2002 without a soft top

[Rondor]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I often wonder why somebody this " un aware " buys a retro. I have never been on a corvette site,,, but do they get stuff like this?

[wcoates]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I often wonder why somebody this " un aware " buys a retro. I have never been on a corvette site,,, but do they get stuff like this?

I don't think so Ron but............. Had many red Corvettes when I found a '91 Green (close to British Racing green that I loved ) and it was a deal. Found a matching color HT that was left in a storage area. $400 and within two hours. Had to have it. Drove, bought and had to fasten the back end with wire. Didn't know it had to have rectangular steel pieces that fit into a channel on the car and in the top. Had to search for months and spend a small fortune.

It was worth it as the HT was on the car for 15 or 20 Minutes in the next two years. Stupid yes but not quite as bad as not knowing all Retro Birds are convertibles.

[11TH GEN]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

Bill: Something else we have in common. I had a 92 Corvette. The color you are referring to was called Polo Green Metallic. After pulling in the garage on a Sunday with the roof panel off I placed the panel in place and went inside. Monday morning at about 30 mph the panel flew off and over the back of the car. I had forgotten to secure it in place. Fortunately no one behind me was close enough to get injured and fortunate that GEICO replaced the panel for me with $0 deductible comprehensive.

[dawebb]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

First generation Thunderbirds were true roadsters. Two seat car with no protection from the weather. Soft top was an option.

Let Dot speak:
http://www.portholeauthority.com/thu...ch/trivia.html

[HKS]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

Let Dot speak:
http://www.portholeauthority.com/thu...ch/trivia.html

From Dot's Site:

Soft-top: this could be ordered as a no-cost option in place of the Hardtop OR as a cost option if both tops were wanted.
Sounds like the hardtop was standard.

[11TH GEN]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

From Dot's Site:
Soft-top: this could be ordered as a no-cost option in place of the Hardtop OR as a cost option if both tops were wanted.
Sounds like the hardtop was standard.

Exactly what Ron said back in post #15

[5bird7]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

But, and I don't say it on my site. One could order the 55 without any hard or softtop. It would have been deleted off the order sheet.

I need to listen to a tape I made while interviewing a Ford designer who special ordered his t-bird in 1954 because he knew he wasn't in line to get a Ford lease car. He ordered his from a local dealer as a no-frills car because he wanted to race it and partly because his pay scale at the time was not enough to support buying the extras. I don't recall what he said about what he didn't order for the car but it was minimal.

[5bird7]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

but, back to the original post. I had someone this last fall, ask me about a car without a soft top, at least that is what it was being advertised as to him. I told to run from that car if it really didn't have a softtop as it may have been in an accident. He decided to keep on looking instead of having the car checked out closer (too far away for him to do it). He has since found a T-bird that fit what he wanted.

[Welker]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I looked up some pictures of '55 T Birds and only a few show the car with the soft top down and it lies on the space between the trunk lid and the the rear rim of the passenger compartment. It looks terrible, ruins the lines of the car. Also, I have a few scale models of the '55 and one of them shows the soft top down and lying just behind the passenger compartment and not in a deep well. I guess they solved the problem in the next year.

[2K2BIRD]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I looked up some pictures of '55 T Birds and only a few show the car with the soft top down and it lies on the space between the trunk lid and the the rear rim of the passenger compartment. It looks terrible, ruins the lines of the car. Also, I have a few scale models of the '55 and one of them shows the soft top down and lying just behind the passenger compartment and not in a deep well. I guess they solved the problem in the next year.

All three years used the same top design.

[snowbird]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I looked up some pictures of '55 T Birds and only a few show the car with the soft top down and it lies on the space between the trunk lid and the the rear rim of the passenger compartment. It looks terrible, ruins the lines of the car. Also, I have a few scale models of the '55 and one of them shows the soft top down and lying just behind the passenger compartment and not in a deep well. I guess they solved the problem in the next year.

The soft top goes behind the seat back and totally out of sight with a curtain .

[Sierra977]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I looked up some pictures of '55 T Birds and only a few show the car with the soft top down and it lies on the space between the trunk lid and the the rear rim of the passenger compartment. It looks terrible, ruins the lines of the car. Also, I have a few scale models of the '55 and one of them shows the soft top down and lying just behind the passenger compartment and not in a deep well. I guess they solved the problem in the next year.

Like this?

[Rays 007 #15]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

I am a member of the Atlantic Classic Thunderbird Club and we have 1955 through 1957 birds in our club and the tops will go down in the hole behind the seat on all of them. The reason you see them with the top not in the hole it easier to put up and down if you do it that way. I have put my top down like that on my 57 before. Doesn't look as good, but quicker to put up. My 1957 came with all 3 tops, (soft top, hard top, and tonneau cover). The tonneau cover is behind the seat and covers the soft top when down. It can be pulled out of the hole and snapped at the front of the dash and sides to cover the interior.

Ray

[snowbird]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

Yup, what Ray said . Nice '55 but modified wheels and no skirts . Prefer the originals myself .

[5bird7]

Re: 2002 without a soft top

Yup, what Ray said . Nice '55 but modified wheels and no skirts . Prefer the originals myself .

Got to remember. In 55-57, skirts were an option.

...but about the wheels, well, they are beautiful on the 55-57s and many owners put them on but they were really for later year Thunderbirds.