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I agree that below freezing it's unwise to bend any clear plastic/vinyl windows. I owned a 2007 Smart Car Convertible for a couple winters and there were many complaints from people who cracked their rear window in the cold months while opening their rear hatch. The plastic is just not flexible cold.
(My post count is to low to post a picture, but here's a jpg of a smart cars rear window)
ipocars.com/imgs/a/e/b/b/u/smart__convertible_pure_first_hand_2007_5_lgw.jpg
I think the solution would be to use an existing soft roll up tonneau cover and build raised box sides that are ridged. You then modify the soft tonneau so it fits the new raised profile of the box. The box sides would create the profile for an aeroshell, and the soft tonneau would fill in the gap. Then if you wanted to haul something large, you just roll the soft tonneau cover up out of the way, and remove the cross supports. Just like any regular soft tonneau. this would leave the raised box sides in place but they wouldn't be in the way. If you want a window on the sides, You could cut hard lexan (or other clear material) to fit the box sides. This would give a view out the back window of the truck and through the raised box side. If you wanted a view out the back, Maybe you could fit something in the rectangle above the tailgate but below the rear of the soft tonneau. On my truck the aero profile is about 10" above the tailgate. The rectangle would have to remain ridged and could possible attach to the top of the tailgate but with hinges so it could be folded out of the way when not in use. This gives a relatively good rear view while using the aeroshell. Yet the aeroshell is easily rolled away when you are required to haul something large.
This is what I plan to do to my Ford Ranger, and hopefully on a budget. Once I start building, I'll post in a new thread about the build.
Billy
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