fiberglass headliner group buy?

[Beetlemania]

I've only seen one in person, and it was pretty nice looking. Only question I have about it is how it will sound inside the car. But...

Would anyone be interested in getting one? I've just contacted a place called Top Shop that makes these and I should be getting the details back soon. I know there are quite a few of us that have had issues with the fabric over the years, which I know is just part of having a car, but I thought I'd do the last replacement ever in mine. List price for these is $330, but they do make deals for a group buy. So if anyone's interested, please post away!

Here's an example (they come unpainted):


BTW, they only have it for the non-sunroof versions. Sorry, glass-tops!

[BlakeS]

Do they make them for cars with sunroofs?

[marvins_dad]

Are these the ones that Russ made for a while or a completely different mold?

Interesting.

[goosler]

I can only imagine the shipping charges & the odds of getting it to the destination in one piece....

[DistantTwinkle]

that's looks really awesome, I agree I would love to replace my headliner with something like that...its so hot and humid in tx phew....my headliner is sinking

[Devil Yellow]

DANM i want one for mine but i got a sunroof

[r0nd3L]

Does not like.

If you're spending that much, might as well go with suede or some other nice material.

[SilverSportNOLA]

I have only seen the one in the Love Machine .... which is a 98. I know he said the 98 had a different shape then the later models. His was one of Russ's first ones.

[Beetlemania]

To answer some questions,

1) they only have them for cars without sunroofs. Sorry!

2) these are not the ones that Russ was making, but he was who made me aware of them

3) the total cost is $330 shipped from the site, and I'm going to check on group buy costs

4) I can't think of a way this would ever droop in heat/humidity, which is a huge selling point to me

5) they say this is for 98s and up, but I only see the 1 mold, so it might only have the space for the storage and handles, not a smooth 98 top, but I don't know yet


I've gotten response number 1 from the company stating that the sound inside is more clear. I really don't know quite what that means. I've heard people assume that it would be tinny or more loud inside, since it wouldn't offer the sound damping of the fabric top.

I'm sending another email to the company to see how many are necessary for an official group, and what it will do to the price.

[DannyRandomState]

If the price is right I would be interested in the group buy thing.

[Beetlemania]

I'm waiting a little while longer to hear back from them, otherwise I'll give them a call and try to get all questions answered. As for model years, the website actually says 98+ and up, so maybe the later cars from '98 had the handle, glasses case, and storage bin? But I'll ask to see if there actually is a different mold for '98s.

[Beetlemania]

Just got off the phone with the guys at the shop, and they're going to email me the last of the info, including a picture of what it looks like right off the mold, so we'll know what it is we'll really be getting. I've got to head to work now, but I'll post what I get tomorrow.

[Beetlemania]

Sounds like the price is going to be $250 shipped if we can get 10 people in the group buy. I'm going to wait a couple of days before I start the actual thread, hoping to get a picture of one of the headliners exactly as it comes off the mold, so we'll know what we're dealing with without question. Keep an eye out for the real thread, early next week!

[lordsnot]

Wish I had known about this option a few months ago. Just had my beetle headliner redone. Shop did a great job, but this would be better I think.....

[Beetlemania]

Can I ask what you had to pay? Just wondering how many times I'd have to have it recovered to have this pay off!

[DannyRandomState]

Originally Posted by Beetlemania

Sounds like the price is going to be $250 shipped if we can get 10 people in the group buy. I'm going to wait a couple of days before I start the actual thread, hoping to get a picture of one of the headliners exactly as it comes off the mold, so we'll know what we're dealing with without question. Keep an eye out for the real thread, early next week!

I'll keep an eye out for the thread. Coming out of the mold it should just be fiberglass on the back side with a white (general color) gel-coat on the outside. 250 sounds decent to me. I'm wanting to paint the exterior of sunshine with something wicked. Maybe I could carry the theme onto the headliner. Thanks for the heads up though.

[Beetlemania]

My big question is about cutouts. One guy there said it's actually made for the '98, which didn't have the storage bin over the mirror, nor the handle/glasses case over the doors, but this guy has not seen the Beetle top completed in his year and a half at the shop. He thinks it might need to be Dremeled out in those places. I guess, since I have the picture at the top of the page in '99 or up, I just want to make sure this will indeed fit in a '98, in case anyone with that year is looking for this.

I, too, am going to continue my theme into the top. I had been looking for an Inalfa top and thought of this as a backup idea. Looks like the backup is in the foreground now!

[Beetlemania]

The real thread will start the day after tomorrow. I'll have it going for 3 weeks. My understanding is that, because these are made in a shop with just a few workers, and because there's only 1 mold, the last person will get theirs about a month after the order goes in. I'll send in the orders on a first-come/first-served basis based on the official thread and when I get money from the people. Any more questions, let me know!

[lordsnot]

Originally Posted by Beetlemania

Can I ask what you had to pay? Just wondering how many times I'd have to have it recovered to have this pay off!

I paid $100 for replacement using non-VW headliner material. It matched up real well. VW material would have been more. A couple other shops quoted me ~$160.

[Beetlemania]

Awesome, thanks! That sounds great to me, figure I'll be keeping the car a long time, so never having to do this again will pay for itself in just a few years!