#slicktop

Pretty much just car people use it, for the record. I have thoughts/opinions about this term. Apparently this chap does as well: (and I disagree with them)

For those unfamiliar, "slicktop" is a colloquial term in the car community which can mean a few slightly different things depending on who you ask, but essentially it refers to "a car or vehicle with a fixed, hard and smooth roof which is uninterrupted by anything such as a sunroof, T-tops, or a light bar in the case of a pigmobile police vehicle." So it's a completely steel roof (or I suppose it could be any rigid material* like aluminum). The point is that it's visually and aerodynamically slick, and there is very little that can go wrong with it under normal circumstances.

I first came across the term in 2014 or so (if you even care) in reference to Nissan Z-cars, which (specifically the S130, Z31, and Z32 generations) could be had either with removable T-tops, or no T-tops (i.e. a slicktop), back when Nissan was in its prime.

Apparently some folks in the BMW community also refer to a hardtop BMW car with no sunroof as a slicktop (and it's interesting to note that these seem to be relatively rare [I guess people who buy brand-new Bimmers like to shell out their cash for ~*~OpTiOnS~*~ ... who knew] and are therefore highly coveted in purist circles).

Other cars, such as the Toyota Supra and the Porsche 911 for example, have been available with or without a Targa top (the Targa version of the 911 is still around as of 2025), and a quick internet search will show you that some people use "slicktop" to refer to the pure hardtop versions of these models as well. Basically, if there is a car out there that is or was available with a simple rigid roof and with some other fixed-roof option, someone somewhere has probably called it a slicktop, and correctly so (shoutout to fans of 70s cars without those awful vinyl roofs).

In any of the above cases, some folks may find slicktop cars particularly desirable because of some or all of the following:

• they tend to be more lightweight (particularly in one of the most important places to minimize weight, if vehicle dynamics are a top priority) • they tend to provide more interior headroom (which may be beneficial for wearing a helmet at track days) • they tend to have more chassis rigidity without adding any supplementary bracing (which adds more weight) • they are simpler than other alternatives and are unlikely to have any leaking issues or other costly problems relating to a non-continuous roof structure • no worries about undesirables such as thieves, precipitation, or bird shit entering the car through the roof if the sunroof happens to be left open by accident (ADHD is real)

"Okay that's fine, but why not just call it a hardtop?" you might ask. Well, "hardtop" generally refers to the non-convertible version of a car. The thing is, a hardtop car may or may not have a sunroof. For those who care about such things, it makes sense to have a word specifically for this type of car with its simplest-possible type of roof. People who don't like the word "slicktop" don't have to use it, or even think about it. Personally, I happen to like the term, and I like what it has come to stand for (particularly among purists in the car community), that is: simplicity, light weight, and cost efficiency, aka "everything you need and nothing you don't".

This somewhat long-winded post was brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood autist. I hope you've found it beneficial in some way. Have a good one, folks!