MOTV8 Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Went to the charity car show held by the SECC yesterday, and yes, the Ferraris and Lambos were very nice, but I was stunned to find a gorgeous '54 there wearing an ultra rare "Bubble Top" - thought I'd share some pix of this beauty.In case you didn't already know:"The see-through aftermarket hardtop is a rare item indeed. William Chaffee of Model Builders, Inc. in Chicago was the original architect of these bubbletops in the '50s, and only 15 to 20 were produced. Of that handful of original tops, only five were green-tinted while the rest were clear. Chaffee got involved with building these tops at the request of Eugene Kettering (then Chief Engineer of GM's Electro-Motive Division). Kettering wanted one for his early Corvette. It seems that Chevrolet had even installed a Model Builders bubbletop for testing and gave Chaffee some positive feedback, but obviously it never became a factory option. The limited numbers of people who know of these bubbletop roofs have lamented that so few were made."This car's owner said that the top makes it real hot in the cabin, so that at some point in the car's history the top had actually been painted over. After discovering the rarity of the top they had to put in hundreds of hours lightly sanding and polishing the top to get it back to the original transparent green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P51tj Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Cool find there Dean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Y Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 That's awesome. I love the wire wheels, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tom Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 I love this forum. I never knew about the "Bubble Top". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marana Rich Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 A real jewel. Thanks for the pics and info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie44 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I saw one of these at Bloomington last summer but it had been painted too. Very rare, very cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastC3 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 SWEET !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertdawg Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I bet that thing is worth some major bucks... Looks good on there too!!!They worked thier butts off getting that paint off, kudos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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