Has anyone tried retrofitting a 1969 (or whatever) Convertible with a rollover protection system?
Basically what looks like a rear set headrest is actually the tip of a roll bar. When the car tips, it triggers a spring which raises the headset a foot so the car can roll on it!
I’ve read about people taking systems from a junkyard and putting it into their older BMWs.
They can run as self-contained units — no connection to the onboard computer system required.
Here’s a video that demonstrates it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IDXuUvZ3LXk
If there were headrests in the back seat of a Cougar, it would make things easier to imagine. If the rollbars could be attached to the frame in a satisfactory way then perhaps the rear seats could be moved forward a few inches to make the concept work.
What do you think???
I’ve never heard of even one person that rolled their Cougar convertible - are you sure this is necessary? What are the odds?
Salvage yards generally won’t sell used safety components, e.g. air bags, collision sensors, etc. Being from a BMW I think you’d spend quite a bit more than the $167 cited in the video. If you anchored them to the rear bulkhead, the center of gravity in a rollover would flatten the windshield. If you’re concerned about rollover, I suspect it would be cleaner, cheaper and safer to install a roll bar and three point seat belts in your 1969.
I had one of these systems in my 99 996. It was very James Bond, but apparently if it ever went off it would trash the convertible top.
Thanks for the responses everyone. My first post here and it’s awesome how quickly you responded!
Royce - Agreed, it’s rare. Only 3% of serious accidents are rollovers. But 30% of those don’t end well. A friend rolled a car over and survived with just a scratch, but not in a convertible.
walterf - Yes, a rollbar would be the safest approach, but let’s face it, it just ruins the aesthetics of the car and makes for a sub-optimal back seat experience. Great point about the center of gravity and the lost windshield. I’ll have to check if it’s still useful if the windshield is crushed on you anyway.
JETEXAS - 996 was a breakthrough car in many way, as I understand. I could live with a trashed top … if it meant I lived to tell the tale. As for James Bond, he did race in his wife’s cougar after all!
Well, it’s not likely I’ll pursue this. Probably just stick with adding a 3 point seatbelt.
Well, it only takes something like a 30-degree tilt to set them off, so most of the accounts on the renntech forum were accidental deployments. Obviously if you were in a rollover the top would be trashed anyway.
It is a pretty ambitious idea and be cool if you pull it off but would think there is more to the project than just adding the rollover system. As if that would not be a feat in itself. Cougar frames are late '50s tech at best. Think Ford Falcon based.
Suggest you see if it has been done before with any 60-70 era vehicle as would not want to be the first one to try and do it.
One thing to look at is the roll bar that was installed in 69 Shelby GT350/500 convertibles. Don’t know how effective they are, but not an aesthetic nightmare as some other roll bars I might be.
The repop shelby style bars that I’ve seen have all been mounted into a section of tubing bolted to the upper part of the inner rear quarter panel just ahead of the window crank using sheet metal screws. That’s not going to do much in an accident, but I imagine it would be easy enough to extend the bar and tie it into the rear torque box on each side. That should buy you some head room if you go shiny side down.
LMFAO Royce. I had the same conversation with the Mrs. last time she was in the convertible. Got nowhere, BTW. 
Oldwood has the Shelby bar in his 69 Cougar that looks nice.
Yorgie, the Shelby style bars are the only devices that look aesthetic enough to consider, but they are may from “integral skin urethane.” Carroll Shelby would surely be astonished to see a plastic strip masquerading as a safety device. I’m surprised they aren’t liable for accidents regardless of warning notices!
All of the Shelby bars that I’ve seen are steel tubing encased in the urethane skin. I’m not saying they’re as strong as NHRA spec bars, but they’d be better than your head for holding the car up from the pavement.
Good point, Yorgie, I didn’t realize they at least had something metal inside.