Convertible Top: Gahh vs Auto Tops Direct [aka Sierra Auto Tops]

Getting ready to replace mine on my MY99 and am quite confused on which to choose. Both are distributed by Gahh, and come from the same location in North Hollywood. I spoke with the gal at ATD and she said that they use the same Haartz material as Gahh does, like the German A5. She also mentioned the plastic windows are the same in the two products. However she mentioned that their tops are not manufactured by Gahh. They do their own manufacturing. I did ask if they were owned in any way by Gahh and she said yes. The same German A5 top with tax and shipping; Gahh is $1016, ATD is $655 So does anyone have experience with the two products with regard to quality, fit, and finish?

Sorry, no help with your question, but, go for the glass window. Yes it's smaller but, to me looks so much more refined, zero maintenance, zero hazing over time. Just my $.02........

I believe for my build car (5/98) they don't even offer a glass-window variant. Regardless, I will probably go for the plastic due to visibility. With the sail panels blocking most of your rear visibility, I'd prefer not to reduce it even further. Anyhow, I just met with the installer, and he said that the difference between the Gahh product and the Sierra product is quite apparent. He said you can see it in the overall build quality, but most importantly he mentioned that with the Gahh tops everything just lines up. Still curious if anyone else has had experience with any other companies.

...I believe for my build car (5/98) they don't even offer a glass-window variant... Not so. Glass is an option. Ask me how I know. My build date is 05/99 which should be identical to yours. Looks like you're set on the plastic, just correcting the record for future viewers...

Just to clarify my build date (5/1998) is one year earlier than yours. Regardless, where did you source your glass windowed top from?

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I wish my top looked like that

Every time I see a plastic window I cringe..... To each his own, but I can't get my head around why anyone would go plastic if replacing their top..... Anyway....

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That's clear, any reason you speculate the tops differ in some way. They are both early MKI's. A1 Auto Trim in Greensboro, NC did my top. Receipt says "Black German Cloth". Done 05/01/2015, cost $2,200 by PO, but I have all his receipts and records. When I purchased the car I was very impressed with the quality of this top. The cloth material is top notch and looks new 2 years on. I have the top down often here in S. FL and when it is up there is no visible creases or fold marks that remain.

I am right on board with rolex11, while I don't have an experience with a 996 top, I DO have experience with our previous car, a 1997 Boxster (986), the plastic window ripped, and we decided to replace it with a glass variant. I imagine if there is a glass variant made for the 97 986, there's no reason why it wouldn't be made for a 98 996. Rolex is on par I would say with the main difference here being Mk1. On the quality aspect, the top that was ordered for the Boxster was a glass variant made from haartz fabric from sierra auto tops. (I went through the same distributor, auto tops direct). It ran right around $500 IIRC, and had an installer here in northern Indiana do the job, he charged around $450 in labor, when all was finished, he told me he had absolutely no problem getting it to "line up" or any such problem with it being out of spec, dimension-wise. not trying to sound like an a$$, but are you really set on that installer or is there another to consult with? In terms of durability, we had kept the car near another year and a half, it saw sun, rain, and (as much as I hate to admit), even a touch of snow and ice, thanks to our wonderful midwestern climate snaps, and that the wife loved driving it near every single day. The fabric never showed even the first sign of tears, frays, "warping" of any kind, never leaked a drop and looked brand new for the duration of our ownership. Not so much as a fold line. It was also very taught, didn't flap a lot in winds or anything, and putting it up and down never yielded any issues. And while the plastic window is larger, it fogs up actually rather quickly (more so if you clean it often, micro scratches and such) and your clarity of exactly what it is you are seeing through that larger port diminishes and the only solution is replacement of the whole top again.

AFAIK, glass is an option for all Mk 1 cabs. As noted, the glass window is smaller bcause it cannot fold like the plastic window. One other consideration that hasn't been mentioned is that the defroster wires can be installed on the glass window. I often use the defroster with my hard top and sometimes wish I had it on my soft top.

Thanks to all the replies. The reason I mention the build date is that if you look on the Gahh site under 1999 996. There is a top "to VIN XS654783", and a different top "from VIN XS654783". My VIN is XS650xxx If someone has a link to a glass window top for a '99 911, please post it. I have not seen one company offer it. Maybe it's because Ive only looked at 3 or 4 companies thus far.

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I replaced mine with another one with a plastic window. I prefer the lines and visibility of those to the very small glass window. A matter of personal taste. I went with the Gahh top. The quality is like the OEM but with the double-stitched window, which is better than the glued original.

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I stand corrected ... when I last looked at replacement tops (a couple years ago), I saw no reference to VIN numbers. Robbins (who manufacture tops sold by many installers) lists a glass-window top for '99 911s, but with the caveat "*Fits 1999 models starting from serial # XS654806 (last 8 characters of VIN)."