Each and every one of us is entitled to an opinion on a given topic. Part of what makes us human is the ability to form subjective thoughts based on a lifetime of memories and influences. I can’t speak to the types of experiences that might have caused my colleague to type out an , but I no more want to diminish her opinion so much as I would be ecstatic to espouse my own. I. Love. Red. Tops.

I have a lengthy history of loving convertibles in general and those with red tops specifically. My mother has photos of me as a toddler cutting the roof off of my Cozy Coupe and replacing that ugly yellow contraption with a folding mechanism of pencils, paperclips, and maroon napkins leftover from a fancy dress party. Okay, that’s not true, but I did have this to say about Mazda adding a red top option to the MX-5 about 18 months ago:

Mazda’s little two-seat sports car MX-5 has never sold in stratospheric numbers, most years just…

I’ve owned a few convertibles in my day, sadly all burdened with the boring unsightliness of a black top. Black is the most boring convertible top choice possible. All other colors are better than black. In fact, all color choices are good, but white is awful.

Green tops? Must be used sparingly. See below.

Tan tops? Good.

Blue tops? Excellent.

Red tops? THE TOPS!

Chocolate tops? Don’t threaten me with a good time.

To review, the bad colors for a convertible top are black (boring) and white (Eww).

The only way a black top can be the right and correct choice by my count is to pair it with exciting and brightly colored bodywork. For example, Porsche’s Lava Orange would not look right with a tan top. In this case, you let the paint do the talking more than the canvas above your head.

So, the only thing I can conclude is a car painted a classy color, like burgundy, white, British racing green, pale blue, or silver, are best served with a colored top (tan, red, tan, blue, and red/blue, respectively).

Look at that Jaguar. Absolutely dripping with class.

Most often, however, I like my convertible tops like I like my wines. Red, served chilled, and with a full body. Like this.