1958 Restoration Question

[Dennis G.]

I have a 1958 Corvette that is a hardtop only car. The enclosed pictures show plates and brackets used on convertibles that were in place on my car. I am assuming the parts were put on all cars. My question is, are these parts originally cad plated? My research suggests they are painted the interior color, is that correct? When they were removed during the restoration it looks like the original charcoal paint was underneath the brackets.

I know the area in back of the seats was repainted at some time.

[Doug F.]

Re: 1958 Restoration Question

natural metal finish, they were in place during the paint process, so would be painted the color of the surrounding area, hard top only cars would not have the soft top brackets

[Dan H.]

Re: 1958 Restoration Question

natural metal finish, they were in place during the paint process, so would be painted the color of the surrounding area, hard top only cars would not have the soft top brackets

Agree, hard top only wouldn't even have the holes or any traces of the brackets. Is the deck lid original to the car? Filled in?

[Gary C.]

Re: 1958 Restoration Question

Dennis,

Sure way to tell if a car was an original hardtop only car is - hard top only cars didn't know have the "T Nuts" installed in the top well right behind the seats.

Attached is a excerpt from the '57 AIM that shows the referenced "T Nuts".

Lots of cars had all the softtop brackets added, but not the "T Nuts". The "T Nuts" were added when the body was being glued together and before the outer fenders were glued in place.

Gary
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