Took the cable to a sailboat rigging specialty shop here in Miami (which I used during my boating days) and they came up with a solution - a swaged cable end terminal. We used the smallest "Aircraft Eye" type (wire size 3/32") shown in this link:

Standing Rigging - Marine Eye, Aircraft Eyes, Sailmaker Eye

Before swageing, we removed (with a torch, carefully so as not to overheat the wire) the coating, then coated the wire end with red threadlock and diamond dust. Total cost = $12.00.

I have cycled the top manually several times and the cable seems to be holding up ok. Now I can get back to finishing up the convertible top hydraulic system project.