Chevy convertible...the first with a...

[A Horse With No Name]

What year was the first Chevy convertible with a power top offered?

All Chevrolet convertibles this year came with power tops, if my source is correct...

Chris

[balthazar]

Good question, don't know... but I have to ask- are you including the Corvette in "all" those Chevrolet converts ??

[A Horse With No Name]

Corvette came after the car I am thinking of...

Chris

[Z-06]

1940

Chevy is considered to be the innovator of power tops.

[A Horse With No Name]

ding, ding, ding, we have the correct answer, sir.

Chris

[Z-06]

This is a proud moment for me on C&G that I was able to answer the question which Yoda of Vintage cars could not.

[balthazar]

And a purple-haired, nude (naturally) troll doll is on the way to you as your prize, Mr Z-06. :wink: Good job.

I think this was asked on here once before, but I did not know it then, and forgot it now.

I see in an article on a '41 convert in my files that a power top was available (standard??) there, too, so it's not like it was a one-shot deal. Good job, Chevy.

See what good comes of GM divisions running their own Engineering departments ?? This BS about 'only competing with each other' is nonsense, at least up to the '70s- GM used to be a parent Corp of 6 separate manufacturers.

Edited July 16, 2009 by balthazar

[Drew Dowdell]

But did we really need 3 different 455s and a 454?

[Camino LS6]

I think we've found Balthazar's custom title!

<-----running and ducking

[Robert Hall]

Fascinating..didn't realize power tops were around back then.

[balthazar]

But did we really need 3 different 455s and a 454?

Yes, damnit, we did! Oldsmobile buyers weren't Buick shopping, but they still wanted big displacements/power. And no one wanted cross-pollination of engines then, so....

[Robert Hall]

Yes, damnit, we did! Oldsmobile buyers weren't Buick shopping, but they still wanted big displacements/power. And no one wanted cross-pollination of engines then, so....

Amazing the things that happened when GM had 40-50% market share. Different time, different place. Though there was some cross-pollination of engines--didn't the Chevy 6s make the rounds amongst BOP some in the '60s (or from '70 on at Pontiac, after the Sprint 6 was discontinued)?

Edited July 16, 2009 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[toesuf94]

Amazing the things that happened when GM had 40-50% market share. Different time, different place. Though there was some cross-pollination of engines--didn't the Chevy 6s make the rounds amongst BOP some in the '60s (or from '70 on at Pontiac, after the Sprint 6 was discontinued)?

I agree! Imagine this: GM had Bentley Manufacturing build my 1957 Buick BODY in Ionia, Michigan, which was then shipped to Atlanta to be placed on the assembly line and finished...how could that have been economically feasable? Remember: Trucks were not as big or as burly as they are today...so rail? WOW.

[Robert Hall]

I agree! Imagine this: GM had Bentley Manufacturing build my 1957 Buick BODY in Ionia, Michigan, which was then shipped to Atlanta to be placed on the assembly line and finished...how could that have been economically feasable? Remember: Trucks were not as big or as burly as they are today...so rail? WOW.

Interesting..never heard of Bentley..were they related to Fisher? I recall reading an article years ago in Collectible Automobile about a company Iona, MI that built station wagon bodies for GM and others..

[balthazar]

Cross-pollination began with the '61 compacts: Buick's 215 aluminum V-8 was an option in the Olds/Pontiac F-85/Tempest. Pontiac did start using Chevy's I-6 for '68 or '69 in the Tempest/Firebird.... but the big cars were still the top-shelf models, best engineering... they kept their own engines somewhat longer. I'd have to look up when that started breaking down (by '77 definantely). Of course- it was all over in '82...

toesuf94 :: weird, but each division was still making it's own business decisions at the point your car was built. Even by '60, all Buick's wagons were coachbuilt (I believe always by Ionia), yet Pontiac built their own in-house.

GM has been a VERY complex entity over the years.

Bentley Manufacturing also scratch-built the Packard Panthers in '54-55... but I thought they were a separate entity from Ionia... I must have that wrong.

Edited July 16, 2009 by balthazar

[Z-06]

And a purple-haired, nude (naturally) troll doll is on the way to you as your prize, Mr Z-06. :wink: Good job.

Guy or a girl? Long hair or short hair? If a girl - bust size?

I hope you do not put smk on it.

[balthazar]

Look at you; all in a lather!

Troll dolls are all asexual and anatomically 'streamlined', aren't they??

I've never really examined them closely...

[Z-06]

Look at you; all in a lather!

Troll dolls are all asexual and anatomically 'streamlined', aren't they??

I've never really examined them closely...

Depends on how you look at them. Some are just fingers attached to keyboards.

But why that choice as a gift?

[Robert Hall]

GM has been a VERY complex entity over the years.

Given how much independence divisions had then, it's amazing there were even shared platforms between the divisions then... like inner panels, windshields, roofs etc on A-, B- and C-bodies....the F-bodies probably had the most commonalities of any shared platform.

Even then, though, there were anomalies and division-specific one offs (like why did the '64-65 Chevy A-body 2dr and 4dr sedans have their own unique roof, C-pillars and rear door uppers that differed from BOP? Or why were there no 2dr sedans in the '70-72 Chevy A-body? Strange stuff.. ) Or the the '66+ Chevy Caprice coupe (unique roof, etc) and later Impala Custom Coupe, and the '63-68 Pontiac Grand Prix roof (though wasn't the GP's unique roof shared w/ the Starfire some years?).

It's all very fascinating..