C1 Crayon Marks & Hard Tops

[Doug Flaten]

I unearthed the crayon marks behind the passenger seat on my late '61. It was Black and had an HT written in green crayon. Previous threads had mentioned that the ST or HT designated if it was a Soft Top or Hard Top only car. My question is what did they do for a car that had both tops? Were no marks indicative of a car equipped with both tops?

My car has both tops. I always assumed my hard top was non original since one window has a 1962 date code. It still may not be the original top eventhough the car apparently was hard top equipped. Were there differences in cars from the factory that were not originally equipped with a Soft Top? I would assume the deck lid did not have the latches and possibly no provision for side straps. OR did all cars come equipped, drilled etc to accept the soft top?
Thanks,
Doug

[Dennis C.]

Doug, You bring good discussion to the table.

First off, I believe only 61/62 cars had the behind the passenger seat exterior paint color and top designation. Earlier had the trunk vertical behind the divider panel with exterior paint only noted. My shortcoming is that I have only checked 61/62 cars that were hard top only, so my knowledge bank falls on its face when trying to reference a soft top car and what it says behind the seat. Soft top was "base", so I am not exactly sure what happened when someone wanted both tops. I could believe if it was a "base" car, and no additional top was ordered, nothing would need to be indicated on the bulk head.

All cars had the "convertible top filler tabs" no matter what top/s they came with.

Cars not delivered with a soft top did not have the 2 large steel support plates mounted behind the seats. And when some owners added a soft top, they didn't bother adding those supports.

I still lack info on 2 top cars and look forward to being enlightened. Best, Dennis

[Roy B.]

Re: Doug, You bring good discussion to the table.

As Dennis said the soft top was a base item and came with the Corvette at base price for the Corvette. If the hard top was added on the order slip then you find the marking HT behind the seat. But a buyer could say they only wonted the hard top and no soft top at all > That would be the reason you may not find the letter ST. I have never seen the letters ST because of this fact.
So
1You may find evidence of only a hard top and no soft top
2 you find evidence of both=only the letter HT behind the seat
3 you find evidence of neater ( such as a vett ordered for racing)
A small % were ordered with NO paint on the body.or purple color, back then you ordered your Corvette and GM filled it.
It's been years that I and Noland scraped about 30 vetts and wrote about them, so I could be wrong so don't believe what I say.

[Doug Flaten]

C1 Hardtop vs Soft Top or both

Dennis,
I was not sure about the large plates you mentioned. So with Assembly Manual in hand I went out to the shop. My car does have two large plates behind the outboard sides of the seats approximately 15" tall. The seat belt retainers bolt to the bottom of it & the soft top bolts to the upper portion. Assembly Manual shows these to be PN 3735061 & 3735062. Are these the plates you refer to?

My hard top windows all carry "Plexiglass" & the same numbers, "AS-4 6-62". My car had been painted yellow over the black. I have not stripped the hardtop to see if it was black underneath. But given those date codes I did not suspect my car was factory equipped with a hard top. I assumed it may have been purchased later at a dealer. Nothing on the deck lid leads me to believe the lid is not original or at least a correct item. The softop latch holes look professional and not bubba'd unlike other parts of the car. It had the black paint on the underside. Were the lids painted body color on both sides?

My car is anything but unmolested. I have had it for 20 years. It was "restored" in the 70's with the yellow paint, custom upholstery including deleted arm rests, a hood scoop, mag wheels and air shocks to clear the rear tires. The challenge is to determine what pieces actually did come from the factory.

[Doug Flaten]

Re: Doug, You bring good discussion to the table.

Roy,
So does that mean that "HT" can denote both a hardtop only car and/or a two top car? Back in January, Joe Mish posted that his April '61 had an Maroon ST crayon marking.
Doug

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 Hardtop vs Soft Top or both

# 1 paragraph, YES

# 2 paragraph, YES, in 61/62

# 3 paragraph, YES, that is the challenge many of us face. Best of luck, DC

[Roy B.]

Re: Doug, You bring good discussion to the table.

Like I said don't believe what I say or in other words I haven't seen all 61 or 62 Corvette markings. OK a soft top or Hard top was standard (base price)and you could also order or include a hard top option or soft top option from the factory when you took delivery of your new Corvette.
I miss spoke when I said I never saw ST markings. I went back and looked at all the pic. I took years ago because I'm not really in to 61 or 62's. Here is how I understand this and again I could be WRONG.
When you bought a Corvette at the base PRICE you could have a vett with a soft top or hard top, but only one at the base PRICE. GM ??? had bodies complete ready for paint that were set up as a HT vett or ST vett only because one or the other was a base body price. If some one ordered a ST along with the HT GM may have took a HT ready body and added the letters ST, this could have worked the other way. A ST ready body and added letters HT.
With this thinking in mind would a ST vett never having a HT have the letter ST
And would a HT vett never having a ST have the letter HT
That I think this is the reason many 61 or 62 show no HT or ST letters if it only came with one top.
I had to read my own response three time and I still don't know if I still have it right?
But this is a great subject I never thought about before and may be all wrong!!

[Clare Carpenter]

Archelogical Dig ?

My '62 was a two top car and has never been repainted. Unfortunately, I do not have the HT. My car was ordered new in NJ and a year later found itself in FL where it remained over the next 35 years. The original owner decided the HT wasn't needed in the tropics and it was sold. I have stripped the exterior awaiting paint/body BUT not yet the interior. How would I check for letters behind passenger seat? It would be interesting to see what can be found and I can report back.

I have found the job number written in yellow paint crayon on the lower driver side of engine firewall and on the lower inside of the passenger door. No numbers or markings inside of trunk have been found but my car was missing the cardboard divider there.

[Doug Flaten]

Re: Archelogical Dig ?

The wall behind my seats was covered with overspray from the re-paint. I inially tried soap, water & brush thinking the area probably was not prepped for paint and may wash off with some scrubbing. Then I tried paint thinner, but the overspray texture was gritty. I then sanded down the rough overspray down to my original black paint layer. Then a combination of fine sand paper, paint thinner and soap and water, I worked down enough to where the crayon became evident. With my extra paint etc, I spent about an hour "digging"

[Ray C.]

Re: Archelogical Dig ?

I just completed the restoration on my 61. The previous owner repainted an original sateen silver car jewel blue. The front interior parts are jewel blue as was the original dash pad and grab bar. The floor, soft-top area and trunk were still the original silver lacquer with minimum coverage. The only marking in the trunk area were on the bulkhead and was the production run number. I scraped behind the passenger seat and found the work SILVER in green crayon. When I purchased the 61 it came with a hardtop, but I do not believe that it was original to the car. I found no HT or ST letters.

Ray