Soft top webbing straps puzzler

[KSM62]

I'm in the process of sorting the shabby soft top and frame on my 77 MkII. The frame was looking pretty rough so I completely dismantled, powder coated and rebuilt the frame with new fixings. It was quite a job but it does appear to be opening and closing without any problems. I didn't fancy fitting the hood myself so I have entrusted this job to Nick, a trimmer of 40 years from Auto Classico in Bristol. Nick is currently fitting up all the small parts before fitting the hood next week but we have a puzzling issue. The original webbing straps on my car only went from the header rail to the rear bow, ie the one above the rear window and the new webbing straps are the same length as the original. Nick says he has never fitted a hood on a Stag where the webbing straps didn't cover the whole frame from header rail to the rear lower bow. Indeed there are holes for what look like retaining plates in the rear bow, although they are slightly narrower than on the other fixing points and Rimmers catalogue shows that there are 10 retaining plates to attach the webbing to the five bows. I'm fairly sure the hood is the original one fitted to the car in 77 as its a one owner, fairly low mileage car and it doesn't look like the the original webbing was cut or shortened. Also fwiw the rear lower bow wasn't covered in any material. So how long should the webbing straps be? Are there differences, apart from the hood itself, between the MkI and MkII? Pictures would be good.

Thanks
Keith

[jakesmig]

Mine only go between the rail above the rear screen to the front header rail.

John

PS. Mk 1 car.

[Forest]

Same on mine, also a Mk 1 but no side windows.
Steve

[Forest]

I'm not Forest! Somehow I've got his log on details on my mobile phone.

[KSM62]

I've discovered that the webbing straps on TRs and Heralds do fit over the entire frame from header rail to rear rail but I've not found any evidences of this on the Stag so maybe this is what my trimmer remembers. However the Stags rear rail does have a couple of dimples as if the webbing should terminate here. It would enable the webbing retainer to remain flush with the rail. I think I'll stick with the same length of webbing as was removed but it would be interesting to know if there has ever been an alternative.

[KSM62]

This is the corner dimple in the rear rail

[PJB]

IMG_5980.JPG

not the best photo - original hood, never changed. looks like to only runs to the bow (76 car) regards Julian

[brian0443]

IMG_20190703_184311.jpg ni iComing late to the party. Mine is a 1973 with a double duck hood. It's old enough to possibly be original, but who knows what previous owners have swapped out. 9

[STypeR]

My Mark II soft top was original as well and webbing only ran to the 45 degree angle bar and not to the flat ( horizontal) bar, as per Julian's photo above. I kept and reused the original webbing in the frame restoration process.