63 Hardtop...Again

[Michael H.]

Does anyone have a picture of the "notch" in a 63 hardtop that I can post on the discussion board? Still need info and input on the question about when the notch style top entered production, and when it ended. (see Harry Sadlocks previous post on Friday morning, 9:30 AM)

Had a few people respond, all indicating that the notch was on cars from start of production to some point before mid production. Need info from owners that have what they believe are the original tops on their cars. The date in the back window is a god indication.

So far, no one has posted info on any early top without the notch or any late top with the notch.

Appreciate any info and pic's. Thanks

Michael

[Tracy C.]

Re: 63 Hardtop...Again

Michael,

This top came with my very late 63 when I bought it in the late 80's. It is black and so is my car. I haven't compared the build number under the headliner with the one on my car, so I can't verify it was/is correct or not.

good luck with the research..

tc

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 Hardtop...Again

Thanks Tracy. Was there a date stamp in the window? Seems like that's one of the easiest ways to link a top with the car.

[Harry Sadlock]

Re: 63 Hardtop...Again

Michael, a common place to locate the job sequence number on the top is under the upper rear inside trim. On the left side on mine is the job sequence number and on the right side is the color the top is to be painted. I have 867 and BLACK. My glass is 4 63. The top traveled the line with the car after the paint shop as I understand.

Harry

38513

[Tracy C.]

Back window was long gone when I got it..... *NM*

[Harry Sadlock]

Re: 63 Hardtop...Again

Sorry for the typo, that was 397, not 867.

Harry

38513

[mike mccagh]

Re: 63 Hardtop...Again

tc: who you trying to fool? that's a 27 DeSoto Dumptruck roadster hardtop in the pic. regards, mikie

[Tracy C.]

Shhhh... How will I fool the judges if you keep

spill'n my beans ???

Always good to hear from you anyway!

tc

[Michael H.]

No Original Tops Left

I'm confused. There has been almost no response to Harry Sadlocks hardtop post on Friday. This must mean that of all the thousands of people that visit this site every day, only three have original dated notched 63 hardtops! And what about all the 63 tops without the notch? Where are they? Or does it mean no one is willing to walk all the way out to the garage to look at their top?

Another possibility is that no one wants to be involved because they feel Harry (and I, and a few others) are fighting the system that is in place. That's not exactly the case. We're trying to make a few needed changes in the manual and we're trying to do it properly, the way it's supposed to be done. Requesting info from owners and submitting the results to NCRS is the proper way but if no one is willing to help, the error in the manual will remain.

I suppose another reason is the fact that many 63 owners have already had their h-tops restored to agree with the manual (early top, late date) and they don't want to have to make changes.

I'm not sure exactly where this is going to go but hopefully more info will be posted soon. It's pretty hard to argue with unrestored original tops that have the notch and a September 1962 date in the window but according to the manual, that never happened. Lets get this fixed so we can move on.

Michael

[Patrick H.]

Re: No Original Tops Left

Michael,

You found 3 hardtops from 63. Not a bad deal. I only found 4 RC-15s that might have been original on cars from 69-70 on this board, and I'd venture there are more RC-15s on 69 and 70 cars than there are hardtops on 63s.

In reality, this board hits about 200 people on a regular basis. The NCRS has 15000+ members. If you want data, see if Terry M will run a notice in the Restorer for you. As much as we like ths Board, it is not where the other 98.7% of the membership spends its time.

Patrick

[Mike McKown]

I think this is the problem, right here.

"I suppose another reason is the fact that many 63 owners have already had their h-tops restored to agree with the manual (early top, late date) and they don't want to have to make change".

Me? I have a perfectly good top that doesn't have a notch on my '63. Serial number 14,00XX. It's the wrong top for my car. I'm still looking for a notched top with only one or no rear window reinforcements. I located one, just not sure I want to pay that much for it. Judging manual is WRONG.

[Michael H.]

Re: No Original Tops Left

Patrick,

I suppose your right. It's just irritating that it takes an act of congress to get these manuals corrected. It sure didn't take much to get it wrong and some of the items seem to be getting worse faster than they can be corrected.

I'm somewhere between just giving up all hope, and going at this full on to get these items corrected, and I don't even own a 63 conv.

Thanks Patrick, we'll see how things go.

Michael

[Loren L.]

Keep the one you've got. *NM*

[Joe C.]

Unwilling and Unfair

Michael:

I fully agree with you about how slow the NCRS is in making changes. I was successful in implementing some corrections to the 1965 TIM&JG, rather quickly........but I believe that my timing just happened to be right.

I have been pestering "the powers that be" about a paid subscription update service, where amendments would be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets, and sent out every few months, or so. Changes would be cut out and taped into the publications by the subscribers. Very easy. Very efficient. This is how it has been done in the NYC Fire Department, for those studying for promotion. It eliminates the need to re-purchase entire publications whenever new editions are published. Over, and over, and over again. But nooooooooooooo...........that would eliminate a large amount of revenue for the NCRS.

Then again, I have also lobbied for having all of those cars with previously earned Top Flite and Duntov awards to have their trim tags re-examined after Al Grenning's explosive discovery of 2 years ago.

Well.......that set off a firestorm which was more violent than the Battle of Gettysburg.

OK, I'll just put my "Mister Fix-It" hat back on.

Joe

[Paul Reynolds]

Re: 63 Hardtop...Again

Added some info to Harry's original post....