A: BAck in the late '70s, I was taking welding at a Vo-Tech College up in the hills of Haney, BC and we had to be there, no matter what weather (I drove 75 miles a day to and from school) At the time, I had a '66 Nova 2 dr HT and come winter, I pushed it a bit harder one day to get there on time (I allowed 3 hours for the drive in snow, but traffic backups due to accidents ate 2 1/2 hours worth before I got past 1/2 way) I caught an ice patch on a switchback corner and gently slid off the road into the ditch at @5mph, where the car laid on it's side. It took a bit of work, but I managed to climb out the driver's side window with my stuff. As I jumped down off the car onto the road, the force moved the car further over, and it finished it's roll. The roof flattened down to the seat tops! I was so stunned that I nearly forgot about continuing on to school (a fellow student saw me and gave me a ride. We were both written up for being late by the instructor, but I took pictures of my car to the supervisor and he removed that from our record) That was my last small hard top for quite some time! (I ended up with a 2 dr HT Datsun 200SX years later that had snow/ice trouble too. I was on my way to sell it and took out a light pole in reverse when someone backed up onto the freeway from the offramp and I swerved to avoid collision. Looking back, I don't know which would have been worse for us) From: <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Hardtops To: mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx The hardtop styling came about because of the convertible influence. People liked the idea of owning a convertible but not the pitfalls of owning one. GM then brought it out as a compromise and originally it only came in a 2-dr. Later on for the family man a 4-dr Hdtp was introduced. But yeah, they all have one thing in common that identifies a hardtop, no middle pillar. The mandatory shoulder belts and safety concerns killed the hdtp. A sedan is generally a car designed to sit 3 adults comfortably in the back whereas a coupe is a car for only 2 adults. So you then have a hardtop coupe, 2-dr sedan, etc. And of course every one had their own spin on things. For me the 2-dr hdtp is the nicest style for a car after my AMX of course. Give me a hdtp coupe in the summer with all the windows down, the wing windows wide open and the vents open. Yeah baby.....Russ