I got word today that the hardtop I spent the past year obsessing over - should I, shouldn't I - was leaving the workshop in France, headed for JFK and then onto Baltimore. This is a big gamble on my end, as it cost a fair bit of money and I certainly hope it makes it here in one piece.
The rational has always been this: buy a Porsche 964 cabriolet, the cheapest air-cooled on the market by far. With the savings, buy a hardtop from D. Morris in France and effectively have a coupe for about $50K less than what your average 964 hardtop was going for. The company does an incredible job of recreating the factory hardtop that was sold in very limited quantities. They even use OEM Porsche glass and rubber seals. You have to remove the entire soft top mechanism in order to install it, so you're committing to the hardtop in more ways than one.
The other thought here is that accessories like these don't stick around forever. D. Morris will someday cease to exist and these hardtops will become very sought after. Combine it with the fact that the dark blue paint on the 911 will mask the line between the hardtop and the body and I feel it is a win-win.
Time will tell if this investment is worth the money and the labor associated with installing it. But I'm confident this is a smart investment in a car that seems to only go up and up.