AmmoVet

Passed a caddy XLR on the road today & I swear the back deck, window &, top looked like the renderings. Possible we are getting a folding hard top?

roundlight lover

No.
But I'm all for a folding rear end that hides the trapezoids!!

HHZ06

I have been predicting a folding top for months now.

Jinx

That would make some folks very happy. If it meant there was no soft top, it would probably make a lot more folks very unhappy. Unless they figured out a way to make it really lightweight and not chew up more storage space than cloth.

.Jinx

jb_va2001

What would a folding hardtop do to cost, weight and balance?

On other cars they consume trunk space much worse than soft tops.

SouthernSon

Considering that corvette is using CF on some panels do you really think the complex, heavy retractable top is on their list of must haves....

BlueOx

I can't see a retractable hardtop. Takes way too much space/weight unless they do something really new and phenomenal with the materials/design.

AmmoVet

Just sayin: the shape, layout and look on the renderings appear to be the same as the XLR I passed the other day. Should be easy enough if your interested to find a pict of the rear end of an XLR and compare it to one of the renderings, see for yourself.

Ozzy12

I'd be all in: atleast on the base car. I think that should be the base touring car. Then the GS should offer a rag top or a fixed roof then go to the Z's. I think that would add some buyers and help differentiate all the models moreso.

BlueOx

I've seen several XLR's and test drove one also. The XLR was made before the C6 so if you want to compare, the C6's shape is the same too. Not going to have a retractable top because it would just take up way too much trunk space...ain't gonna happen.

AmmoVet

BlueOx,
No argument. My original tread starter was about the rear deck, rear window and the top as it might compare to the renderings. Not the whole car and not the rear of the car, not the side and not the front. It was not about the space issues, the weight or anything else, just that the renderings looked similar.

SCM_Crash

It would be cool if the targa was 100% see-thru and would slide down and inside the car under the hatch. No more fussing with the top. Like a SUPER wide sun roof. I think that would be the coolest targa. When the targa slides back, it wouldn't obstruct your vision because it would be right in line with the back window. If you think about it, the new lines on the back hatch would allow for this to happen. Just a short maybe 1.5ft targa that simply slides back... that would be a serious win.

Paulchristian

Interesting concept for the vette. However, a sunroof, on a vette, not sure if many folks would like that...

I think the Targa option is just more sporty, less moving parts, lighter...

Jinx

That would be a seriously complicated mechanism. To slide back, the top has to get narrower to clear the B-pillars, which means it has to be two pieces that slide together and overlap in the middle. And the whole roof has to be taller so as not to hit passengers in the head. A mechanical nightmare.

SCM_Crash

I don't mean that it WOULD be a sun roof... The whole thing would slide back. Like an automated targa. The way I'd picture it is that the windows roll down, the sides of the targa pull inward about an inch, and then the whole panel slides in 1.5 feet.

It WOULD definitely be complicated. That's for sure. But it wouldn't have to go back far at all. 1.5 feet isn't much when you look at the design of the back hatch. That hatch is probably 3.5-4 feet long. Another 6" of room for the halo as well. Maybe a yard of it's actually tapering in only so slightly. If the halo is about half a foot at least, you're looking at about 1 foot on clearance needed to pull back which should be fine.

Of course, I don't expect that the C7 will have anything like this, but I think it would definitely be cool.

Jinx

But a targa roof will be just as wide as the b-pillars, unless your side windows are severely canted inward and the b-pillar protrudes far outward of the windows.

What holds the hatch up when the whole width of the roof slides back? How do the outer edges of the roof not bang into the b-pillars?

.Jinx

SCM_Crash

That's why I was saying that the outter part would come inward about an inch before sliding back.

Hey, I'm not a mechanical engineer... I'm better suited as an imaginateer in this case.

I'm sure if I sat down with some paper I could figure it out. The SMART car does something similar except it leaves the side bars for you take off and put in the trunk.