Well, after a lot of mumbling and a lot of emails to the manufacturer and to the distributor I finally got them to remake their pattern and correct the mistakes with the rear window on the convertible top for the 61-63 birds. I took lots of photos and lots of measurements and emailed them all the information on what was incorrect with their window. I emailed all this information to them along with the exact things they needed to do to make the window correctly. They never even acknowledged any of my emails other than to say they were ordering a top from a competitor to see what theirs was like. I also created a special webpage with all photos showing tape measure with their window on the car…….. never acknowledged that either. To this day, I don’t know if they even looked at it.
Late last week I get an email with a photo of their competitors rear windows. I just replied that it is exactly what I was trying to explain about the problem.
Then I get a message that they will send me a new window and I am supposed to give them feedback as to the fit of the new one. Remember now………. I had already spent hours taking pics and getting them all the previous infor and never even heard that they even looked at it…………… and they had the nerve to ask me to give feedback on the new window prototype………….. why would I believe they would even look at it.?
The window came in Thursday and we installed it that night. I am betting they just copied the competitors window……….. It does fit perfectly and it is exactly the way I explained what they should do to correct theirs.
Bottom line is that the problem has been solved and I have confidence in selling these to customers now, knowing that when they go to install them they will end up with a final product that is correct and very nice. And if the customer has questions about installing the top I can answer them with first hand knowledge that I gained by going through this whole ordeal.
Throughout this process I have not mentioned who the manufacturer nor the distributor is because of good business practices. The top manufacturers do not include their name on anything that comes with the top when you buy it, which I can understand on one hand but I would think that if they were confident in their product they would be happy to have you spread the word about their top. I was told that they don’t want all kind of people calling them with questions on installation etc. I now know that at the factory there is no one who has actually installed a convertble top so they have no knowledge of what it takes to put one of these on. Therefore they could not answer any questions anyway. They just make them and “assume” that it is correct because they are using the “ORIGINAL PATTERN”. They would not believe me no matter what I sent as far as proof because they did not consider me a “PROFESSIONAL INSTALLER” (even though I have been putting tops on thunderbird convertibles for over 45 years) I guess experience does not make one a professional.
So guess what…….. if you want a nice fitting top, this “OLD THUNDERBIRD GUY” can sell you one with the confidence of knowing that persistence has gotten the results needed to get it right with this manufacturer.
Hopefully this will help people in the future. God bless!