Hood has shrunk

[mister bridger]

I've rather stupidly left my 9A roadster in the lockup with the hood down and it's shrunk by a considerable amount. Is there any way of reversing this? Heat/steam? It's mohair canvas I believe and only a few years old. TIA

[mikeyr]

depending on where you are, you may have to wait a few months. Put the car out in the sunshine with the top up to get it nice and warm and make sure it stays as tight as possible, I used tape on the metal frame of the top to the windshield (did not put tape on the material) and let it sit there all day, by end of day it was close. Did it again next day and closed top by lunch time. This was not on a Singer but another car that the top had been down over a decade on.

My current daily driver, the top is down for months at a time, it hardly ever rains in S. Calif. so I can go 11+ months with top down and I have had it shrink but usually can leave it overnight in the garage and have it work. I am lucky that I live in S. Calif. because I can almost all year with top down. I basically only put it up when it rains hard or when parking in the snow, I left the top down one time for 2 days at a ski resort and had a real mess to clean up, learned my lesson. The whole point is, I have been driving convertibles since 1974, tops will shrink if not put back up occasionally but its not a big deal to stretch them back, just a little heat from the sun will do it, I would not try heat from a heat gun or even steam.

[mister bridger]

Thanks. Here in not so sunny England I may have a long wait for a warm sunny day!

[mikeyr]

yeah, for the UK I understand that sunny days don't come everyday. In that case you may have to refer to extra help, my concern with steam (and I don't know if this is true) is that I was told its a temporary fix, the material will shrink back quickly.

Have you tried tensioning the top a little bit, using tape at safe areas that won't be be damaged by the sticky stuff and re-tensioning every day until it gently stretches back ? Might take a few days but it fit once, it should fit again.