Roof too tall?

[glang]

Does anyone else think the roof height on the Herald/vitesse is too high or is it just me? The car is a great design but for me would look much better with a roofline an inch or two lower! I can't understand why Michelotti made it so high as there's plenty of headroom and even more so back in the day when people were smaller. I don't know if anyone has attempted the horrendous job of chopping a bit off the roof but I would love to see it....

[Rosbif]

Back in the day I wasn't any smaller than I am now and the Herald I learnt to drive in seemed fine.

I'm smaller now with age and less hair, probably the same volume just relocated body mass.(angry)

[Bitumen Boy]

IMO it looks just fine as it is, and gives plenty of room for hats. My modern has dirty marks on the headlining where my hat has rubbed, but no issues in the Herald... 🙂

[Rosbif]

Quoted from Bitumen Boy

IMO it looks just fine as it is, and gives plenty of room for hats. My modern has dirty marks on the headlining where my hat has rubbed, but no issues in the Herald... 🙂

Answer: Drive a convertible (wink)

[Steve AKA vitessesteve]

If you want less head room how about driving a GT6 or hardtop Spitfire.

[RobPearce]

Quoted from vitessesteve

If you want less head room how about driving a GT6 or hardtop Spitfire.

I used to share lifts with a chap who was unusually tall - which ruled him out from driving many modern cars, especially those with sunroofs. He found that my GT6 had plenty of headroom.

[glang]

Quoted from vitessesteve

If you want less head room how about driving a GT6 or hardtop Spitfire.

It's not that I want less headroom just that I think the roof is slightly out of proportion and would look racier being lower

[ahebron]

Hi Glang
You are not alone

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/84367/roof-chops-help

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=916557

Adrian

[Steve AKA vitessesteve]

Herald Hot Rod: Sorry , link no longer available

[Dion]

Quoted from RobPearce

I used to share lifts with a chap who was unusually tall - which ruled him out from driving many modern cars, especially those with sunroofs. He found that my GT6 had plenty of headroom.

Twenty years ago my brother (6'4") tried to sit behind the wheel of a Mk1 GT6 and found out he did not fit, no room for his legs. He decided then he would not try to find a Mk1. I have no problem (6'1").
Looking back at the pic it seems it was a Herald wheel?

[daver clasper]

I love the styling of vit/herald. Though.

From a couple of angles, say about 30 degrees out from the sides viewing back or front, from a distance, it looks very bulky from waist to bottom.

Will have another view of the roof line.

One thing that didn't work for me, was when rover did the P5  saloon with the coupe lowered roof.

Cheers, Dave
  

[Bitumen Boy]

Quoted from Rosbif

Answer: Drive a convertible (wink)

But how would I carry doors, timber, pipes etc on top of a convertible? A good few years ago now I made a roofrack for the Herald out of mostly scrap materials that's still going strong. I think the stuff I paid for - mostly nuts, bolts and paint - came to about £20 in total.

[Rosbif]

Quoted from Bitumen Boy

But how would I carry doors, timber, pipes etc on top of a convertible? A good few years ago now I made a roofrack for the Herald out of mostly scrap materials that's still going strong. I think the stuff I paid for - mostly nuts, bolts and paint - came to about £20 in total.

Wait until it rains and then put the roof up (huh)

[herald948]

Quoted from glang

Does anyone else think the roof height on the Herald/vitesse is too high or is it just me?

I can honestly say that I've never given the subject any thought at all. Of course, having max'd out at 5'6" about 40 years ago, almost everything looks tall to me. 😉

[glang]

Yup it's a fine line and as we can see easy to go a chop too far! I reckon the solution for me would be to go convertible but with one of those sloping coupe tops.....

[RobPearce]

Personally I think the Herald roof is just right. It's a larger proportion of the car than most moderns but that's entirely because moderns ALL have far too much waist (the door line is too high, because it has to be for side impact rules).

I've yet to see a roof chop that didn't look ugly. On a 1920s American (traditional material for such things) it looks silly but predictable. On anything else... yuk. And yes, that does include factory produced ones like the Mini and, to a lesser extent, the Rover P5 coupe.