Convertible GT Owners--precaution

There is no manual crank. It's very unlikely the motor will ever go out. I had an 83 5.0... original top motor... I never had a problem with it.

'Vert

Not likley. If you're that worried, get a coupe.

They are correct, no manual way. I have heard that it can be raised manually by standing in the back seat and lifting. I feel that might ruin the mechanism though so I would not do it on my car. I figure that if it does not come up, the next stop is Ford....

I wouldn't be too quick to try to force it up

The original owner of my car ruined the top mechanicals by manually pulling it up. It never folded correctly after that. He go so frustrated at trying to get it repaired correctly he sold the car. I picked it up fairly cheap and took it to my local dealer for warranty work. They said “they don’t see enough of theses to do it right” and refused to work on it. I called Ford, they sent me to another dealer in a small town 30 miles away, who sent it out to a shop specializing in tops and interiors another 50 miles farther away. After several more tries at getting everything right, Ford finally replaced it under warranty.

It spent a couple of weeks in the shop, which I kind of expected it would need to when I bought it. Now it works great. This dealer (Heller Ford, El Paso, IL) is now “my” dealer, with their great service winning all my business. (No financial interest, I just like to point out a helpful dealer)

I have a 1966 with power top. I know of no way to raise or lower it manually.

I have an '89 LeBaron 'vert that I inherited when my mom passed away. It has a valve in the trunk that you can loosen to raise or lower the top manually. It isolates the hydraulics, as far as I can tell.

I'm kind of suprised newer 'verts don't have something similar. What do you do if you're out, it starts raining, and your motor or pump fails?