ITS GETTING WARM, LETS SEE THOSE O.T. CONVERTIBLES

Never seen one! Perfect colors. The angle make the top look a bit janky in the back. What a car.

 

B5 blue with an ivory interior. Beautiful.

 

Found online.

 

Ma Mopar built the nicest ragtops in my humble very biased opinion

 

^^^Perfection

 

Ya just ruined early Camaro ragtops for me. Now that's all I see when I look at 'em.

QUOTE="Bandit Billy, post: 15616182, member: 254716"]Yep. That top tucks down real nice. Not a fan of rag tops where the roof is humped up in the back when down. Also not a big fan of the 1st gen F bodies parade boot. Even when they were new they didn't fit well. Like I said in an earlier post, I like rag tops that were designed and built to be rag tops, not just hard tops with the roof whacked off. Nice add![/QUOTE]

 

Hello,

The title says it all. Our old neighbors during our 20 something days were from chicago. The came out west due to the awful continual winters from the great lakes area around chicago. It was always long overcoats and triple layers of shirts, blouses, sweaters or what ever kept one warm. In So Cal, we were wearing a t-shirt and a lightweight jacket of cotton or leather. But, sometimes a nylon jacket for water repellency.

Only if we went to the local tall 10000 foot elevation for skiing or just visiting, did the sweaters and ski jackets came out of hiding all year. So, need less to say, our friends had just enough to come out West in the “Warm California Sun.”

“Well, I'm goin' out west where I belong
Where the days are short and the nights are long

Well, they're out there a-havin' fun
In that warm California sun…”

The popular song in the mid 60s just drilled it into our friends’ heads and soon they made a commitment to head out West. So, they left cold Chicago and drove out West. Upon arrival, he and his wife bought a convertible. One can’t have the warm California Sun without a convertible. But, not just a convertible, but an Oldsmobile 442 convertible. He wanted the 4 speed, but since his wife could not drive a stick shift, they got an automatic version. It still was a cool open convertible for the Westcoast.

By the time we met them in our first real house, after 5 years in dinky apartment, they had moved in across the street. Soon, we became friends and had a great time for many years. During those times, our 327 powered sedan delivery was our workhorse, along with the red 65 El Camino. Those cars had been with us for years previously in the small apartment area. Our friends had a two car garage, our house had a two car parking space with no door and one side was open. A modern take on a carport. The inside space kept fairly clean, the outside space was exposed to the weather that came rolling in from the ocean.

Jnaki

His business was in his extra space of his house and one time we were talking about how to increase his offerings to boost sales more rapidly. The summer festivals were fast approaching and he was running low on block chunks of pure clear wax. He was a custom designer in various candles shaped in all sorts of shapes and took orders for any design for a one of a kind house accessory or gift. His business was booming as he was the only one offering the custom design services.

I offered to do some photos for his catalog and for photos for the local summer art festival. He had a booth for several years in the summer months. We took his creations down to the shoreline rocky jetties and allowed the water to come crashing on the rocks up to the wooden structures and custom candle shapes. The resulting photos were used in a catalog and for display for the thousands that usually walk around those summer festivals in the canyon.

But, he needed more wax for the coming summer season and so, he wanted a friend to ride with him to Santa Fe Springs and the only place that still had several boxes of solid clear wax. So, off we went with the top down cruising in the 442. Yes, it was a sunny day and blue skies, so he declined our larger space 327 powered sedan delivery as a pick up vehicle.

We drove to the industrial building and I knew from the address that he had never seen the shop across the street. Or even next door. The next door building was the famous Hildebrandt Equipment Shop and showroom. Across the street was the more famous “Moon Equipment” still owned and run by Dean Moon.

Note:

Back then, the early days had the owners come out to greet any customers that came into the shop. The 442 was out in front with the nose raised since it had a trunk full of boxed solid wax. So, spending time inside of the hot rod shops, we started home but, decided to take the surface streets due to the odd angle of the convertible. As we drove through Santa Ana, we were given some cool thumbs up stares. A low rear angle convertible with the top down was quite a sight. Yes! Cruising to the max…YRMV

 

here’s one you don’t see very often.

 

Dang, that's nice!

 

From what I understand there weren’t very many of them built, around a thousand, I think.

 

Pityful repost. This was friday on the top of Pikes peak. 42 degrees and small hail.

 

[/QUOTE]
Sorry about that. Gm really should have spent a minute or two longer on the top down looks of the Camaro.

 

@chryslerfan55 - a '66 SS Chevelle ragtop is pretty rare, I'm seeing 5500 produced. The shorty derby caps look similar to the disc brake units, rallys weren't available on Chevelles until '67 when Chevy got it together and offered discs on these cars. Hub caps were the only wheel treatment in '66. Nice car. The outside mirror is so wrong, it sticks out.

 

My rolling inspection ticket of a DD from 50 years ago. B60-13's on Vega 6" wheels. Fun when it was dry. In the rain I was holding up traffic in the slow lane. Also had to roll up my pants legs because of the water the tire was throwing through the rusted front rocker.

 

I was scrounging for a pic on my phone and came across a couple more rag tops that I have owned. One over-restored 396 Pace Car.

And the cutest nova ever. '62, 6, 3 on the tree, no options other than an AM radio.

Red on red bucket seats (rare seating option in 62). White top. 35,000 factory miles. The guy that bought it came form Seattle with his mechanic. They drove it, put it on my lift, the mechanic took a look and told the guy to pay me before I changed my mind. Honest little car. The Camaro did bring nearly $100,000 more, but I liked this one better.

 

I’ve seen one that was a factory 4 speed car. Lovely shade of blue with a white top.