The number of new convertible cars sold in the UK has nearly halved in the last 25 years, with only 16 models for sale across the UK’s top 30 carmakers, according to a new study.
CarGurus UK found that in 2024 there were only 12,173 new convertibles registered in the UK, compared with 94,484 in 2004. The decline is partly due to SUVs becoming a popular choice for people in Britain with many favouring bulkier vehicles with higher seating positions and more boot space.
From scenic drives to leaking hoods, four people share their memories of their convertible and why they love them.
‘It’s quite an indulgence’
“My friend had a 20-year-old Fiat Barchetta for a few years and I had always admired it,” said 80-year-old Susan Laborde. Five years ago, she was given first refusal when her friend wanted to get rid of the car. She never thought about owning a convertible before but it was “so beautiful” she “scraped the money for it” and has never looked back.
Laborde, who lives in a village in the south-west of France, loves driving her “little boat” on local trips. “I feel 20 years younger in it. I didn’t get it to be looked at but I get quite a few looks when I’m out,” she says.
Her grandchildren call her “cool nanna” but the only person who doesn’t enjoy the car is Laborde’s 82-year-old husband, Max. “He has difficulty climbing out of it now and feels every bump. It’s quite uncomfortable for him.”
She has thought about giving it up but the joy she gets from it makes her want to keep it a bit longer. “I love it but I don’t really need it – it’s quite an indulgence. There’s something about driving close to the ground and being close to the earth that makes you feel like you’re flying.”
‘It added to the spirit of adventure for us as kids’
For Paul Nickells in Appleby, Cumbria, convertible cars were an “indelible” part of his childhood. Growing up in Monmouth in south Wales with his parents and three siblings, the family didn’t need a car day-to-day but every summer Nickells’s dad would take out his 1961 Hillman Minx convertible for their annual family camping holiday.
“All six of us would be crammed in, three in the front and three in the back, and the boot would be roped down,” said Nickells, who is a retired IT consultant in his 60s. “Travelling to Tenby or the Gower, there were many breakdowns on these holidays and the Welsh weather meant the roof wasn’t down very often, but being in a convertible added to the spirit of adventure for us young kids.”
One of his favourite memories was a three-week camping holiday in the Lake District in their Sunbeam Rapier. “The roof remained up most of the time but the car was spectacularly unreliable – we got to one campsite so late we had to pitch the tent using its headlights.”
Despite this, Nickells and his siblings feel these experiences fostered a love of the great outdoors and he and his two brothers still own and love their convertibles. “My sister has seen sense but the Sunbeam still remains in the family.”
‘Even when it’s raining, I’ll still drive with the top down wearing a scarf and a big hat’
“My first car was a red Triumph Spitfire which was older than me,” said Jasmine, who is in her 40s and works as a barrister. She bought it when she was 19 and at university and enjoyed driving it with the “tattered roof” down and “jumping in and out, Dukes of Hazzard style”.
Most of the time, Jasmine has enjoyed driving convertibles but had one near-miss experience in Belgium. “We were following a very large and slow agricultural vehicle and as it turned right into a lane there was a twang and scrape along our car. The large vehicle had caught a metal cable suspended high above the lane, broken it and it rebounded over the top of our car. Fortunately we had just put the roof up!”
Living in London, she still enjoys open-top driving and for the last nine years has had an Audi TT. “I adore it because it’s so much fun. Like the Spitfire it has a huge boot, but unlike the Spitfire it can go faster than 50mph.
“There’s a feeling of freedom. It’s not great on a motorway but you can hear the birds and it puts a smile on your face. Even when it’s raining, I’ll still drive with the top down wearing a scarf and a big hat. If you scoot down lower the rain just blows over the top.”
‘It’s about taking away the frame of the car and being in your surroundings’
Martin Hopley, 65, has always had an interest in classic cars, buying them and doing them up, and it was no different when he went to a car show near Carmarthen in 1991 and saw a 1967 MGB roadster for sale. “I spent about 12-18 months taking it down to its bare bones and getting it looking nice,” said the retired psychiatric nurse from Hopley, Gainsborough. “I used it for a few years before selling it to put money towards a house move. I miss it quite a lot.”
One of Hopley’s favourite memories was spending a “glorious” summer’s afternoon touring the back roads of the Black Mountains with his uncle, Colin. “There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was hot enough to drive in a T-shirt. The roads were empty and quiet and the views were stunning. We got a bit lost but it added to the day.”
Colin was an engineer who worked abroad. “He had more money than we ever had as our family were all coalminers, so he always treated us growing up,” says Hopley. Colin retired in the 90s and was diagnosed with colon cancer. “He died recently after a long and torturous fight and the photo from that day reminds me of him and is a treasured memory.”
