Convertible hard top for vehicles

A retractable hard-top roof (30) for an automobile vehicle (10) is provided. In another aspect of the present invention, a retraction mechanism (40) couples a rear roof section (36) and a front roof section (32) to a vehicle (10). A further aspect of the present invention employs a lever arm (49) which is elongated in a generally cross-car direction, driven by an automatic actuator (15), which has one end coupled to a pivot and an opposite end (47) which can move in a generally vertical direction.