Is a parade boot worth the money?

[hermanrodriquez]

I'm getting ready to paint and thinking about a parade boot. What's your thoughts on this...is it worth the money? If I buy one through Hydo-e-lectric how does it clip into the car? I like to clean look in pictures but have never seen one up close. Is it hard to put in?

As always your advice is welcomed.

[Richard Dunn]

I always liked the look of the fiberglass boot.
My '73 had the vinyl boot and I didn't know back then that I could have purchased the fiberglass boot and had the mounting hardware installed.
If I had purchased it new or if I had ordered the car new I would have definitley opted for it.
I know that I had looked at '74 and '75 Buicks and I wanted the fiberglass boot for them too. Unfortunately I wasn't able to purchase either.
Quite a few folks here have added them to their cars and they look great.
I saw a used one at Carlisle in the Spring and they were asking a couple hundred for it.

[centurion 455 ragtop]

Pictures sometime tells it all:xyxthumbs: My only complaint about them is storing it without scratching it. Also get yourself a cloth case to store it from Hydo-e-lectric. With mine it stays at home unless I am using it so it, so it doesn't get banged around in the trunk. I searched E-Bay and found a good used one for half the price. With my boot some of the hardware was a bit rusty so I bought a new kit from Hydo-e-lectric. It was far cheaper than buying a new re-manufactured boot. You just have to keep looking as they do pop up time to time and are about half the price of a re-manufactured one. Any full side GM from 1971-1975 should fit (Olds, Caddi, Buick). With winter on us just search the car sites and e-bay, you never know. And if by late winter early Spring you haven't found one, then go for the new one. In the end once painted, they look great on the car!

[hermanrodriquez]

Rick,

Your car is fantastic. How does the hard boot install? I know the hard boot connect through a hole and "pin". How do you install the hole and how does this contraption fit together? I've seen some of the other e-mails discussing what to do prior to installing..... I'm really interested in how this actually installs.

Thanks for all the feedback to all. I love this site!

[centurion 455 ragtop]

It is sort of tricky the first few times installing it. I place one side on first on the car lining it up. Then the other side, the boot has tabs which are part of the boot shell that interlock with the other half and its tabs. Slightly lifting the one side interlocking it into the other then in place gently work in back so the metal clips latch to the rear body shelf. Last I then attach the chrome zeus fastners on each side. (The chrome twist clips on eather side in the interior part). If you buy a used boot it is very important that the interlocking tabs which are part of the boot intself are not cracked or missing. Just by eye balling it you can tell the condition. If one is missing or badly cracked, pass on it, don't buy it.

As for installing the hole for the two interior clips. Buy the zeus clips from Hydo-e-lectric, they come with both the male and female ends in a kit, it also comes with installation instructions. My used boot had the male ends on it and they were rusty so I had to carefully hack saw them off. I then installed the boot and lined up where the two zeus clips would go and using a marker made a dot onto the interior panel thru the hole of the boot where the zeus fastner goes. I then removed the boot and drilled out my holes and installed the female end of the zeus fastner. Just be patient and check and re-check measurement before driling any holes.

[hermanrodriquez]

Thanks Rick!:xyxthumbs:

[centurion 455 ragtop]

I just shot a few photos here for you showing the tabs. On mine you can see one of the tabs is cracked. The crack is not all the way thru. It's on my lists of things to do this winter, repairing it before it breaks all the way thru. Anyway I did a series of shots showing how it locks in place. You can see how important these tabs are regarding the intergrity of the boot when it is installed.

[centurion 455 ragtop]

Here is a shot of the clips and rubber buppers. Also is a shot of an add on my body guy thought of. He mentioned that while installing the boot and when it is installed from driving vibrations the boot may scratch up the rear deck of the car. So he took a soft black plyable rubber door edge guard material, cut it to size and just finger pressed it onto the boot.

[hermanrodriquez]

Rick,

Thank you for the ongoing education. I can see how important the tabs are keeping this together. I will do the same on the trailing edge of the boot. The more i think about this the more I want to do it. Do you carry a soft boot as well? Is this faster to put on the soft?

Thanks again!

[The German]

Herman,
I also bought a used old parade boot and fixed some smaller cracks etc. but too late realized that my top doesn´t drive down deep enough to get the boot installed :
http://www.buickcenturion.com/forums/showthread.php?t=723

Up to now I couldn´t find out the reason. We have no specialist for old US cars convertible tops in the region where I´m living and so the boot still waits for a solution. Perhaps I´ll drive to a specialist next years summer.

Only what I wanted to tell you with this story is : Also check your top-down-position before buying a parade boot !

[Centurion717273]

Is the black edging supposed to be around the base?

[centurion 455 ragtop]

Is the black edging supposed to be around the base?


The base of the boot at least on my car sits on the chrome trim. The rubber trim does goes on around the base of each boot so it ats like a buffer against scratches when it is mounted.

[centurion 455 ragtop]

Herman,
I also bought a used old parade boot and fixed some smaller cracks etc. but too late realized that my top doesn´t drive down deep enough to get the boot installed :
http://www.buickcenturion.com/forums/showthread.php?t=723

Up to now I couldn´t find out the reason. We have no specialist for old US cars convertible tops in the region where I´m living and so the boot still waits for a solution. Perhaps I´ll drive to a specialist next years summer.

Only what I wanted to tell you with this story is : Also check your top-down-position before buying a parade boot !

Rolf I missed your thread and just read it. On my top one corner does the same but not as bad, so when the top is 3/4's down I get out and tuck in the top. There is a small metal cable that runs on the top on each side from front to back. I think it is this cable that pulls tight and gets the top to fold inward when it is opening. I will check up on this tonight and see what I can find. I would think it is something that you can fix without sending the car to a specialist.

[centurion 455 ragtop]

Rolf I attached the drawing of the cable. When my top wouldn't fold inward I noticed the screw that held the cable snug (View U ) near the front roof piller was missing and the cable was just hanging loose in the top. Once I re-attached it the top folded up ok.

[The German]

http://www.buickcenturion.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7984&posted=1#post7984

[Centurion717273]

The base of the boot at least on my car sits on the chrome trim. The rubber trim does goes on around the base of each boot so it ats like a buffer against scratches when it is mounted.


I have been searching pictures all over the web and can't find any other pictures showing the black molding around the bottom edge of the boot, are you sure that's factory?

[centurion 455 ragtop]

I have been searching pictures all over the web and can't find any other pictures showing the black molding around the bottom edge of the boot, are you sure that's factory?

We got our wires crossed here ;) My body guy suggested adding this to prevent scratches. Its not a factory piece or factory correct. He just had some soft rubber door edge guard in a roll and cut it to length.

[The German]

We got our wires crossed here ;) My body guy suggested adding this to prevent scratches. Its not a factory piece or factory correct. He just had some soft rubber door edge guard in a roll and cut it to length.

Guess that´s a very good idea, Rick; thanks for this advice !
I also bought such a soft rubber door edge guard for my boot, but the process stopped since I realized that my top goes not down deep enough for set up the boot.

[73 Centurion]

They call it a parade boot, but it is NOT strong enough to sit on. If you actually have the car in a parade you need to tell people to not sit on it.

I know one of our members made a padded box that goes on the rear seat for the beauty queen to sit on.

Oh and if the beauty queen is sitting up high for the crowd to see, and she's wearing a mini-skirt you should dip your rearview mirror. You could get distracted and run over the marching band.

I tell you, Sousaphones are a bitch to pick out of the grill. :spank:

John

[hermanrodriquez]

John,

You are a funny guy....although it sounds like you may have done this before:laugh: