History whats the story on 62 belair bubble tops ?

I was just reading about the 61 4dr ss . I had seen the listing on cl already and didn't/don't believe it .but I do remember thinking about buying a ss nova 62 or 63 with a six/pg bucket seats and I thought a console ,but im not sure .so anyway I remember seeing 62 bubble tops in the 70s and knowing they were very rare .so why did they make so few .looked bad *** . and could they have been ordered as a ss. and could you order a 409 in anything ??

 

That body style was only available as a Belair in 62, because the Impala got the new "formal" hardtop. The SS was an option on the Impala, so no, you could not get a 62 bubbletop SS. But you could get a 409 in the Belair, because they made the engine option separate from the SS option starting in 62

at least that's how I understand it, I expect there's a lot more to it than I know.

 

The story is,they are bad *** looking
Oh and what squirrel said.

 

Oh, nice lines.....

 

Those and other great roof-lines of the 60's made me never even consider convertibles.

 

I’ve always been conflicted on that, I love convertibles but some cars are so much better looking with a roof.

 

I like the 61 even more!

 

theres not a ugly one ,but 62 is my favorite . ive got a 64 but somehow I don't think it would work with the bubble

 

I had a 61 Belair bubble top, I wish I could have built it properly

 

The 62 Bubble top may have been more of a favorite car for me had they not been as rare,and been more available when I was growing up. I like the 62 to 64 hardtop ok but like the bubble top best, I like the 62 4 doors as well.
I had a 63 4 door sedan and a Black 64 SS 327 4 spd.
Got any pics of yours?

 

What Squirrel said exactly. It was my first car, 283/3 on the tree. Bought & sold it before I got my DL. Young & dumb & forever haunted by that decision . Damn...

 

It was an “only top” in 1961.

 

I started with a 61 convertible when I was a kid, sold it in my early 20s. Got a 61 Belair hardtop almost 20 years ago, never got too far with it, sold it 7 years ago.

But I have other fun cars, so it's ok.

 

I believe if was intended for NASCAR. All the companies knew what each one was doing for next years models. Chev surprised Ford in 1962 by offering a model with the previous years top on a lower line model for the aerodynamics Ford lost 3-4 mph on the fast speedways and did not respond until 1963 1/2 when Chev did not continue using it. Ford and Mercury learned this in 1956 but forgot in 1962.
Great days in racing.

 

that 61 is beautiful for lack of a better word . the 63 is a car tat never was , right? like I said the 64 and 63 don't seem to work. so which roofline was fastest . ? wasn't clear to me !

 

Word in 62 (I turned 16 in Nov 62) was that the 62 Bel Air bubble tops used left over 61 roofs. They weren't all that popular then as guys wanted the cool new roof style.
The Bel Air was quite a bit cheaper than the impala and 115 lbs lighter shipping weight when both had 409 engines. Those two factors probably played big with the big name racers.
I remember an "older" as in early 20's friend here in town p***ing on a 62 SS impala and buying a new 62 327 4 speed with the bench seat because he wanted his gal friends snuggled up to him and not way over there>>>> Something lost on most young guys these days. The plain Impala was also cheaper and the insurance rate was quite a bit less than a "Super Sport" when you were under 25.
I never heard 59 though 61 hardtops referred to as "bubble tops" not even by the Ford or Mopar guys as a derogatory term. They were just hardtops, The bubble thing referring to them came much later. It was used on the Bel Air in 62 but you always said "Bel Air Bubble tops back in the 60's and 70's and guys knew that you meant that particular model of 62.
I had a black 62 two door hardtop with 283 and powerglide in Texas in the early 70's that I drove for a couple of years. Car was a tad on the rough side and I think I probably gave 200 for it when I bought it. That thing had a trunk you could haul anything in. I hauled the body for my T bucket home from a field outside of town in the trunk a few pieces at a time.

 

But a Belair 2 door hard top was not all that common.

 

im sure bubble top was the reference because there was old/new . but 59/62 are all very similar .didn't they refer to the 62/64 as hardtop conv.? I know SOME did

 

The “built with leftover 61 roofs” is plain bs propagated by people who don’t understand how an automobile ***embly plant works.

The 62 bubble top is rare only because it was unpopular when new, eclipsed by the formal roof style that Ford introduced in 1959. Ford offered both formal roof and Starliner roofs in 1960 and 61, and buyers overwhelmingly chose the formal roof. GM introduced the formal roof across their product line in 1962, with Chevy offering the bubble top as an alternative.

It just wasn’t popular and was dropped for 1963.

NASCAR had nothing to do with it, as late model stock car racing was a regional sport, with only a few super speedways in the Southeast, and GM in a racing ban mode.

The term bubble top itself probably became a descriptor in the 1990s or later. I never heard it in the sixties or seventies.

Count me a**** those who like the Chevy “bubble tops and Ford Starliners better than the formal roofs.

 

the thinking that they were left over 1961 roofs is incorrect because they have a different quarter panel as well as the panel between the trunk and the rear window.

 

NASCAR may have nothing to do with it but the team owner and drivers new a good thing when they saw it. One Ford team stuck a 61 Starliner top on a 62 formal top model and were told to leave Daytona. I bet that was a crazy day. 61's were always my favorite even after the 62's came out....I was a Biscayne guy thou...

 

I think the 4 drs had a higher roof as well .seems like windshields don't interchange .I could be wrong though .I wonder if the bubble tops were the same height ?

 

all Chevrolet hardtops starting in 1950 had a lower windshield height than the post cars, 2 or 4 doors, it didn't matter.

 

Why arn't 59s and 60s called bubble tops even the 2 door sedans had that roof line?

 

Because there was nothing else to compare it to.

 

According to 348-409.com, there were 9,775 62 Bel Air sport coupes built, with less than 6000 of them having V8s. Now contrast that to the 323,427 Impala sport coupes built. I don't know if Chevrolet had Nascar in mind when they built them, but I have collected a large number of photos 62 Bel Air Grand National cars. That alone would have significantly reduced their numbers.

 

I love the 61's and 62 bubble tops. I've often thought as I looked at the buicks that I being a bodyman would love to graft a buick top on a 62 chev. To keep for me. Lippy

 

And this one has aluminum body panels.