History 1954 Corvette - with a removable hardtop?

My great aunt had this car when it was new. I had never seen a photo of it until today, and I noticed it has a removable hardtop. I've never seen that before on a '53-55 Vette. I'm guessing it was aftermarket, but it sure has a nice shape. Were these common?

 

I don't have a clue but I blew the photo up so you can see it better. HRP

 

They are aftermarket. I have also seen them made of clear Plexiglas (stay out of the sun).

 

Here is the background story of how they came to be
http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/motorama1954/index.html

 

The tops that I remember were ugly, they had a thick roll above the windshield. Or maybe it was just a bad dream.

 

Don, that looks like the early GM prototypes for a hardtop, very similar to the '56+ roof. But that roofline doesn't match the one in the photo. My photo shows a roof with no quarter windows and a small back glass.

I did a google search for '1954 Corvette hardtop' and found a couple of things that look interesting. Most of them have a really bulbous, really funky header at the windshield (as mentioned above). But this one has a clean look. Heck, it could even be the same car I guess:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/10/31/hey-corvette-folks-what-would-you-do/




And here's an ad for a top that looks pretty similar. So I guess the hardtop, while not factory, was just an aftermarket piece.

 

This one had removeable, Vinyle side curtains

 

YOU LIVE IN SAN DIEGO DO YOU STILL HAVE THE TOP AND CORVETTE WOULD YOU SELL THE TOP AND AND CORVETTE PLEASE THE CORVETTE LET ME KNOW THANKS BRUCE BRUCE 916 607 2460

 

Um....

 

More like...

 

Hardtops were aftermarket '53 to '55. The ones I have seen have bad humpy look to them, but not this one. This looks good.

 

This topic brought back a memory from a car show I went to 1974 at Glenbeulah Wi, there was a 1953 or 1954 corvette for sale that looked like a barn find.
This one had a clear bubble top with a crack above the driver's door, it also was missing the center carb air cleaner.
A sign stated this was one of the rare bubble tops only 22 made "11 clear and 11 tinted blue" with for-sale asking $10,000

Only 20 years old in 1974 "Al Gore didn't invent the internet yet" and a new base Corvette was $6,000, on the trip home we talked about where would anyone ever find a replacement air cleaner, and how crazy high the price is, Lol
Norb