Protocol for top down driving?
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From: Always living in a state of Confusion.
Gone, but not Forgotten
Cruise-In 5, 6, 8 & 10 Veteran
St. Jude '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09
Windows DOWN here. I'm not driving one of those damn imports, ya know. 
Corvette ***** OG
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,776
Likes: 21
From: Charlotte NC
St. Jude Donor '05
CI VI Veteran
Originally Posted by Crash99
I don't have a Vette vert but I do have a '91 Z-28 Camaro vert.
My rules are simple: top down = no windows. Don't ride if you can't hack it. BTW the heater doesn't work on my car either so we don't put the top down unless it's warm outside.
However it's your car and there are no real "rules" anyway. With that said here are some rules to consider when driving a convertible:
1) You may keep BOTH windows up if your passenger requests it and she is your wife or significant other. Driving with only one window up forfeits vette driving privileges for 1 month. Also, windows are either all the way up or all the way down but never part-way.
2) If you drive a convertible with rear seat side windows these must NEVER be up when the front windows are down regardless if there are back seat passengers (note: this is not applicable to vettes but you might have another car we don't know about). It is OK to have front windows up but rear windows down but in this case BOTH of the rear windows must be down. Violation of rule two causes loss of top down privileges for two weeks.
3) If it starts to rain and you are driving with the top down you must NOT stop to put the top up if you are on the freeway, rather accelerate to a speed that prevents water from entering the car from above. If, however, you are in stop and go traffic, or driving on city streets and it starts to rain, you are permitted to pull over and put the top back up but ONLY if you can do it such that no other drivers witness the event. In this case you must apply the "Texas Whip-out rule" the next time you tee off on the golf course.
4) Unless you are a bronzed, demi-god and your co-pilot is a supermodel, you shall NEVER drive your convertible with the top down while shirtless. Bonus points are scored if your supermodel co-pilot is topless. Violators are required to have a full-body waxing.
5) Hats are OK to be worn when the top is down but unless you are a baseball catcher do not wear the visor backwards. Also, hats must not be of a type worn by any of the cast of "King of the Hill" or have places to hold beverages. Unless you are in a 4th of July Parade.
6) It is OK for a Homecoming Princess to sit on the tonneau cover but only if she is chosen as Homecoming Queen. The runner-up girls should always be in the Rustang or Tea-Bird convertibles. If your candidate does not win, she is required to walk home with her escort as the Queen will take her place in your car.
7) Lastly, everyone will be looking at you. Convertibles are just so damn good-looking. Be sure to NEVER, EVER acknowledge them. Wear dark sunglasses and check your mirrors often. They will be looking but you are too cool to care...
Feel free to add rules that I have forgotten since it's been raining so freakin' much here that I forget what it's like to own a convertible much less put the top down.
Crash
My rules are simple: top down = no windows. Don't ride if you can't hack it. BTW the heater doesn't work on my car either so we don't put the top down unless it's warm outside.
However it's your car and there are no real "rules" anyway. With that said here are some rules to consider when driving a convertible:
1) You may keep BOTH windows up if your passenger requests it and she is your wife or significant other. Driving with only one window up forfeits vette driving privileges for 1 month. Also, windows are either all the way up or all the way down but never part-way.
2) If you drive a convertible with rear seat side windows these must NEVER be up when the front windows are down regardless if there are back seat passengers (note: this is not applicable to vettes but you might have another car we don't know about). It is OK to have front windows up but rear windows down but in this case BOTH of the rear windows must be down. Violation of rule two causes loss of top down privileges for two weeks.
3) If it starts to rain and you are driving with the top down you must NOT stop to put the top up if you are on the freeway, rather accelerate to a speed that prevents water from entering the car from above. If, however, you are in stop and go traffic, or driving on city streets and it starts to rain, you are permitted to pull over and put the top back up but ONLY if you can do it such that no other drivers witness the event. In this case you must apply the "Texas Whip-out rule" the next time you tee off on the golf course.
4) Unless you are a bronzed, demi-god and your co-pilot is a supermodel, you shall NEVER drive your convertible with the top down while shirtless. Bonus points are scored if your supermodel co-pilot is topless. Violators are required to have a full-body waxing.
5) Hats are OK to be worn when the top is down but unless you are a baseball catcher do not wear the visor backwards. Also, hats must not be of a type worn by any of the cast of "King of the Hill" or have places to hold beverages. Unless you are in a 4th of July Parade.
6) It is OK for a Homecoming Princess to sit on the tonneau cover but only if she is chosen as Homecoming Queen. The runner-up girls should always be in the Rustang or Tea-Bird convertibles. If your candidate does not win, she is required to walk home with her escort as the Queen will take her place in your car.
7) Lastly, everyone will be looking at you. Convertibles are just so damn good-looking. Be sure to NEVER, EVER acknowledge them. Wear dark sunglasses and check your mirrors often. They will be looking but you are too cool to care...
Feel free to add rules that I have forgotten since it's been raining so freakin' much here that I forget what it's like to own a convertible much less put the top down.
Crash
Mark
Drifting
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,985
Likes: 0
From: Not QUITE the armpit of Southern Maryland, but scary close...
Cruise-In VI Veteran
Cruise-In VII Veteran
St. Jude Donor '04-'05-'06
Originally Posted by 98BlackMagic
Windows DOWN here. I'm not driving one of those damn imports, ya know.
Racer
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 280
Likes: 0
From: St. Louis Missouri
For me if the tops down the windows are down. 
But when the wifes with me to a cruise or a show she wants the windows up, so the wind doesnt mess up her hair . On the way home though she doesnt care what her hair looks like. I know where I rate!
But when the wifes with me to a cruise or a show she wants the windows up, so the wind doesnt mess up her hair . On the way home though she doesnt care what her hair looks like. I know where I rate!
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,413
Likes: 0
From: Greensboro, NC "REALITY IS MERELY AN ILLUSION, ALBEIT A VERY PERSISTENT ONE"...ALBERT EINSTEIN"
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07
Originally Posted by Sully C5
Protocol...do what makes both of you happy & to hell with what other people think. 
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,234
Likes: 19
From: Freestate Corvette Club! Elkridge, MD
St. Jude Donor '17
I do not like riding top down windows up but we have done it on certian occaisions - like coming back from Corvettes on the Boardwalk in Ocean City - it was 44 degrees - but I was detirmined to end a great weekend with the top down (windows up, heater blasting).
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 850
Likes: 2
Originally Posted by The Duke
I've noticed several comments regarding driving a vert with the top down and the subsequent position of the windows. When driving alone, if the top is down, I put the windows down. But I've noticed that my wife prefers the windows up because it is quieter and right now not quite as cold. How bad should I feel about driving with the top down and the windows up?
Unless you're a chick, you CANNOT get away with this move and still look cool...
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Drifting
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,511
Likes: 1
From: Winter Park Fl
If what people think of you having the windows in any positions bothers you I suggest therapy.
A wise man once said, "I used to worry about what people were thinking about me untill I found out they wern't thinking about me at all".
A wise man once said, "I used to worry about what people were thinking about me untill I found out they wern't thinking about me at all".
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 16,270
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From: "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-‘18-'19
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Originally Posted by eddie44
That it looks silly and I'll never run with them up and the top down but then again you have one up on me because my wife has only ridden in mine three times with the top down in a year and a half. Twice it was on the local clubs "Topless Cruise". I told her either the top was down on the car or on her. Thank God she agreed that it would embarrass us both less if it were on the car. 
I'm telling your wife!!!! My vote - top down = windows down
top up = windows up
Don't want to look like a "doofus"!
Oh yeah - if you're worried about too much sun or wind will mess your hair - sunscreen and short hair cut, failing that - put on a damn hat!
Last edited by blacksedan87; Jan 11, 2005 at 09:08 AM.
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 14,372
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From: Indianapolis IN
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17
We were cruising home from Bowling Green in May and the couple in the Vert in front of us had their windows up with the top down. I asked the wife if she wanted me to put up both windows and she looked at me like I was nuts. She said "top down, windows down." 
Last edited by Cocked and Locked; Jan 11, 2005 at 05:39 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,570
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From: Celina ohio
I could give a rats @ss, what others think. If it is "chilly" early in the AM, I will take the top down, and put the windows up and start my drive. If/When it warms up, I roll the windows down.
Don't like it?
Who cares...............
Don't like it?
Who cares...............
