'92 Chrysler Le Baron Convertible

[McClarkus]

I have a 69 Triumph Spitfire on blocks out here awaiting a frame off restoration. I just gotta git some muny to git er done. I second the motion on the Miata. Small, quick enough, and a blast to drive. When your butt's only 6" off the pavement, everything feels faster than it is.

[cu74]

I'd say look at the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Some call it a chick car, but it isn't. Not as powerful as the V8s, but a heck of a lot of fun. A metric crapload of aftermarket parts to get it to anywhere you want performance-wise. And it will run forever with maintenance.

I'm with EVAN on the Mazda. I borrowed my brother-in-law's Miata for a weekend several years ago. Almost as much fun to drive as my 240-Z.....

[HTRN]

I'd say look at the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Some call it a chick car, but it isn't. Not as powerful as the V8s, but a heck of a lot of fun.

There are kits to shove a Ford small block into them.

[Lokidude]

I'd say look at the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Some call it a chick car, but it isn't. Not as powerful as the V8s, but a heck of a lot of fun.

There are kits to shove a Ford small block into them.

Heard of kits to drop in a Chevy 350 as well.

And I have to agree with half of Chris's answer. When I read "convertible on a budget," my mind immediately snapped to "late 90s Mustang." (Post Fox body, even though I really do love Foxes.)

[Netpackrat]

So, what would you recommend for a guy on a budget who wants a convertible?

Jeep.

[blackeagle603]

Convertible? Pick a car. Any car.

[Aglifter]

If I ever roll my MG, it's because we were meant to die together. But unless it hits something going sideways, it will always slide before it rolls.

See, I thought that, until my brother rolled his Porsche on the way to HS graduation - it was a back country road (the one we lived on), and he was going slow, but it has just started to rain, and the rear end slipped a little in the mud that was washing down the hill, the bank caught the wheel square (it wasn't properly shaped), and dumped the thing over.

Aside from the windshield being broken, the car actually looked fine. I don't even recall a tail light being broken - but everything got twisted.

[Netpackrat]

If I ever roll my MG, it's because we were meant to die together. But unless it hits something going sideways, it will always slide before it rolls.

See, I thought that, until my brother rolled his Porsche on the way to HS graduation - it was a back country road (the one we lived on), and he was going slow, but it has just started to rain, and the rear end slipped a little in the mud that was washing down the hill, the bank caught the wheel square (it wasn't properly shaped), and dumped the thing over.

Aside from the windshield being broken, the car actually looked fine. I don't even recall a tail light being broken - but everything got twisted.

It sounds like he hit something going sideways.

[Aglifter]

That's, more or less, exactly what happened - any car will roll if it catches a curb/something else, square and low.

[Netpackrat]

In all honesty, it isn't really something I'm worried about. My MGA was my dad's primary transportation for a couple of decades, starting when he was in college. He drove it hard for most of that time. Then he turned it over to my cousin when he came to live with us when he worked for my dad. A lot of the work I'm doing to it right now is fixing the damage that those two did to it over the years. By the time I got my hands on it, it was pretty well used up and it still cornered like it was glued to a set of rails. It's quite possible to kill oneself in an MGA but you have to be trying pretty hard to do so. MGB is a little more susceptible to rolling, especially the later, rubber bumper years, where they got heavier and British Cock Sucking Leyland raised the center of gravity in order to meet US bumper height regulations and wrecked the handling.

But it's also easier to put a roll bar in an MGB and still have a practical vehicle. A roll bar is basically incompatible with the way the MGA soft top stows, and the frame/body geometry doesn't really lend itself to the installation. Not to mention it totally wrecks the lines of the car with the top down. Which is why you seldom see them on an A except in the case of dedicated race (or poser) vehicles.

It's one of those things that falls into the category of acceptable risk. If it were 50 years ago, and I were driving it as my primary transport and as hard as my dad did, I would seriously consider a roll bar. My current daily driver does have a roll bar. But, those days are behind it. When it's finished, it's simply not going to be driven that way, at least not often. Whereas before it was driven in all kinds of weather (somewhere I used to have a set of tire chains that Dad had for it), nowadays it's a fair weather car to be used for Sunday drives, etc. It'll still be driven like an MG, but it won't get pushed the way it used to be.