With the windows down, this DIY roof-less smart #1 is likely the closest anyone can get to feeling like riding a roller coaster on the road.
A long time ago when smart was still the cutesy collaborative effort between Mercedes-Benz and swatch, the automaker had over the years brought to market a couple of fun little cabriolets. This most notably included the two-seat namesake Roadster sports car, the completely bonkers roof-less and doorless Crossblade, as well as more production-friendly cloth top version of its ForTwos.
As the company transitioned towards its second phase of life under Geely however, those who want to see the skies from within the smarts would unfortunately only be able to do so through their standard panoramic glass roofs. Such is as all the models in its current lineup are to be curvaceous electrified crossovers… which are not really all that practically applicable for a convertible conversion.
Though as seen the photo above, this hasn’t exactly stopped someone in China from taking a tin-opener to the top of their own #1 BRABUS, and thus creating what is likely the world’s 2nd four-door four-seat fully-electric convertible (the Hummer EV’s removable T-tops got there first).
Now as this revelation of someone chopping the top of their #1 came from this sole photo below that was shared in the smart #1 car club (with no other information to be found even after an extensive internet search), the exact details this cabriolet conversion are therefore unfortunately still rather murky thus far. It is nevertheless pretty clear to see however that its creator pretty much went down the Mazda MX-5 RF route when decapitating this EV, which basically meant removing the central portion of its roof, but leaving behind everything from its C-pillar onwards.
And just ignoring all notion of practicality for a second here, one has to admit this red roof-less and pillar-less #1 actually looks pretty ace!
Also, there is little doubt that with the windows down and the driver’s foot to the floor, this roofless EV will be the closest anyone would get to feeling like their in a roller coaster on the open road. Not least because the BRABUS spec of #1 is still to be one of the most violently explosive cars to launch of the line this side of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S.
What more too is that in spite of it lacking a roof, the rigid chassis that inherent is with all EVs should likely see this roof-less #1 still handle just about as well as its hard-top counterpart. With EVs inherently having such low centre of gravity too, the risk of rolling over in this DIY-cabriolet’ed smart should actually be pretty low.
But just getting back to the elephant in the room, the lack of any top (and any way to easily to refit one) does largely relegate this roof-less #1 BRABUS as a solely fair-weather machine. It has to be said that this cabriolet conversion does have an air of Top Gear’s own home-made drop-top Espace to it, especially when noticing how edge where the roof was cut has just been crudely covered by a thick rubber strip.
Then again, the central pillar covering does look pretty well made. And above all here, the world needs more mad people like this to do crazy things with their cars. So kudos to whoever is the genius behind this #1 BRABUS cabriolet!
