Not new at all - folding fixed-roof convertibles have been around for a long time
Today, the folding hardtop is called a "vario-roof", which first caused a sensation in the SLK by Mercedes-Benz from the mid-1990s and was then adopted by other manufacturers such as Peugeot and BMW.
But folding and retractable sheet metal roofs are not a modern invention; the Peugeot 402 already had a variant with such a device in the 1930s and the Americans even started using it in the 1920s.
Experiments were also carried out in Germany, with the Cologne-based vehicle manufacturer Peter Bauer presenting the Ford Taunus Sportolet at the 1961 Frankfurt Motor Show. Bauer was able to draw on many years of experience, as he began his first attempts to give an Adler Junior a retractable steel roof back in 1935, according to reports in Automobil Revue at the time.
By the 1960s, his design had matured to the point where he wanted to bring it to market in larger numbers with the Taunus 17M. The "Sportolet" also had numerous advantages. For example, the roof could be lowered almost completely.
It looked quite apart open and closed and the roof area could be opened just one slit wide so that it felt like a sliding roof.
However, the design, which increased the car's weight by 50 to 70 kg, had one significant disadvantage: the conversion cost around 4,000 francs, half the price of a new two-door Ford Taunus 17M, and for that much money you could buy attractive convertibles from other manufacturers, such as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. So the Sportolet disappeared into oblivion again, just like its roof.
