Split window, seemed like a good idea at the time

[Greg Myers]

[Jon Haigwood]

The Only car that it looks right on is the Stingray. In 63 drivers were complaining about the blocked vision so they came out with kits to eliminate the split. I bet a lot of owners ow wished they had the "split" back back.. I watched a conversion on Fantomworks  where they put on a split window top on a convertible. 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by Jon Haigwood

[2002p51]

The the poor visibility through that split window on the '63 Corvette hurt sales to the point that it was changed for '64. That prompted most of the car magazines of the day printing articles showing how to cut out that center piece and replace the glass with a '64 window. Now way to know how many got that treatment.

Now today, an unmolested split window is one of the most sought after and valuable Corvettes.

Go figure. 

[Snake45]

17 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

The Only car that it looks right on is the Stingray. In 63 drivers were complaining about the blocked vision so they came out with kits to eliminate the split. I bet a lot of owners ow wished they had the "split" back back.. I watched a conversion on Fantomworks  where they put on a split window top on a convertible. 

 

 

What's really interesting on that one is the micro-mini '67 Stinger scoop. Never seen that before! 

[espo]

A friend of mine bought a new '63 Corvette. I got to drive it for a very short time one evening. That big obstruction in the middle of the rear window was bad. I'm 6'2'', I may have been 6'3' back then.  You really don't have a real good field of vision out of the rear window on the C3 fastback anyway and while I like the looks of the split window I can see why owners of the '63's were chopping the post out of these cars.  

[Gramps46]

In the  mid 70s I bought a '63 Corvette split window coupe.  I soon got used to the  rear window and never considered it a problem nor did my wife.  Still one of my all time favorite cars.

[NOBLNG]

To quote a driver in "Cannon Ball Run"..."What's behind you is not important!"

[Snake45]

1 minute ago, NOBLNG said:

To quote a driver in "Cannon Ball Run"..."What's behind you is not important!"

Or was that Gumball Rally? 

[NOBLNG]

You are correct Sir!

Gumball Rally, where Raul Jullia said "the first thing about Italian racing is what's behind you is not important" and then rips out the rear view mirror out of the Ferrari. Great movie.

[Old Nasty]

5 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

You are correct Sir!

Gumball Rally, where Raul Jullia said "the first thing about Italian racing is what's behind you is not important" and then rips out the rear view mirror out of the Ferrari. Great movie.

Actually this quote is attributed to Juan Manuel Fangio.  It goes "whats a behind a me is no concern of mine".  He then rips off the rear view mirror & tosses it.  

[NOBLNG]

Well maybe they stole it! I first heard it in Gumball Rally. I guess I will have to start researching my memories before I offer them up! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjGXn249Fc0

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by NOBLNG

[Mike999]

Many years ago, a low-rent used car lot in my area had a very weird Corvette.  It was a C1, a '61 or '62 IIRC, with a '63 split-window roof grafted on. 

It was like a lot of our model builds - looked OK, if weird, from about 20 feet away. But moving closer, the (red) paint was massively flaking off the trunk area where the roof was added.  Patches of raw fiberglass, and/or Bondo, were also visible. This car sat in the back of the lot, with the real clunkers, and never moved out of its spot.  Then one day it was gone. 

I often wondered what happened to it and how it came to be built. Maybe the '63 was totaled in a wreck that took out the front end.  Otherwise I couldn't figure out why somebody butchered 2 good Vettes to create that Zora-stein's monster. 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Mike999
goof

[Jon Haigwood]

20 hours ago, Snake45 said:

What's really interesting on that one is the micro-mini '67 Stinger scoop. Never seen that before! 

Maybe having a 'Split Window Convert is just compensating for a having a small "stinger" 

[Kruzn]

True story...

Back around the early-to-mid '80's when the '63 split window Vettes were starting to jump in value, I was working at a Dodge dealer. We did a lot of business with a local auto glass place. The owner (and sole employee) was an avid T-bird fan and had quite the collection of '57 T-birds. However, he was also very knowledgeable on just about anything automotive and he did a lot of window glass work on Corvettes.

One day I was dropping a dealer car off for some glass work and he had a very nice "64" Corvette coupe in the shop with the back window out. Seems the customer had brought it in with serious water leak issues around the rear one-piece glass. The guy had recently bought the car at a very reasonable price, even for a "64". When Ted pulled the backglass he discovered that it was an original split window that had been converted (crudely, hence the leaks) to one-piece glass. Upon further VIN research, it turns out the car was indeed an original numbers-matching '63 split window that was purchased in 1964 hence the '64 title. 

He called the owner and explained the situation and asked if he wanted the leaks fixed and one piece glass reinstalled OR the correct center piece, split glass and trim ordered to return the car to original factory spec. Wisely the owner opted to return it to original 63 spec, because it was the right thing to do and because it was now worth at least twice what he had paid for the car!

Edited March 30, 2019 by Kruzn

[NOBLNG]

[Can-Con]

Did anyone else notice the car in the video has back seats? 

[Greg Myers]

[DPNM]

[Greg Myers]

Oh yeah. That's what i'm talkin about.