Roof straps

Dean Scharer

True Classic
A bit of a history lesson here for some of us newbies. Tom Bolen copied the roof straps in the 80’s and had a mold created to reproduce the straps. At that time it cost him over $18,000 to have the mold created because he sought to produce a large volume of them. Eventually he sold the molds to the Monte Hospital. Flash forward to a few months ago when I contacted Tom to inquire about the history of all this and to see if he had any straps left. I acquired the last ones that he had (only a couple sets) and yesterday Alex provided me with a set from the Monte Hospital that he said were useless to him. ( See the attached picture comparing the two sets side by side. )

Note the curvature of Tom’s as well as the additional length. I put them beside an original and there is virtually no difference between the original and Tom’s reproductions.
Going forward, options would be to have them 3D scanned to make with a 3D printer, reproduce a mold like Tom did, or hope that the Monte Hospital does something better. Anyone else have any ideas?
 

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I had heard somewhere that the Monte Hospital's roof straps are supposed to be new and improved, so perhaps they are now using Tom's mold for new ones? I actually have to order a set, so guess I can be the guinea pig on this one and ask them if they have fixed the issues with not being the proper length.
 
I had heard somewhere that the Monte Hospital's roof straps are supposed to be new and improved, so perhaps they are now using Tom's mold for new ones? I actually have to order a set, so guess I can be the guinea pig on this one and ask them if they have fixed the issues with not being the proper length.
Or having the curvature
 
I have a set of Tom’s on my car. My recollection is that they were straight when I received them, but took on their curvature once installed. I believe it took a couple weeks for them to settle into shape, stretch, and relax a bit. What IS important are the perpendicular side alignment tabs, if those are missing from modern copies (as I’ve heard they are), the straps will never sit right. BTW, my copy of Tom’s straps are 17 years old; as car parts go, they were EXPENSIVE but clearly well worth it.
 
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