We take a trip to Monsoon Car Hoods to get a new roof for our competition Honda S2000…
If you saw last month’s entry, you’ll be aware that we’d just purchased our 2017 competition car (see below for how you can win it!). Now, whilst we have been impressed with the S2000, one area that really needed attention was the soft top. The previous owner Imran did tell us it had seen better days, but we didn’t look too closely at it when we bought the car as it came with a hard top.
But on closer inspection it was evident that it definitely needed replacing. There were quite a few tears where the roof had got a bit brittle and also a few holes, including one that looked like it had been repaired by someone’s Nan.
So the search was on to find a new Honda S2000 replacement roof. Originally we thought about fitting it ourselves, that was until we saw a few guides and videos, and quickly decided it would be best left to the professionals. After a search online it was evident that this is a pretty specialist field and that when it comes to supplying and fitting soft tops there’s only one place to go and that’s Monsoon Car Hoods.
Not only have these guys been plying their trade since the ‘80s, they also supply roofs to a lot of the trade, come highly recommend by the S2000 Owners Club and also Glenda’s Mum (after they did the roof on her Suzuki), so what more reassurance could we want? As they say, Mum knows best! So we got it booked in with Michael and Sam at Monsoon Car Hoods.
A few weeks later and it was fitting day. So Glenda drove the car to their HQ in East Sussex and left the S2k in their capable hands as he looked on. Within less than an hour the roof was stripped back to its bare metal frame and ready for its fresh twill weave roof.
And, it was at this point we decided it was lucky we did leave it to the professionals, as it was evident just how intricate a job fitting a soft top is. Of course Monsoon’s highly skilled fitters made it look easy, but you could see this was from years of experience of replacing roofs on everything from Mazda MX-5s and BMW Z4s to Porsche 911s and Mercedes CLKs.
Three hours and a lot of work later it was complete and we had a roof that looked better than the day the S2000 rolled off the production line in Takanezawa, Japan – yes it really is that good!
If you need a new roof for your convertible or 4×4 we would definitely recommend Monsoon, not only are they super-cool people and offer great service, our roof also came with a lifetime window to hood bond guarantee. Happy days!
Anyway, we’re off for a winter drive with the roof down and heaters up. Has anyone seen my bobble hat?
**WIN THIS CAR**
For your chance to get your hands on this car look out for the Competition Station tent in the main paddock area of the following shows; Japfest – Silverstone 30th April, Japfest 2 – Donington 1st July, The Fast Car Festival – Donington 2nd July, TRAX – Silverstone 1st October. Additional show appearances TBA. The winner will be drawn at TRAX at Silverstone on 1st October 2016.
Spent this month:
Monsoon S2000 twillweave soft-top roof supply and fit – £734
Total build spend: £5,734
Contacts:
Monsoon Car Hoods
01323 440422
