Whatever you want to call it, I am restoring and rebuilding a Leer one I bought on Craigslist for $80. Figure this might be kind of a unique thread people might want to see at some point so here we go.
This is it sitting on the bed of the 85 Nissan where I bought the guy from
Had a few issues but overall a good buy. No keys, needs new window screen, needs new lifters for the back door, some of the fiberglass is warped on the inside. The roof is caved in a little (like warped down) but not too bad. finish is pretty good, might could use a wax but I'm not too worried about that aspect.
Here it is on the truck with stickers removed and whole thing washed.
I bought some goo gone to get the sticker residue off but then found some goof off in a spray bottle that worked 100x better.
And the inside still needs to be cleaned. Here's the damage. haha
I have plans to fix the mentioned issues. Going to fix the dip in the roof.
Should I just get like a shower pole and extend it to push it up? will it just change shape after a while? Or should I just get it in shape, hold it, and refiberglass the inside roof and let it dry back how it originally was? I kind of think it may just need to be popped back up. I would also like to mold in a metal plate in the inside of the roof for a magnetic CB antenna.
Fix up the windows, maybe get the side windows tinted dark and add an outside handle to close them from the outside. Sliding rear window needs work too. I found out the sliding window in the SIDE has been replaced (plexiglass instead of glass) which is why the fit is off, so might try and get new glass in there if I can.
Also someday plan to redo the outside finish. Only options now I see are colormatched paint, black Line-X, or colormatched Line-X. Was quoted $350 for black Line-X and $525 for blue. They are also ordering me new lift struts and brackets since mine are shot. Will be ordering new handles/locks.
This top is for function over form, I've never been a topper man but I'm looking to do some camping. So no comments on "lose the topper" because I already agree. haha.