Retractable hardtop vehicle roof

A retractable hardtop roof for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, said passenger compartment being enclosed by a front windshield with a header, a top portion and a rear portion, said retractable hardtop roof comprising:

• a guide frame mounted to said passenger compartment and including a substantially horizontal segment mounted within said top portion of said passenger compartment and a substantially vertical segment mounted within said rear portion of said passenger compartment;
• track means within said guide frame, said track means including a pair of spaced horizontal tracks along said horizontal segment and a pair of spaced vertical tracks along said vertical segment, said horizontal tracks cooperating with said vertical tracks to form a pair of spaced apart continuous tracks along opposing sides of the passenger compartment;
• a rigid back panel hingedly connected to said guide frame at the lower end of said spaced vertical tracks;
• a rigid top panel hingedly connected to said back panel;
• and
• drive means mounted to said top panel, said drive means including a drive motor and a pair of spaced apart drive wheels drivingly connected to said drive motor, said drive wheels cooperatingly engaging respective spaced apart tracks, said drive wheels selectively moving along said horizontal tracks and vertical tracks to selectively move said rigid panels between a closed position enclosing said passenger compartment and an open position exposing said passenger compartment, a front edge of said top panel being maintained in substantially parallel alignment with a plane formed by said horizontal segment to move said rigid top panel along the top portion of the passenger compartment as said spaced drive wheels move along said horizontal tracks.