What Car Should Be A Convertible?

It’s 82 degrees here in Brooklyn, which means it’s summer regardless of what the calendar says. With hot weather come dreams of top-down cruising, the sun on your face and the wind in your hair, but there’s a problem with that dream: Some cars on this earth aren’t convertibles. I know, I know, it doesn’t make much sense to me either, but automakers keep putting out these vehicles with “fixed rooves” like that’s something anyone would want. So, today, we ask: What automaker’s mistake should we rectify? What car should be made available as a convertible?

My pick for a vehicle deserving of the something-better-than-a-Sawzall treatment is an unexpected one: The Slate Auto pickup, a truck that’s yet to see customers or dealer floors. None of us know whether it’ll actually be “good” to drive, let alone whether it’ll mesh well with the sort of top-down cruising that convertibles promote, but we do know two things: It’ll be cheap, and it’ll have swappable rooves. Why not have one of those rooves be C: None of the above?

A convertible Slate, even in a sort of targa configuration, would be a throwback to the old K5 Blazer, GMC Jimny, and even the original Ford Bronco. A pickup first, a convertible or an SUV second — it’s a different vibe from the modern Wrangler and Bronco, which are SUVs first and pickups not at all. Imagine driving around with your pickup bed full and the clear blue sky over your head. Isn’t that the ideal vehicle? 

My pick for a vehicle that should be turned into a convertible is the Slate Auto pickup. I’m right, but you may not agree — that’s okay, we’ve got space for differences of opinion here. Tell me what vehicle you think deserves a droptop variant, and I’ll collect your answers later on in the week. With any luck, the automaker CEOs of the world will be reading, and we can collectively fix the automotive market.