[Spridgets] Skimpy Tonneaus

[tinydog at snet.net]

tinydog offered:

David,

The pattern could be incorrect OR fitting might work in warmer weather or if you heat the tonneau.

--- On Fri, 2/27/09, dlancer7676 at comcast.net <dlancer7676 at comcast.net> wrote:
From: dlancer7676 at comcast.net <dlancer7676 at comcast.net>
Subject: [Spridgets] Skimpy Tonneaus
To: "Spridgets" <spridgets at autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:26 PM

What the heck is going on? Are tonneau covers going the way of sugar (5 lb. bags
now 4 lb.) and coffee (now 11.5 oz. in a pound)? Just after I bought my '79
Midget, I purchased a used tonneau cover from a car guy in Knoxville. The fabric
was fairly heavy and the tonneau fit very nicely, and had snaps on the tabs that
hung over the windows. I measured and installed the matching snaps on the doors
just below the windows, and when everything was snapped up, the tonneau was
pretty darned secure. 

That original tonnau finally went the way of sun and use damage and I had to
trash it, thinking I will just buy another on ebay. So I purchased one that was
reportedly for a Sprite or Midget. The picture had the pockets in the right
places--two for the headrests and one for the steering wheel. But when I tried
to snap this tonneau on, the snaps on the tonneau wouldn't quite reach the
snaps on the car. and the tabs over the windows had NO snaps on them, and there
was NO WAY, once the few snaps it would reach in the rear were engaged, it would
reach the FRONT snaps. 

So I went back to ebay and bought another one--described for a '69-'79
Sprite or Midget. It is really nice, a;though the fabric is somewhat thinner,
and all the rear snaps are snapped, but the tabs over the windows/doors are TOO
DAMNED SHORT, coming to just over the windows themselves, and there are NO snaps
on these either, to secure the tonneau over the doors. 

Why is there no standard for producing a tonneau cover? These that I am buying
are not NEW tonneaus, so (as far as I know) are not made in China or Taiwan. All
I want is a tonneau cover that will engage ALL the snaps on my car, INCLUDING
those that I installed on the outside of the doors, just below the windows. 

Anybody else having trouble with ill-fitting tonneaus?