I couldn't find a blue top for my car by calling the normal vendors, so I ordered one through Camaro Specialties (Bob Harris). This is what I got. The manufacturer is Electron Top. Looks kind of dark to me. He claims that 67-69 are the same, but I have my doubts. I hate to put the wrong color top on the car, but I paid way too much for this one.

There was very little of what I believe was the original top material attached to the frame. Here it is against the new top.

There are so few out there.. it's a limited thing. This is where I ended up

I would account for fade and go with it.. It looks damn terrific

I think it looks very close.

I think it is very close to what I have seen. We had one back in the 80's and it definitely was not as light blue as your sample.

If anything you could make an argument that it is not dark enough...

I would go with it.

Thanks guys. I guess I will go with it. I just need to get a piece of the seat vinyl sewn on to the front edge of the well liner and I will be putting my top on. Expect and update in the next couple weeks.
-Chris

Well here it is gentlemen. The original blue top material was a lighter blue than what I was able to buy. This picture shows the sample from the 1967 Chevy Dealer Catalog compared against a piece of scrap attached to my convertible top frame and the new top from Electron Top. Going to have to do for now I guess.......

Chris,

Did you try contacting Al Knoch for the top?

For comparison here are the samples from the 1967 Pontiac Dealer album.

I did sent them some sample material. They said they couldn't make it and took blue tops off their website. They did tell me that it was a 1950's Ford top color. I wonder what shade of blue that is?

My impression from the 1967 Chevy catalog was that all the Chevy blue tops were the same color. I wouldn't be surprised if Pontiac was the same as the Firebirds were made along side the Camaros.

From the same catalog, is a sample from my Al Knoch interior compared to the 1967 Chevelle bright blue seat material (would be same for all bright blue interior cars in 67). Al Knoch sample is shinier than catalog.

I was told by many that the Firebird blue was the Camaro blue.. not fact.. just what I've always heard

I hear you Tom. About 25% of stuff I was told during this restoration was reported as "Fact" somewhere, but I found out otherwise. Even the literature can be wrong. My intake, which I know was used in 1967 only shows up as a 1968 part in the Chevrolet Book of Numbers.

The 1967 Pontiac Dealer Catalogs are selling on ebay for $500, so I won't try to get one to answer the blue top question. But, boy is that catalog far superior in color and cloth samples then the Chevy version...

Chris; I meant to comment to your January post but lost sight along the way somewhere (sorry)... My .02 cents worth (keep the change)... i would say you are looking good!

This rationale explained further:

1) Your lead photo from Jan-31 is just gorgeous, and (in my opinion) compares very nicely to the track photo Phil posted Feb-01.

2) From your very early posts, the car looks to have been a basket case when you took delivery (and probably stored outdoors?) ...which would have wreaked havoc with the coloration of any original remnant material (I.E. fabric swatches). This seems a very logical explanation for the diffs you noted in the second photo from Jan. 31 (material_compare.jpg ?).

3) This swatch appears to be the same one contrasted with the catalog samples posted Apr-03. While the resemblance is strong; still I wonder: How representative is the catalog sample page?
- Obviously it is 50+ years old.
- Depending on storage conditions it could be affected by lighting, heat, dirt, more? The BLACK swatch looks bleached-out to some degree?
- Against these; the fresh sample obviously would be brand-new.

4) The samples Mike posted in the next photo APPEAR to be pristine (as best as one can tell from the photo)... From these I would say the #4 Blue seems VERY VERY CLOSE to your new material;

5) LIGHTING is also a big factor. ALL the different variants of blue used on these cars take on very different appearances under different lighting (and not always consistently). Florescent lighting in particular seems to exaggerate the difference of lighter hues?

6) For what it's worth... i would agree with your hypothesis that the Camaro & Firebird tops are the same... simply as a matter of common sense (in lieu of empirical knowledge on my part).
---> Professor Phil might have additional insights?

As others have stated earlier... Looks pretty darn good and I would be very happy with it! KEEP UP THE NICE WORK!!