"Gorgeous" is not a word anyone would use to describe the Toyota Prius, but there's a guy in Los Angeles who's managed to make one look pretty damn good -- by chopping off the top.
The car's owner, who's known as exproducer over at the PriusChat Forums, drove his brand new Prius over to Newport Convertible Engineering and had them attack it with a Sawzall. The job took six months and a small truckload of cash, but it looks like something you'd see on a showroom floor.
How'd they do it?
According to a thread the owner posted at PriusChat, the interior was stripped to bare metal before the roof was removed. The side airbags were ditched and the interior moldings reshaped to get the frame -- presumably the convertible top frame, since the Prius is a unibody -- to sit right. The back seats no longer fold down, but there's more leg room.
The canvas top is hydraulically operated. It takes up about half the trunk space when stowed and a tonneau keeps things tidy. The top fits into into a reconfigured windshield frame to provide a tight seal and minimal wind noise when closed. A center bar makes up for the torsional rigidity lost by cutting off the hardtop.
The owner says he loses about 2 mpg with the top down but gains 4 mpg over the stock car when the top is up.
If you want one, be prepared to write a big check. Exproducer says the car cost him $28,500 and he forked over another $17,500 for the drop-top.
Would you pay $46,000 for a Prius convertible?
More pix and details here.
