Color of 1968 GTO convertible top irons

[West Peterson]

Has anyone had or seen a 1968 GTO convertible with body-color top irons? I'm asking about original/authentic, not something done during restoration.

Thanks.

[trimacar]

My friend who has several original early GTOs, and has looked at a lot of them, says all he's ever seen is black for the top irons.....

[Steve Moskowitz]

I cannot imagine, knowing the build process in that era that Fisher Body would have had anything but black hardware for convertible tops.  I sure have never seen it!

[TAKerry]

I havent looked at a lot of them but all of the 60's era 'verts I have seen were black.

[West Peterson]

Thanks all. With black headliner, I can't believe they would have approved anything but black, either. A friend has a car with body color bows, and he says it looks like it was done like that originally, but I've looked at it and my opinion is that his bows were re-sprayed at some point in time. I didn't want to sound like I knew the actual answer, because I didn't. So thank you for confirming for me. 

[Larry Schramm]

The GM convertibles that my parents had in the 50's & 60's all had black top bows.

[Ed Luddy]

5 hours ago, West Peterson said:

Thanks all. With black headliner, I can't believe they would have approved anything but black, either. A friend has a car with body color bows, and he says it looks like it was done like that originally, but I've looked at it and my opinion is that his bows were re-sprayed at some point in time. I didn't want to sound like I knew the actual answer, because I didn't. So thank you for confirming for me. 

As a kid my uncle's 58 Impala black convertible with white top had a TriTone red/orange/silver interior. I very distinctively remember the assembly and bows were semi-gloss black. Years later my 1966 Cadillac convertible, never restored or touched had the same finish of semi-gloss black on it's top bows. My 1968 Beaumont, 1970 Chevelle convertible as well as my 71 Buick Skylark, 1972 Olds Cutlass 442 convertible all had the same finish. All GM, all original paint from many different factories. Same shade, gloss, etc.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Ed Luddy (see edit history)

[Frank DuVal]

All GM top irons of this time period I have seen were semi-gloss black.

[Twisted Shifter]

My unrestored 1968 Buick Wildcat with a white convertible top has semi-gloss black bows. I've never seen any GM convertibles of the era with colored bows.

[alsancle]

Black

[Oldsfan]

This probably doesn't apply to late '60s GTOs, but...

 

Most early '60s full size Oldsmobiles had either white or black tops with black liners and black top bows. Less commonly seen were blue tops with blue liners and bows, red tops with red liners and bows and fawn tops with fawn liners and bows. I recall Dr. Burrichter (see other thread) had an unrestored '62 Starfire at the NAOC meet in Boone, IA (and at Fall Hershey) in 1999 or 2000. It was Cirrus blue with an original matching blue top. Lining was light blue and the bows were painted blue metallic - closely resembling Wedgewood Mist exterior paint.

[Steve Moskowitz]

12 minutes ago, Oldsfan said:

This probably doesn't apply to late '60s GTOs, but...

 

Most early '60s full size Oldsmobiles had either white or black tops with black liners and black top bows. Less commonly seen were blue tops with blue liners and bows, red tops with red liners and bows and fawn tops with fawn liners and bows. I recall Dr. Burrichter (see other thread) had an unrestored '62 Starfire at the NAOC meet in Boone, IA (and at Fall Hershey) in 1999 or 2000. It was Cirrus blue with an original matching blue top. Lining was light blue and the bows were painted blue metallic - closely resembling Wedgewood Mist exterior paint.

Paul, you learn something new every day.  Never heard of this so now I need to research.  Having been in the Fisher plants I do not recall a way they had to paint bows but I was there in the early 70's.

[Terry Bond]

16 minutes ago, Steve Moskowitz said:

Paul, you learn something new every day.  Never heard of this so now I need to research.  Having been in the Fisher plants I do not recall a way they had to paint bows but I was there in the early 70's.

I recall seeing top bows in a tan/brown color and of course some chromed. My uncle worked in Chrysler R&D back in the 50s and 60s and drove a lot of new cars, especially convertibles. We always enjoyed hitting the showrooms when new cars came out. He had to check out the competition and I always enjoyed riding along. Many side stories, but to the question at hand, GTOs were always black. 

Terry

Edited December 8, 2022 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[Oldsfan]

Here is a new-old-stock green top for a 1961 Olds 98 - with a green liner. Bows would have been painted to match the liner.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185690261206?hash=item2b3c0086d6%3Ag%3AEr0AAOSwo75jgYjy&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoKx5%2BwxlmYbjMDql1xILwK2qXKPhR625LsWGh807sHKWF3%2FgwCEUnqJSk8gRcOSJAfbUWARLT0kF3HWN3T9hiGuXF1VsTpKwF37Z%2BeaQwXOG4EA8bpyHkvZviB6R4Ppp0iyNlbdJFg159qlLCfGQagA2TraeQlxkSP9Ep3qDRs%2BJs0GU%2BLMn5iAL8n4OPraFUnkcaEgMlDWDT%2BrSDzG4QzM%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR76_uKuiYQ&fbclid=IwAR2ebNs765SxCX-1ul8YY29EDbOQNT6Bhn6BCe4zvAUn4r8EX_lrpUSuATw

[West Peterson]

Cool. Reminds me of the 1955-56 Packard Caribbeans, whose headliners all matched the middle color of the tri-tone cars. Top bows on those cars did not match the headliner, though. They were painted tan. The light-colored headliners were to reflect the feel of being in the Caribbean islands.