My 2002 received a new GAHH top yesterday. Dropped car off Monday afternoon. I parked the car on the street and put key in mail slot and owner who lives 5 minutes away came by an hour later and moved car into the shop. Got a call yesterday afternoon car was ready to pick up so I paid via credit card over the phone and made arrangements to pick up car. I left work and got home and got a ride to the shop with my sister. We got there a bit after 8pm and the owner was there waiting. I called him as we were leaving for the shop telling him we'd be there in 15 minutes.
Got a look at the old top. Didn't look all that bad. Shop owner said the same thing. I told him where it was leaking but there was no obvious signs of any failure of the inner rubber material liner. Save for an obviously faded canvas and a cloudy window the top looked just fine.
New top appears to fit just like the old one. Oh, I elected to stay with the plastic window. All the lining and stuff is in place. Top a bit bluer than I recall the factory top, but GAHH says the top is "metropole blue".
Oh, cost was $1421.00. I didn't look at the break down. Receipt is out in the car.
Shop owner says to leave the top up for 2 weeks. Not a problem for me.
My attempt to get a new Porsche top at a substantial discount failed. SM tried but Porsche said 'nein'. SM says Porsche has cut way back on goodwill. I am a bit glad actually the goodwill thing didn't work. I got to thinking at $3229 for the new top -- discounted price I was quoted by dealer or even less had the quest for goodwill been granted -- the tops were not flying off the shelves and who knows how long ago the top was made? My fear was the "new" top would be old and possibly because of this more likely to fail prematurely. The original top lasted over 13 years -- it has been 13 years and 10 days short of 8 months since I bought the car -- and save for a year or so when I was able to park it in a garage when at home it was parked outside and exposed to the elements all the time.
Relieved to have a new top on the car. Since the old one was leaking water -- noticed this during the last couple of car washes -- the interior of the car would likely have gotten wet during a rain -- assuming we ever get any rain here in northern CA again -- and now with the new top I have no fear of the car sitting out in the weather.
Just to be sure at some point I'll pour some water on the top and confirm there are no leaks. I expect none but I'd rather find out in a controlled experiment rather than after a biblical deluge if the dire rain forecasts being bandied about by all the weather experts prompted by the Godzilla El Nino prove accurate.