After a century as one of the world’s leading makers of convertible tops, family-owned manufacturer Haartz Corp. produces materials founder John C. Haartz might not have been able to imagine, but the company’s essential principles haven’t changed much, to hear CEO Eric Haartz describe it.
“We’ve always had an inclination to innovate. Otherwise, you fossilize and die,” said Haartz, the third generation to run the Acton, Massachusetts-based company, which was founded in 1897 and began making convertible tops in 1922. “There’s been a consistent family willingness to adapt to what our customers need,”
Today, Haartz has operations in Detroit; Munich and Mannheim, Germany; Tokyo; Shanghai and Chongqing, China; Irapuato, Mexico; and Pune, India.
Innovative materials have been a key from the start.
“My grandfather had a good sense of textile style,” said Haartz. “We began with textiles then added expertise in plastics engineering. We cultivated the ability to manufacture flexibly, in small batches.”
Early innovations
A 1932 advertisement for the then John C. Haartz Automotive Fabric Co. touted its patented Jonarts CV Line of Cleaneasy fabrics that could match the convertible top to interior upholstery.
“At the Salon in New York, December 1931, every American made body with a convertible top was made of Jonarts Material, with but one exception and that was a mistake as Jonarts had been specified for it,” reads an advertisement the company ran in 1932. The ad listed the company’s Detroit office on the second floor of the then-new General Motors Building.
Cleaneasy’s virtues included the ability to “be easily cleaned with gasoline, naphtha, etc. without impairing the fabric,” according to the ad.
Today, the company reproduces some “ancient materials,” for collectors. Haartz is the standard for high-end replacement and restoration of classic convertibles.
John C. Haartz cultivated 1920s and ‘30s coachbuilders and German luxury brands, too, but “the Depression darned near put us into bankruptcy,” Eric Haartz said.
The challenge of hardtop convertibles
Other challenges over the century included vinyl tops in the 1940s and convertible hardtops.
“People like the appearance of textile as opposed to plastic, but hardtops looked intimidating when Mercedes introduced the SLK” in the 1990s.
The company diversified into making rubber and vinyl interior trim. In the end, the market for soft tops survived, for reasons including appearance, and that they’re lighter and take up less space than convertible hardtops.
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“There’s always a demand for longevity,” Haartz said. “What we produce now will last decades.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if some parts we make are still around in a century. They may outlast the car.”
Today’s challenges include developing sustainable materials.
“We add value. We don’t want to become a commodity,” Haartz said.
Haartz’s largest current customers are the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.
Contact Mark Phelan: mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber