letters to the editor

Stayin’ Cool:
Making the Most of Your Series
Story by: Christopher S. Berdy
Photos by: Katherine S. Berdy
[Christopher Berdy practices law and lives with his family in
Birmingham, AL.. To break the boredom, he entertains himself
with his 1970 Series IIA 88” SW. Here’s his tale of getting more out
of his Rover –ed.]
Spring is my favorite time of year…warm days, cool nights, fishing,
camping, and my son’s T-ball games. Unfortunately, in Birmingham,
Alabama, a blistering summer always interrupts a too short spring.
For a Series Land Rover owner in the South, the heat-retaining
properties of an aluminum hardtop prove to be a highly unattractive
quality in the sweltering summer months. While I laugh at the
debates over the “Kodiak v. Smiths” heaters on Rovers North Forum,
I find little humor in running a 38-year old vehicle with no
air-conditioning and a hardtop in the oppressive August heat.
So, converting my 1970 Series IIA 88” station wagon to canvas (called
a “tilt” across the pond) was as much a necessity as a desire.
The Series Land Rover came in many permutations. To keep
manufacturing costs low, the body tub included installation tubes for
use with any hard top, pickup top or canvas top. By 1967, Land Rover
is advertising its lower-priced canvas top model as “the Land Rover
convertible.” You were urged to roll up its canvas top “at the first glint
of sunshine.” Never mind that the framework of aluminum hoops,
stays and rails were either “on” or “off,” or that the thick canvas top
can barely be removed and folded away – the conversion to a soft top
transforms the car.
I ordered a full “hoop set,” canvas top, gutter rails, windscreen
rail, door seals, and tie downs from Rovers North. As I had a
standard rear door with two side hinges, I also bought a tailgate,
seals, and related hardware. After sorting out and separating the
daunting number of parts, I armed myself with a socket set, a small
crescent wrench, several flat-head screwdrivers, a drill, tin snips, vise
grips, and my not-so-fun-to-use rivet gun.
In some thirteen years of ownership, the previous owner of my
IIA had never removed the top. Although I had heard horror stories
of Series owners cracking their windscreens while trying to detach
the hardtop, its removal (and detaching the rear door) went without
incident. For a change all the bolts – the two behind the front seats,
the two on each side of rear tub, the stretch of them across the
windshield – came apart easily and smoothly. Lifting it off was
another matter; it was not a one man job.
After installing the front and rear hoops, I fitted the side ties and
then the middle hoop. For the middle hoop, I used a large vise grip
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