The truth about Boot Collar's.                 Bel-Air Shells   9871 Garden Grove Blvd.  Garden Grove. CA 92844  (714) 534-1373 The boot-collar was a popular item for the front of a camper shell in the 70s & 80s. From our observations most collar-boots would seal 90%-95%. Since it hardly rains in Southern California they worked fine. In the 90s they started being replaced with a sliding front window. This was due to the new design of most pickup trucks. The introduction of a center brake-light and the new cab designs meant that most if not all boot-collar's would leak. They now keep out only 75% of the water at best. If that's not enough. Trucks are getting longer with the four-door models and so. That means that they flex more and a boot-collar rub's more aggresively on the back of your cab. On the other hand a sliding window was not the answer. Your truck window and the shell window sit very close and it is almost impossible to clean between them. Apx in 2001 a new type of slider was introduced. It is called a Drop-Down Sliding Window. It not only open's like a regular sliding window it fold's down for easy cleaning. In my opinion the only reason that some dealers are still pushing or offering the boot-collar on their shell's is due to money. Most all shells come standard with either a boot-collar or solid front window. These two item's cost the least for the manufacture. The Drop-Down Slider is an $89 upgrade at Bel-Air Shells. If you were able to see our inventory of shell's in the 70's you would see mostly boot-collar's. However if you look at our inventory of shell's today you will see one or two boot-collar's. Almost all of our shell's are equipped with some type of front window. I have included some photo's below to point out the problem's with today's boot-collar's. Below is a photo of what the majority of truck cab's look's like today. Their are seem's at the corners which cause leaks. Their is a brake light in the center which also causes leaks. Below is a close-up of the corner seams on most truck's. Below is a close-up of what a boot collar will do in 4-years.                 Bel-Air Shells   9871 Garden Grove Blvd.  Garden Grove. CA 92844  (714) 534-1373