This past weekend, we took a trek to the local all-furrin’ pick-your-part to see what the haps were, and came across this interesting beast. Yes, that’s a 123W coupe, and yes, it has a soft top. And no, they didn’t come from the factory like that.
What seemingly was once a nice conversion – made so by the fact that the coupe’s pillar-less windows already go down – is now showing the effects of age and having been manhandled by the junkyard forklift. Still, it’s pretty complete, and it’s a shame that it has ended up in this manner.
The top is fully lined, and has professional-looking clamps and hinging, leading me to think it could possibly be an über rare Crayford conversion. That would make this, the epilogue to its life, all the more tragic.
Yes, that’s particle board under there. No badging remains on the car, save for the VIN plate, which doesn’t give any indication of what happened to it once it left the factory.  Also, it’s not a C4C car, as it lacks the identifying florescent orange paint and zip-tied labels indicating that the engines have been lunched, that those cars possess.
So there you go. We got to it too late, but hopefully it will continue to give of itself so that others might live. Its days of top-down, fun in the sun are long over, and it has little to look forward to other than the indignation of people pawing over it for the treasures it still possesses. Eventually, denuded and with nothing more that it may give, it will be thrown to the dis-compassionate jaws of the crusher, and then will be no more. We managed to capture it here, before that happened, in the hopes that it will encourage those that see this car from letting a similar fate befall another interesting ride.