Convertible or Cabriolet?
Before continuing I must explain the wording of a ‘Viva HB convertible’ as it is known. Car firms, even today use, the words ‘Convertible’ and ‘Cabriolet’, but there are vast differences to the build in each case. ‘Convertible’ rolls off the tongue far easier than Cabriolet, hence every car is normally tarnished with this expression.

The Viva HB Convertibles are actually Cabriolets. The difference is that the Cabriolet has the hood hidden below the deck level, where as a convertible has its hood all stacked up on top of the rear deck. To me the convertible is likened to a babies pram. Modern car like the Escort MKIII and Golfs were called Cabriolets, but using the above statement, they are in fact convertibles. At this time in Crayfords history, the Cabriolet hood had just been designed and saw life also in the Ford Cortina MKII, Corsair and Capri.

The Cabriolet’s hood itself was made from Mohair, unlike the convertibles, which was of a plastic leatherette type material. The unique feature being that a headlining was employed to hide the hood frame from the driver and passengers giving the hood a more sophisticated edge. The construction of the Cabriolet’s hood mechanism, although agricultural was far more rigid and has lasted the test of time. Its shape lent itself to enhance the cars it was fitted to, rather than just being a rag stretched over a frame.

The most notable impression the Cabriolet gives over the Convertible hood is of its instant operation. Un-clip the two catches inside on the top of the windscreen and then fold the entire hood into its storage compartment. Everything from a Morris Minor, Triumph Stag, Spitfire or MGB, the driver had to get out of the car and undo numerous poppers, just to allow the hood to fold backwards. So basically the Cabriolet hood was a one handed operation to put down or pull up. The latter assuming the tonneau cover had been removed first.

The negative side of having a Cabriolet hood is that the rear seats have to be reduced in width and in most cases are made more upright. This is done so to create the stowage space behind the rear seats. A factory made modern car would have these problems designed out in the first place, but Crayfords were converting existing saloons. The other downside to having a hood that folds away quickly is that the rain runs down inside the car behind the ‘B’ post. There are drip trays to funnel the water down into the sills, but as you can imagine this in itself is a recipe for disaster, especially on a ‘60s car.

The Beginning
Only 11 months after the SL90 HB was purchased the Crayford Viva HB was launched – March 1968. This was done in the magazine Motor and an article in February ’68 in the Sunday Express. The prices started from £1150 for the basic HB and a massive £1342 for the HB GT. The conversion cost £500, which on top of a £800 car, didn’t see the orders rushing in.

The ‘Press’ car used for all the articles and promotional pictures was ‘OPF’ (Mrs McMullan's car), but normally over written number plates of ‘SL90’ were placed on for the photo shoots. OPF was the only car seen ever wearing the special Cosmic wheels so looking at any article you can confirm its original registration. The odd and rather strange over writing was on the Sunday Express launch article, this had ‘LWN 860F’ badly covering the number plate of OPF. This wasn’t an actual number plate, but a correction on the photograph. It looked like a Tipp-ex and black marker job. This registration was later to appear on the so called ‘Brabham’ convertible.