Convertibles for Summer Driving: Going Topless and Turning Heads

Convertibles for Summer Driving: Going Topless and Turning Heads

Wheels

Station wagons outsell them, but convertibles hold a special place in the hearts of drivers, and automakers still offer a smorgasbord of models.

The new Mercedes-AMG S 63 Cabriolet. A $7,500 extra, the paint updates a historic Mercedes green from the 1950s and '60s.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York TimesJuly 23, 2020, 6:00 a.m. ET

When Hollywood needs an allusion to freedom, romance or rebellion, it puts its hero in a convertible: Dustin Hoffman carving up traffic in an Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider, racing to bust up a wedding in "The Graduate.“ The 1966 Ford Thunderbird in "Thelma and Louise,“ frozen in flight above the Grand Canyon in the title pair's climactic act of outlaw defiance. And Grace Kelly, in white gloves and a signature coral scarf, driving Cary Grant to distraction in a Sunbeam Alpine in "To Catch a Thief.“

Rebellion, apparently, is out, at least on wheels. A revival in the 1990s was led by a pint-size gymnast from Japan: the Mazda Miata roadster, a homage to its British and Italian forebears, but with exponentially better reliability. But convertibles' market share has now tumbled by two-thirds since 2006, to 0.6 percent, according to IHS Markit.

Incredibly, Americans bought more station wagons in 2019