I have a hardtop that I know is not original to the car (Feb63) but I am wondering if it is correct. It has white glass, 2 supports (upper & lower center), 3-piece moulding, but no notch. It seems to have a slight 'shave' in that area but it has raised pad doors and no interference. Nolan's book shows a 63 with a distinct notch and a 64 that does not. I thought they should be the same. When did the white glass stop? Thanks.
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Re: 63 Hardtop
Its hard to determine exactly when white fiberglass changed over to gray because the parts changed as they became available. So there was a scattering of gray parts at first, and then more, and then to almost totally gray by the end. About all that we can say for sure is that early were all white and later were almost,if not all gray. Most to 10,000 or so are white. But, to through a monkey wrench into the thing, they went back to white in early 65. So that top could and most likely is a 65 top. -
Re: 63 Hardtop
Jack,
The notch in the 63 h-top was only present on early 1st design tops. Some time early or mid run, the notch was removed and the 2nd design looked the same as 64-67. Could be that your top is correct for your car?Comment
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Re: 63 Hardtop
The question then would be the timing of the window support brackets. I know that 63s at least early ones had no brackets. I have seen some tops that had only one and then later tops had two. I have never actually tried to determine when these changes occured. I would assume it is in the 63 judging manual. Were there actually two brackets on any 63s? If not the indication would be that this is a 65 top.Comment
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Re: 63 Hardtop
That's a good question Wayne. Wish I had a good answer. I recorded a lot of 63 notched tops years ago but never bothered to record any info on the brackets/retainers. I wonder if the AIM would be of any assistance on this? May have dates for change? I'll look.Comment
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Re: 63 Hardtop
Wayne,
I don't think the AIM is going to be of much help on this. The page that we need, sheet 5, in the h-top section, was redrawn & revised on 6-5-63, several months after the notch was eliminated. The sheet that would have had the notch info would have been replaced and all previous change info would be lost.
If it were just a change in design without a complete new drawing, we would have the part number history.
The same is true for the bracket, unfortunately. The entire print was redrawn several months after the period that we're interested in.Comment
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Re: 63 Hardtop
Thanks for the info here, but now I'm a befuddled (what's new?). My July 63 vert came with a cracked up top that had the notch when bought it as a project car several years ago. I've always assumed it was the original top for the car.
Information in the Judging Guide declares that the early 63 tops did not have a notch and that everything after 1963 VIN 5000 and up to 1964 VIN 15000 SHOULD have the notch. The need for this notch is said to be tied in with the raised pads under the outer door handle. And for the record, the functional association between the notch in the hardtop and a raised door handle has NEVER made any sense to me. (the door handle is still 3-4 inches away from the top even with the raised pads)
At any rate Michael, I ready to believe you as the replacment top I now have does not have the notches. Now if we could just get that JG corrected...
tcComment
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Re: 63 Hardtop
Tracy,
Hopefully, that same information isn't in the "new and improved" version of the 63-64 JG. It sounds like they have part of that backwards.
As far as the notch in the hardtop having anything at all to do with the raised door handle pads, that's a fairy tale. Their totally unrelated items. I don't understand where they got that from.
I think it was pretty common knowledge among us geezers of the Corvette world, for decades, that the notch was the 1st design top.
Good luck getting the JG corrected.....Comment
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