And, surprise, surprise, it’s a hardtop convertible.
by Wallace Wyss –
I don’t know why I thought they would do a soft top. But let’s face it, soft top (colloquially known as ragtops) cars are history.
Automakers keep offering them, but they fade, tear and a thief can cut through one into the car with a one dollar butter knife.
Chevrolet has released only a few pictures, at the end of their preview in Tustin, as a teaser for things to come. One thing is evident, when the hardtop folds for stowage, the rear deck is where it lays so forget about having a glass window to show off the engine. Similarly on the convertible I don’t think the engine is visible when the top is up.
Why wouldn’t the targa roof panel do, why did they have to make a separate model? Because those 90 lb. women don’t want to be bothered with unhooking a roof panel and setting it in the trunk. And what if the trunk is full? Of course what they are not saying is how much luggage room, if any, you lose when the retractable hardtop is down. It could be it lays down on an area separate from the trunk.
Now about those dual humps on the rear deck, which I will call headrest fairings. They first appeared on race cars as early as the 1920s. Apparently the blisters are not the same on the inside wall as the outside wall, which will take some getting used to, being a full blister guy myself.
I think the convertible will be about $6000 more. Just guessing.
The availability of this retractable hard top makes the 2020 Corvette even more intriguing. Maybe Ferrari ought to discontinue their hardtop convertible V8-powered Portofino now, before they have a sea of unsold cars outside Modena….
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss one time wrote Corvette ads for Chevy’s ad agency. His paintings of exotic cars (including, at last, the 2020 Corvette will be at Concorso Italiano in Monterey).
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