE&feat=embedwebsite">Red Corolla</a></td></tr></table>

I would like to introduce you to my latest acquisition.
A 1983 Subari GL-10 Convertible done by Matrix3.







It has a almost new hand stitched top, the engine was rebuilt 30k ago.
The seats were recovered in leather, but the PO had a dog and you can see the results
I just took it to WCSS11 and it won Peoples Choice.

Does anyone have more information about these?
How can I tell the difference between a Solaire, a Tropic, a Classic Touch or a National Coach type ???
Solaire was from So California, Tropic from Germany, Classic Touch ??? and National Coach ???(canadian?)

Any ideas? Any info?
Thank You !!!

Do you own one? If you submit a few photos it might help us determine who converted it. Most Prelude convertibles I have seen so far have been by Sol-Aire. Post those photos! I will research it from there.

Great looking Subie! Thanks for posting. Do you know anything about the history of the car? Was the car converted by Matrix for the owner, or was it converted for a Subaru dealer as a "showroom floor traffic generater"? It looks great. Those are so rare.

Cool,
Now I have found info that (popular Mechanics July 1981) these Coach companies did conversions, Solaire Corp, Silcco Inc of Miami Fla (never seen yet), National Coach Engineering of Michigan, Con Tec of Lake Geneva Wisc. (never seen yet). They didn't list Tropic, or Classic Touch, and I have seen where a Canadian company did some for a Vancouver dealer, possibly called coach builder.
The Solaire and Tropic I am sure about and has been claimed by many.
The Classic Touch is claimed in Wiki, but I have found nothing except Classic Touch original pattern tops for sale. I wonder were they a conversion shop or a Top shop that made tops for others.
THe National Coach Engineering (in Mich.) I have seen claimed (once) also.
But the Silcco (Fla.) and Con Tec (Wisc.) I had not seen till this article.

The only one I have seen in person is the Solaire. I have seen Tropic pictures, but none close up to see the details on how they are different. ANd no pictures of any of the others.
If anyone has leads to a picture of the Tropic top mechanism, or the backseat or any info on that or any of these. Please post or PM.
Thank You !!!
and what the heck is this ?
http://picasaweb.google.com/chuckstar/P ... 5382153666

The Blue one some posts back Is a Solaire. I have seen it in person, had a deal set for it. Then the son of the owner took a liking to it and I'm bummed.

I will PM you to discuss. I have been researching these for a few years and I wrote the wiki article. Lets share info. I have never seen a NCE or Silcco before that I know of, but very few of the earlier coach convertibles (77-82 era) got a label that states the coach builder, so maybe I have but didn't know it. I need to dig through my files to see if I can tell the difference between the few I do know.
Your PM article:
http://books.google.com/books?id=59gDAA ... de&f=false

Check it here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/chuckstar

Thank You !!!

Here's an odd one I had forgotten about.


The Dodge Dakota convertible....” was the result of a 1988 contract with ASC, the American conversion shop. In 1989, Dodge sold 2,842 Dakota convertibles, but that apparently saturated the market; just 909 were made in 1990 and a mere eight in 1991, made to fulfill the contract with ASC. The convertibles came in 4x2 and 4x4 varieties. Standard equipment included a five-speed manual transmission, fog lamps, padded rollbar, velour seats, power windows and locks, rear anti-lock brakes, full gauge package, 3.9 V-6, and tilt and cruise control. Air conditioning and an automatic transmission were the only options. The convertible top itself was manually operated.

If your into Chrylser's, this is a great site.
Allpar

_________________
83' DR30

Those Dakota convertibles are interesting. They actually are considered a "factory convertible" because they were directly licensed with and marketed by Chry Corp. Nearly every '80s and early '90s convertible sold in the U.S. was converted by ASC or Cars & Concepts. Those companies were shipped as a hardtop and they removed the top and did all the converting before shipping cars back to the manufacturer for sale by the dealer. That includes the "factory" Mustangs, Celicas, Camaros, Eldorados, Corvettes, Infiniti M30, LeBarons and a bunch more.

Sunchaser spotted in Cypress,Tx

its beautiful all original. I took lots of pics will post them up soon
he still had the window sticker.

_________________
Jason
83' 280Z (stock)
85' Celica-Supra 6MGE (soon to be 1JZ)
85' AE86 -SR5- (soon to have the 6M from^)
95' Euro Taurus 3.8L(sold)
09' Scion XD
08' Town&Country
64 1/2' Mustang

Heres More Pics Of THE Beautiful Sunchaser!

_________________
Jason
83' 280Z (stock)
85' Celica-Supra 6MGE (soon to be 1JZ)
85' AE86 -SR5- (soon to have the 6M from^)
95' Euro Taurus 3.8L(sold)
09' Scion XD
08' Town&Country
64 1/2' Mustang

1982 Mazda 626 Convertible
http://columbus.craigslist.org/ctd/1439473599.html



1980 Celica GT Convertible
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/1399630965.html


1981 Celica Sunchaser
http://eastidaho.craigslist.org/cto/1396207189.html


1982 Corolla Convertible
http://gainesville.craigslist.org/cto/1430415123.html


1986 Civic CRX Spyder
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/1423527639.html

To follow up on the post above...I just spoke with the owner of the Mazda 626 and it was converted by Sunset Coach and sold new as a convertible at the Mazda dealer.

The CRX was built by Straman and the current owner works for a Honda dealer and bought the car as a year-old trade-in. He said the car was bought new at that same Honda dealership as a convertible. The dealership bought 2 of these Straman convertibles as "traffic generators". They thought it would take a while to sell them, but both were sold within one week. The car almost doubled in cost after conversion compared to the price of a hardtop.