Hoods and trunk lids that go for days were par for the course for full-size American cars of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. For that extra dimension of extravagance and silliness, there were full-size convertibles. While proposed rollover regulations were what the Big 3 cited as the reason for discontinuing their convertibles, full-size convertibles had been moribund for years. Today, this format is a historical curiosity and will likely never see a rebirth. Let’s look at the last examples of the breed.
Even in their salad days, convertibles were never the volume leaders. Still, they put up more of a fight against the more sensible coupes, sedans and wagons with which they shared platforms. By their final years, they were generally the least popular option in their lineups, often by some margin. For each entry, you’ll see the volume percentage they accounted for of their respective model ranges as well as what little photographic evidence there was of them in their respective brochures.
1967 AMC Ambassador
Total production: 1814
Percentage of Ambassador volume: 2%
The Abernathy era at American Motors was when the company tried to be all things to all people, including offering a full-size convertible. Available only in top DPL spec and only with V8 engines, the ’67 Ambassador convertible was outsold by everything except the down-market Ambassador 880 2-dr sedan. Even the controversially-styled Marlin outsold the drop-top.
1970 Buick Wildcat
Total production: 1244
Percentage of Buick B-Body volume: 0.49%
The slowest selling full-size Buick of 1970, the Wildcat Custom convertible was outsold almost 6-to-1 by the $800 more expensive Electra convertible and almost 2-to-1 by the $300 cheaper LeSabre convertible. The Wildcat line itself lived in the shadow of its siblings, sporty full-sized cars falling out of fashion in a market that was becoming increasingly enamoured with Broughams. Nevertheless, Buick persisted with a replacement for the Wildcat called Centurion, even including a convertible.
1970 Buick Electra
Total production: 6045
Percentage of Buick C-Body volume: 4.02%
Although the Electra Custom convertible dramatically outsold the Wildcat Custom convertible, it was still very much a niche player in Buick’s full-size lineup. The only other full-size Buicks it outsold were the B-Body LeSabre Custom 455 pillared sedan and coupe – understandable because what Buick buyer was looking for a pillared sedan with the biggest possible engine in 1970?
The Electra convertible sold twice as well as its Ninety-Eight cousin over at Oldsmobile. However, in total division sales, Oldsmobile turned the tables and outsold Buick from 1970 until 1982.
1973 Buick Centurion
Total production: 5739
Percentage of Buick B-Body volume: 2.06%
The ’73 Centurion’s sales numbers look markedly better than the ’70 Wildcat’s but it’s not quite as simple as that. Buick had temporarily retired the LeSabre convertible for 1973, forcing full-size convertible buyers to spend extra on the Centurion. Like the Wildcat before it, the Centurion was merely a LeSabre with slightly different trim and a more powerful base engine. By ’73, that was a Buick 350 with a 4-barrel carbureter although the previously standard 455 remained an option.
The Centurion convertible narrowly outsold the droptop LeSabre in ’71 and ’72, perhaps because the remaining full-size convertible buyers appreciated its sportier image. The fuel crisis and the continuing shift towards plusher, more luxury-focussed models meant the Centurion didn’t survive past 1973. For 1974, there was once again a LeSabre convertible.
1975 Buick LeSabre
Total production: 5300
Percentage of Buick B-Body volume: 4.31%
The last full-size Buick convertible was the ’75 LeSabre Custom. It was outsold by all full-size Buicks bar the two-row Estate and sold only marginally better than its Pontiac Grand Ville cousin. Chevrolet and Oldsmobile sold more B-Body convertibles that year (and more cars in general) but the LeSabre did enjoy a slight uptick from ’74 sales, perhaps buoyed by the public’s awareness that convertibles were going “extinct”. Compared to 1972, the year before the OPEC oil crisis, LeSabre sales had fallen dramatically. Only the convertible bucked that trend.
1970 Cadillac DeVille
Total production: 15,172
Percentage of C/D-Body volume: 7.05%
With 15,172 units sold, the DeVille convertible was the fourth best-selling C-Body variant in Cadillac’s lineup. The DeVille convertible only appears to have died because Cadillac was introducing a convertible Eldorado for 1971 and didn’t want to have any overlap.
1976 Cadillac Eldorado
Total production: 14,000
Percentage of Eldorado volume: 30%
Not all full-size convertibles went out with a whimper. Because of all the publicity about the “death” of convertibles, 1976 ended up being the best year ever for the Eldorado convertible. The coupe still outsold it by more than 2-to-1 but the convertible accounted for a sizeable 30% of total Eldorado volume. Talk about leaving on a high note.
It even got a two-page spread, while most of these full-size convertibles were lucky enough to get a single photo.
1972 Chevrolet Impala
Total production: 6456
Percentage of B-Body volume: 0.63%
Chevrolet rarely broke down the production numbers for Impala convertibles in the 1960s but they surely sold better than the ’72. By 1972, the Impala SS was long gone and the Impala drop-top was outsold by every V8-powered Chevrolet B-Body (six-cylinder models were split out in production totals this year). For 1973, Chevrolet switched the body style to the flagship Caprice line.
1975 Chevrolet Caprice
Total production: 8349
Percentage of B-Body volume: 1.97%
In the swinging sixties, Chevrolet had a raft of drop-tops: the Nova, Corvair, Chevelle, Impala, Camaro and Corvette. The seventies, however, saw the drop-tops drop off – the Chevelle convertible was gone after 1972, leaving only the Corvette and Caprice. Although full-size Chevy sales had suffered a savage blow as a result of the oil crisis, 1975 volumes tracking at less than half of 1972’s numbers, the Caprice convertible did manage to sell fractionally better than the last year of the Impala convertible and it outsold the two fleet-special Bel Air wagons and the Caprice Landau and Impala Landau coupes. By 1976, however, every Chevrolet convertible was gone.
1970 Chrysler Newport
Total production: 1124
Percentage of Chrysler volume: 0.62%
The Chrysler Corporation seemed to have an aversion to high-end convertibles. How else to explain the absence of a Chrysler New Yorker convertible and the presence of a drop-top in the Newport line but not the Newport Custom line? The Newport convertible was the second slowest-selling ’70 Chrysler, accounting for less than 1% of Chrysler division volume. Though the imposing fuselage Chrysler still had a few more years in it, the convertibles were gone after ’70.
1970 Chrysler 300
Total production: 1077
Percentage of Chrysler volume: 0.59%
The only Chrysler to sell worse in 1970 than the Newport convertible was the more expensive 300 convertible. Opting for the 300 meant buyers had to shell out another $500, although the higher list price did include a larger, 440 cubic-inch V8 instead of the Newport’s 383 V8. It included precious little else, however, and the 300’s performance options – including the higher-output TNT 440 V8 and Sure-Grip differential – were all optional on the Newport.
1969 Dodge Monaco
Total production: Unknown
The US never got a convertible version of the Monaco but Canada did until 1969. For that year, Canadian-market convertibles were available in either regular Monaco or Monaco 500 trims; there were no Polara convertibles north of the border. Dodge’s Fuselage convertibles were just as visually enormous as Chrysler’s but the subtle, sweeping contours towards the back were elegant even if the detailing at either end was unexciting.
1970 Dodge Polara
Total production: 842
Percentage of full-size volume: 0.98%
While Canada had the Monaco convertible, the US had the more downmarket Polara, another example of the Chrysler Corporation restricting their full-size convertibles to lower-end trim levels. For the final year of Dodge’s fuselage convertible, there was a new loop-style front bumper, something Chrysler was very fond of at the time. It added some character to the somewhat plain Polara and made the ’70 the best-looking fuselage Dodge convertible. That wasn’t enough to justify its continued sale, however.
1970 Ford XL
Total production: 6348
Percentage of full-size volume: 0.74%
It’s interesting to see which full-size variants were truly unpopular. Anything that was outsold by a convertible by the 1970s was probably not long for this world. In 1970, the XL convertible was the second slowest-selling full-size Ford, the wooden spoon going to the hardtop coupe variant of the low-line Custom 500.
As for the XL, this sporty Galaxie was retired after 1970. Like full-size convertibles, sporty full-size coupes were no longer fashionable. A sport-trimmed full-sized convertible in 1970? Forget about it.
1972 Ford LTD
Total production: 4234
Percentage of full-size volume: 0.5%
With the demise of the XL convertible in 1970, Ford’s full-size convertible switched to the plusher LTD line. Although the LTD was very successful and the market had embraced cars of its ilk, it wasn’t enough to prop up the moribund full-size convertible style. The LTD convertible was easily the worst-selling full-size Ford in 1972. When the LTD was redesigned for 1973, there was no new convertible. With its even paunchier styling, that was no great loss.
1968 Imperial Crown
Total production: 474
Percentage of Imperial volume: 3.08%
Imperial was already a distant third in domestic luxury brand sales, being outsold by Lincoln by more than 2-to-1. In 1968, the slowest selling Imperial by some margin was the Crown convertible. It’s unclear why Chrysler invested in a convertible variant of the new-for-1967, unibody Imperial range but they certainly weren’t willing to invest in a convertible version of the ’69 fuselage-style Imperial.
1967 Lincoln Continental
Total production: 2276
Percentage of Continental volume: 4.98%
Has there ever been a more beautiful and iconic American luxury car than the Continental convertible? It’s unique in offering four doors and yet, despite this and its place in history, it was never a huge seller. For its final season, it was the slowest-selling Lincoln by some margin.
It’s a shame nobody else picked up the mantle of offering a four-door convertible.
1970 Mercury Monterey
Total production: 581
Percentage of full-size volume: 0.39%
Ford and Chrysler both held a much smaller share of the dwindling segment than GM. Mercury’s full-size convertibles were as terminally unpopular as those from each of Chrysler’s three divisions. That mirrors Mercury’s overall weaker foothold in the mid-priced market.
With such dismal sales volumes, Ford saw no point in continuing the full-sized Mercury droptops past 1970 even though the Ford LTD convertible remained available until 1972.
1970 Mercury Marquis
Total production: 1233
Percentage of full-size volume: 0.83%
The ultimate Marquis convertible did eke out one small victory: it outsold the cheaper Monterey convertible and managed to best one other full-size Mercury, the mid-range Monterey Custom hardtop coupe. With its hidden headlights and imposing styling, the Marquis was the closest thing to a Continental convertible in Lincoln-Mercury showrooms in 1970. But the Continental convertible had only been a niche player and had been put out to pasture and, after 1970, the Marquis convertible joined it.
1970 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight
Total production: 3161
Percentage of 98 volume: 3.29%
Although GM did better in this segment than Ford and Chrysler, 1970 was the last year for C-Body convertibles. Henceforth, full-size convertibles would only be available in the more workaday B-Body ranges. Despite this, 1970 was a year in which the Ninety-Eight outsold its cheaper Delta 88 convertible companion albeit by less than a hundred units. Ninety-Eight sales had mostly coalesced around the sedan by 1970, however, and the convertible was the slowest-selling car in the Ninety-Eight range that year.
1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88
Total production: 7,181
Percentage of Delta 88 volume: 5.35%
Pity the poor Delta 88 convertible. Though it’s been immortalized in countless Sam Raimi films (a ’73, to be precise), it ended production with only a tiny thumbnail of a photo in the ’75 full-size Olds brochure (I’ve used a press photo above, instead). And yet Oldsmobile’s last full-size convertible was the hottest-selling B-Body convertible from GM that year. With 7,181 units produced, the Royale convertible outsold the two-row Custom Cruiser and came within striking distance of the base Delta 88 hardtop sedan and coupe.
1970 Plymouth Fury
Total production: 1952
Percentage of Fury volume: 0.74%
Although the final year of the full-size Plymouth convertible was a slow seller, it outsold every other Plymouth convertible: the Satellite, Road Runner, Barracuda, ‘Cuda and Barracuda Gran Coupe convertibles. The drop-top Fury was available only in Fury III trim, skipping the lower-rung I and II trims but also avoiding the new, luxurious Gran Coupe trim and the Sport Fury. It makes one wonder: just who were buyers of full-size convertibles? Whoever they were, there weren’t many left by 1970 – the Fury III convertible was outsold by every other Fury variant.
1972 Pontiac Catalina
Total production: 2399
Percentage of B-Body Pontiac volume: 0.70%
For 1972, Pontiac’s full-size convertible was available only in the entry-level Catalina and flagship Grand Ville lines, skipping the mid-range Catalina Brougham and Bonneville entirely. Not that they would have represented many sales – the Catalina convertible was outsold by all full-size Pontiacs except the Grand Ville convertible. Although GM’s C-Body convertibles were all gone by ’72, each division with a full-size convertible was transitioning to offering it only in top-spec trim (e.g. LeSabre Custom, Delta 88 Royale). By ’73, Chevrolet’s convertible switched from the Impala to the Caprice and the Pontiac Catalina convertible was dead.
1975 Pontiac Grand Ville
Total produced: 4519
Percentage of B-Body Pontiac volume: 3.57%
The final full-size Pontiac convertible was outsold by all full-size Pontiacs except the two-row Catalina Safari and two- and three-row Bonneville Safaris. That arguably speaks more to Pontiac’s weakness in the full-size wagon segment more so than the convertible’s sales prowess. Much as Pontiac’s full-size models consistently sold in lower volumes than their rival divisions’ counterparts, the Grand Ville was the slowest-selling B-Body convertible that year albeit not by as wide a margin as you might think. With its handsome coke-bottle contours and modern detailing, the Grand Ville was arguably the most elegant of all the B-Bodies in ’75 and a marked improvement over earlier years of this series.
Full-size convertibles may never have enjoyed the soaring popularity of their coupe and sedan counterparts but their marginal popularity had almost entirely evaporated by the 1970s. The much-publicized “death” of convertibles may have proved to be a false prediction but the full-size convertible never reappeared alongside its smaller brethren. And it probably never will.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville Convertible – The Lady in Waiting
Curbside Classic: 1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Convertible – Practical Impracticality
Car Show Classic: 1966-67 Lincoln Continental Convertible – End Of An Era
Curbside Classic: 1966 Mercury Monterey Convertible – Geometry Class
When I see Chevrolet convertible, the first thing comes to my mind is this video. Marcia looks so tiny in the massive car. How the heck was she able to see over the infinite hood and stop on the dime?
Thanks for posting this as I haven’t seen it in years. For us car guys, this was probably the most memorable scene ever in the Brady Bunch’s series run.
But I’ll admit I remembered the car incorrectly. I thought it was a ’73 Impala, but this car is obviously a ’74 Caprice.
Good thing they brought Alice to clean up the broken egg.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia……
What a friggin behemoth of a vehicle! You can see body lean at 5 MPH! Great video.
Hah! That very same episode is what sprang immediately to my mind, too.
Mr. Brady was given Chevy convertibles in 4th and 5th [final] seasons. A light blue ’72 Impala in 4th, and red ’73 and ’74 Caprices in 5th.
First 3 years had Plymouths, a Fury [pilot] and Barracudas. Although the ’72 Cuda was a modified ’71.
Did someone once do a post “Cars of Brady Bunch”?
I remember distinctly that in the pilot episode of The Brady Bunch, Mr. Brady drove a 1968 Polara 500 convertible.
Thanks for photos of all the beauties! Would love to see them all back on the road.
In High School, I was smitten by a ’68 Polara 500 convertible. Saved it from the crusher and slowly restored it. It has a 383 & AC. the “500” moniker got you bucket seats and an optional center console, just like the smaller muscle cars. I’ve had it for over 35 years now.
One of my favorite Dodges. I’ve had my ’65 300 16 years but it isn’t quite as nice.
In ’65 convertibles made up about 2.5% of Newports and nearly 5% of 300s
The 68 Polara made a gorgeous convertible!
+3 on such a beautiful car, Mark.
One of my favorites of the pre-fuselage era, along with the ’67 with its trapezoidal taillights….
That’s one beautiful car! That bumper sticker is a true time warp! Nice shot.
Good for you! Wish you would give us a writeup with lots and lots of photos.
Mark, what a stunning car! I love that era of Chrysler design. The fuselage cars, in comparison, left me cold. I even prefer the wacky Mopar designs of the early 60s over the fuselages…
This entire article reads like some sort of fantasyland Christmas wishlist of mine. I’ve always had an odd attraction to vintage full sized Detroit Iron, even as a kid. Make it a convertible and my heart just melts. While muscle cars are fun, these drop-top full-sizers just seem to epitomize care-free fun for you and 15 of your closest friends.
I’d love any of the Mopars in particular – with a special preference to the ’68 Imperial – but any of these would suit me just fine, thank you very much. As noted, we will never see the likes of these cars again *sniff*. To paraphrase Jay Leno: these cars may be dinosaurs…but dinosaurs once ruled the earth.
The closest the big, domestic convertible came to making a comeback was the early 2000s Mercury Marauder convertible concept. Unfortunately, the regular Marauder’s low sales, combined with the failure of the last two-seater Thunderbird, killed any thoughts of the Marauder convertible going into production.
At the same time, there was a really good looking Bel Air concept convertible from GM, which was a retro version of the old 1957 shoebox Chevy. It got nixed in favor of the weird, quasi-convertible SSR pickup. Again, the failure of the Thunderbird in the marketplace is what did in any thoughts of the Bel Air making production.
I know it probably would have sold worse than the Bel Air, had that made production, but the Kappa-based Nomad concept was even cooler.
My cousin had a ’70 Buick Wildcat convertible from about 1990-1993 or so, and I remember thinking that it was an awesome classic at the time, but until reading this article, I had no idea how rare it was! It was a tan/ gold colour, with white interior and the sporty Buick rims. I remember him bringing it to a family reunion in 1991, and him blasting some music, as well as playing some Andrew Dice Clay live standup routine (where he’d said “don’t tell your parents I’m letting you listen to this”, ha ha). Good times.
The type of cars I have never understood, outside of parade context. Just can’t imagine them being daily-driven by people.
Now I see that they were, for the most part, niche vehicles even during there heyday. Well… unsurprising.
Didn’t realize that GM’s full-size rag-tops lasted until 1975, by the way !
Just as a side-note, I want to share this photo of a ZIL full-size convertible that I’ve seen several days ago in Moscow (despite their typical image, quite an advanced car for its time, with twin caliper disk brakes front & rear, OHC all-aluminum V8, etc.):
Wow! That ZIL is pretty cool. I didn’t realize those came in anything other than a sedan or limo. How elite would you have to have been back then to have a convertible!?!
That’s a really handsome car. I even like the color combo. Had no idea ZILs ever came as 2dr convertibles.
Great find, Stanislav. Lots of American influences in that design. Very handsome overall.
Right about the Detroit influences. Before I read the text and enlarged the photo, I thought it was an Imperial from the mid-1960s.
Does anybody know how they manufactured co convertibles back then ?
Were they dedicated body’s or made like they make them today where they build the coupe and cut off the roof then fit the convertible too
Air conditioning is what killed the convertible as well as woman’s hair, how so?
Back in the 60’sand 70’s women went to the beauty parlor for a wash and set and they didn’t want the wind messing up their hair with the top down
The 1971 and 1972 Grand Ville converts were C bodies on the same 126″ wheelbase as the other Grand Villes.
It is my understanding that they were designed as convertibles and built on the regular lines. I don’t believe that the “modern” practice of converting a partially built coupe began until the 80s.
These steel bodied verts were built on the same assembly lines as their line mates. The model mix already was incredibly complex for cars like full size Chevrolets.
While it looks like a lot of trouble for a small market, these weren’t intended to be very low production numbers. Convertibles and sporty bucket seat full size cars had been very popular as recently as 1965. The proliferation of smaller sporty cars relegated standard size cars to family transportation and pseudo limousine luxury, and convertibles simply died.
Also, remember that air conditioning was an *expensive* option to put on top of what already was the most expensive model in the line (except some wagons). Deciding to splurge on an air conditioned convertible was *two* significant price increases over a hardtop coupe.
I look at these low-volume convertibles as sort of an early, cheaper version of what’s now known as a ‘halo’ car. That is, they put them in showrooms to draw in customers for the more prosaic models. But, eventually, that benefit just wasn’t worth the effort.
It’s worth noting that the high-point of the convertible era was the 1965 Mustang. I don’t know the breakdown, but it was the highest percentage that convertibles were of a model line.
But, yeah, I think the main killer of convertibles in all but the specialty niches (i.e., ponycars and sportscars) was the widespread availability of relatively affordable air conditioning. It’s true it was a pricey option but no more than a fair-weather convertible cost over the price of a steel-roof car. Unless you lived in sunny Southern California where the weather is (mostly) always perfect, it was hard to justify a convertible.
The interstate highway system also hurt the popularity of convertibles.
It was one thing to drive with the top down at 45 mph on two-lane roads. It was quite another to do it at 70-75 mph on a limited access highway.
My father was a member of the local Jaycees chapter in the early 1970s. We rode with the chapter president to an event in his 1966 Plymouth Satellite convertible. The drive was on I-81, and we drove with the top down.
As a kid, I loved it, but my mother still says that ride is what killed the charm of a convertible for her. As she puts it, “I thought we were going to be blown out of the back seat.”
A GF and I got a ride hitchhiking from Eastern Iowa to near Chicago, in the back seat of a Fury convertible, on I-80. It was sheer hell. And we were young. It was a torture chamber. We had to lay down on the seat, and even then it was brutal.
Also during the 60s, lots of folks were moving from cities or older close-in suburbs to new suburbs and exurbs. Driving distances became much longer. Car were becoming more of a daily transportation necessity than a luxury. The freeways as you mention were a big part of that.
While the 1971-1975 2 & 4 door hdtp Pontiac Grand Ville used a more formal variant of the GM ‘C’ body roof, all Grand Villes were built on a stretched ‘B’ platform with a long 126” wheelbase.
The 126″ Grand Villes and Bonnevilles of this generation had the long rear compartment and long rear doors of C bodies. They weren’t the old LWB Pontiacs stretched behind the back seat.
The clamshell wagons also had the long C body rear doors–even Chevy.
They built they convertibles the same way they do now, it is factory engineered and rolls off the assembly line fully completed between the other versions of the same car. The aftermarket convertibles that were factory sanctioned or commissioned were a short lived phenomenon when mfgs were testing the waters to see if there was still a market for convertibles after they dropped them from the drawing boards when the roll over laws were passed, but before the exemption for open vehicles was added.
The quality of those farmed-out convertibles was pretty good, though, and in at least one case, far superior from its factory, closed-car counterparts. I’m speaking of the second generation Cavalier. I think it was ASC that did the conversions and, although the basic car was still typical, small-car crude GM, the top mechanism was first-rate, really on the same level of anything else then built (including top-tier German cars).
Specifically, the raise/lower operation was a pure one-handed operation. There was a drop-down lever in the middle of the windshield header that you dropped via a button (releasing the top hold-down clips), then pulled back (or pushed forward) to activate the top motor.
In effect, you could operate the top without pause when either leaving or arriving. It was a simple, engineering marvel that belied the bottom-feeder origins of the car.
A girl I briefly dated in the mid to late eighties had a brand new Z-24 convertible, and I can attest to that… it was a nice mechanism that seemed like a lot of quality for a mere J-car. But then again, the Z-24 was at the top of the pecking order for the Cavalier. Hers was black and silver, an ’86 or ’87 if memory serves.
Mark me down as another lover of these big droptops. I was around a few of these. One teacher at my high school had a 69 Newport and another had a 75 LeSabre. And a guy who lived in my neighborhood several years ago had a 69 or 70 Marquis. And a friend of my mother had a 69 Galaxie 500 (not an XL, unfortunately). It is amazing how quickly the convertible shriveled after about 1967 or so.
For whatever reason, Mopar buyers were just not convertible people. Even during the convertible’s heyday they tended to sell in paltry numbers. My guess is that convertibles tended to sell to people into style, and those folks were mostly GM buyers.
I was going to remark that you missed the 64 Studebaker, but I suppose we could agree that it really wasn’t a full-size car. So I guess we would need to go back to the 1952 (when full size wasn’t as big).
And as a kind of CC clue I will offer the hint that one of these will get a closer look tomorrow.
One final thought – it continues to hit me how much more attractive the Pontiac was than the other 1971-75 B bodies. Pontiac’s way of dealing with that transition from the belt line to the rear quarter was just so much more elegant. The Olds and Buick look like sawzall jobs by comparison with an awkward transition in that spot.
Pontiac also came up with a square-light facelift for their B-body that really looked good. That alone makes the ’75 Grand Ville look a year newer than the ’75 Olds Delta.
The appearance of the Pontiac vert probably is an accident. The standard Pontiac rear fender blade is in front of the roof cut line and distracts from the cutoff roof/window line. The Chevy and B body Olds/Buick have the roof cut line flush on the outside of the rounded rear quarters. The Olds/Buick C bodies have rear fender blades.
The 1969–70 Mopar C body verts also have the Sawzall look where the curved window line of the hardtop coupe roof just stops.
I can easily understand what killed the convertible: Women like my mother.
Every year, dad got a new Chevrolet as his company car. Invariably, it was always the same car: BelAir or Impala two-door hardtop, Powerglide, 2-barrel version of the largest small block V-8. When the Impala SS version was introduced, that became dad’s car, specs always the same otherwise.
There were a couple of exceptions: 1956 was the BelAir four-door hardtop, 1958 was Turboglide (never again!), and in 1960, to please his car-crazy son he picked a black with red interior Impala convertible.
Mom made his life miserable for that choice. I remember the top coming down twice, maybe three times, on our weekly Sunday evening rides. And each one of those times, she spent the entire ride bitching bitterly about how her hair was getting messed, how there was too much wind, etc., etc., etc.
By the time the 1961’s were available, even I knew enough not to ask for a second convertible. Back to the same old, same old, Impala two-door hardtop, Powerglide, small block with a two-barrel.
And the reason for those choices? That was the easiest car to sell once it hit the dealership’s used car lot.
Sounds just like my wife. Convertibles are pretty much verboten in our household for the same reasons employed by your mom. She complains even when I have the windows down or sunroof open on a nice sunny day. I love her dearly, but hate riding around in a sealed cocoon when it’s nice out. My suggestions of her wearing a hat or glasses are met with a blank gaze.
I think women’s hair, air conditioning, hardtops, vinyl roofs, and sunroofs all combined to be the killer of convertibles, at least in the typical, non-niche model lines. It’s a pity because it’s definitely true that the best looking car in just about any car model was always the convertible.
When I was a kid, my dad had a strippo 1970 Pontiac Strato-Chief two door hard top. While there might have been a six cylinder-three on the tree car somewhere, dad’s was a close to pain jane as it got. It had a small steering wheel and no power steering and no power brakes.
It had a black vinyl interior, with rough raised dots that hurt my legs. Even at high temperatures, we were not, repeat, NOT, allowed to roll a window down, lest me mess mother’s hair. On top of this, both mom and dad smoked like chimneys. Dad often mused how he missed vent windows. We kids missed them because we were asphyxiating on second hand smoke.
The combination of the heat and the smoke used to make seven year old me vilely ill. I’d lose my breakfast and the car was stopped. All kind of unpleasant curses would emanate from dad, because getting the 250 km to his sister’s house as fast as possible was the be all and end all of the universe. Stopping was an option that was anathema to dad. I have never really understood why.
After the five minute and sixteen second clean up beak, I’d feel better. On future trips, instead of not smoking in the car with closed windows, they stoned me over with Gravol.
Oh, how I’ve looked forward to a piece on “the last convertibles!”
I’ve always fantasized about having one of the GM B-bodies with the scissor-type folding mechanism, but settled with a late model Mustang for day-to-day use. I also have fond memories of Mike Brady’s Caprice, but I think I’d prefer an Oldsmobile like the one in the lead photo.
Some folks say it was the wider, cheaper availability of A/C that killed the convertible. How about the end of the vent wing window? They were good air deflectors with the top down.
But also, interstate highways and their speed limits. I was once a rear-seat passenger in a ’72 Centurion 455 convertible at, ahem, extra-legal speeds. I so desperately wanted to crawl down into the footwell. It was brutal.
William, great article! I would have written it myself if I’d thought of it, as I have always loved full size convertibles and irrationally value the last of any example. I thought it would include the last from each brand, but you went the extra mile and did the last of each model. Nicely done! With OldCarBrochures down, how did you find all the great factory photos?
I love the lead photo. That fellow’s perfectly round hair is classic!
They’re back up albeit still experiencing some glitches. And thank you!
I recall reading the maximum year for convertible sales volume was 1965, after which it rapidly diminished. Air conditioning, poor urban quality and increasing crime were given as causes.
Before the advent of hardtop coupes, convertibles were constructed from coupes with considerable hand-labor in low volumes. Once the hardtop coupe became popular, both it and convertibles were engineered in unison for as much interchangeability as feasible. Comparing the inside stampings of stripped hardtop coupe and convertible bodies, one finds evidence of mounting holes and bosses to accommodate the facilitated build of both styles.
I’ve read that, too, and also recall reading that the 1965 sales figures were inflated by strong Mustang convertible sales.
While the Mustang convertible was the hot car of the moment, almost every 1965 US car model line had a convertible (counting Barracuda as a Valiant, etc). The only exceptions that come to mind are Fairlane and Chevy II.
And I think that situation may have been rectified the following year when both the Fairlane and Chevy II (Nova) got convertibles in their respective line-ups.
Nova dropped its convertible when the 1964 Chevelle came on, and never got it back. The 66 Fairlane convertible effectively replaced the Falcon in the line, as the Falcon became a willfully deglamourized and (usually) shortened Fairlane.
Convertibles made up roughly 7 percent of the total U.S. domestic car production in 1965, which was the final peak for convertibles in the U.S. (and this after a few years of decline).
Convertibles accounted for well over 10 percent of total 1965 Mustang sales. The hot Mustang convertible helped push up total convertible sales in the U.S. for 1965.
I’ve shown this photo before, but it seems appropriate here. It’s my 1975 Buick LeSabre convertible, which I owned from 1992-95. It had the 455, parade boots, power windows, but not locks or seat. I really loved that car, but let it go because in those pre-career days I just couldn’t justify keeping it as I didn’t have a proper garage for it or the money to give it all the things it would need over the next few years.
The fact that it was the LAST Buick convertible was a big deal to me. I know there was the ASC converted Riviera, the Reatta and the new ugly one, whatever it’s called, but I still consider the 75 to be the last one. Real one, that is.
I like every car here, but a few have long been on my list of cars I’d LOVE to own someday: 70 Wildcat (I’d settle for the Electra, maybe this one: https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2010/10/Exclusive-Electra—1970-Buick-Electra/3690591.html#PhotoSwipe1545147101175), 70 300 and 76 Eldorado
The full-size convertible came back for model year 2016, but from Mercedes-Benz rather than the American manufacturers. Here’s a photo of the S-Class convertible from the company’s website.
When I had my ’73 LTD as a teen, I always fantasized about converting it to a convertible, just because one did not exist. But then a friend, whose Dad owned a body shop, explained the MANY reasons why this was a REALLY BAD IDEA. I was 17 or 18 at the time and did not know about structural integrity and such things in cars. In my Ford’s defense, it WAS a 2 door hardtop, so it sorta had a convertible with the top up look too it when all the windows were down.
So I started to (not so seriously) look around for a ’72 LTD Convertible, as I knew it was the last of the breed for Ford. Thanks for the clarification, BTW on the quantity produced, William. 4234 is not that far off from what I had burned into my head for years, 4260. I got that number from a newspaper ad from someone selling one. That’s how we looked for cars in the days of yore, just in case you young guys were curious ;o).
There was a guy in my area of town that had a brown one with a tan top and tan interior that I lusted for, and I watched it for years to hopefully one day see a for sale sign on it. Then one day it was gone. I have no idea where it went. ;o(
To this day, I still would like to have a convertible someday, but I’ve never done anything more than the sunroof thing. Since I don’t have a garage, that would not be a smart move anyway.
Thanks for this great piece, William. I’d always wondered about the production numbers on all the other ones besides the LTD.
It occurs to me that the 71-72 convertible was the only Ford LTD that looked really graceful at the beltline. The 4 doors had a sort of abrupt kink where the belt started to rise in the back door while the 2 door had that huge C pillar. The convertible looks a lot like the 67-70 with its smoothly flowing beltline. I had never really noticed this before.
Agreed. There is an almost Coke bottle shaped grace to it that is accentuated buy the rag-top look.
Admittedly, the bloated style of my own ’73 hardtop would not have lent itself nearly as well as the graceful curves of the ’71 & ’72.
The car almost looks smaller than it really is in convertible form…
These final LTD convertibles remind me a great deal of the old The FBI television show which would always end with a shot of Efram Zimbalist, Jr. leaving in a Ford product convertible. For some reason, the ones that stick out are those big LTD convertibles. It was the only reason to watch the end credits.
Weirdly, it’s kind of the reverse of how Maxwell Smart always arrived in a Ferrari/Sunbeam/Karmann Ghia/Opal GT at the beginning of Get Smart.
Great post Will! The one that really jumps out at me is the ’75 Delta 88 Royale convertible with the ultra-high production numbers (for a droptop). Compared with that model’s sales in the preceding years of the 1970s, as well as the output of its B-Body siblings, the ’75 Olds was off-the-charts successful.
I remember as a kid in NOLA that these ’75 88s seemed to be pretty popular, much more so than the other ’75 B-Body convertibles. Off the top of my head I can think of three that I “knew” personally: There was one around the corner from my house (a beautiful dark blue one with white top and interior, fully loaded), plus 2 others (light blue/white, and red/white) that belonged to the families of friends/classmates.
For years, no Mardi Gras parade was complete without several Oldsmobile convertibles, and frequently those were ’75 Delta 88s. Seems like Olds did a great job of pushing the “last of the breed” message for ’75, before Cadillac went over-the-top with “final convertibles” and 200 Commemorative Editions for the last Eldo droptop in ’76.
“no Mardi Gras parade was complete without several Oldsmobile convertibles”
We did not have Mardi Gras, but every May we had the Indy 500 parade that got 33 parade cars from the manufacturer of the pace car for the year. Buick got the honors for the final B body in 1975. I caught this one at a show last summer.
Olds got the job in 74.
Really interesting story. One minor correction: The actual production total for the ’75 Delta 88 convertible is 7,181 units.
Hey Tony, do you have a source for that? I thought my number seemed excessively high but it’s what the Encyclopedia of American Cars told me. They’re not infallible, however..
I have seen the 21,000 production figure for the 1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88 convertible, too. It was a Consumer Guide publication.
Yes, that number seemed high to me too. The Classic Car Database online (http://www.classiccardatabase.com/specs.php?series=8122&year=1975&model=33480) says 7181 and Wiki says just under 7200. That number sounds far more plugged into reality. That same source says that they only built 8832 Dynamic 88 convertibles in 1965 (and another 2879 of the cheaper Jetstar 88s).
The same source says that Olds built 21038 Delta 88 Royale 4 door sedans, so someone likely put the sedan figure where the convertible figure belonged.
The encyclopedia has 7181 for the Royale Town Sedan. Interesting.
Yes, that revised number actually makes more sense and is more consistent with previous years. Still a good number of Delta 88 droptops were sold for ’75. And, anecdotally at least, it seems a healthy dose of those sales were in New Orleans, likely due to the brand’s popularity there and some very successful, large Olds dealers. When I was a kid, you couldn’t turn around in NOLA without seeing an Oldsmobile, be it a convertible, wagon, Cutlass, etc., etc.
I’ll amend the text. Thanks everybody for your sleuthing.
The final Buick and Oldsmobile full-size convertibles used to regularly show up for sale at various Carlisle Events car shows. It seemed as though they were all either red or that medium pastel blue that GM offered for 1975 and 1976. All of them had a white interior with black carpeting and instrument panel.
I prefer the Oldsmobile version. Between the high production numbers and people preserving the last full-size Oldsmobile convertible, there are a lot them left.
I attended the Carlisle event in February in Lakeland, and there were a couple of the Buick and Olds models you mention. The ones there were that medium blue with the white interior as you mention, or red with white interior, but there was also a triple white one, and the orange/copper one also stood out.
The white interior was actually a good idea. White reflects heat, so the seats did not get as hot in the sun as black or dark colors would, and they cooled down more quickly. The current vogue of all black interiors, aside from being boring to me, means that the seats will burn your behind faster, and the black roof will absorb more heat as it is sitting in the parking lot. Give me a light colored roof and interior any day.
As a fan of convertibles and living in sunny central Florida’s west coast, I notice them as I drive around. I have noticed the same thing, over and over, regarding the drivers of any convertible. Call it stereotyping, but it seems to hold true.
There are tons of convertibles being driven by middle-aged women. I almost never see them with the roof down, even on the most pleasant of days.
I can only surmise that they bought the car because it was a) cute, b) more expensive, or c) they thought it expressed their “lifestyle”. I see tons of Miatas, Boxsters, convertible Mustangs, SLC/SLKs. convertible BMWs, convertible Audis, and the like being driven, top up, by women. The ones with the roof down are almost always being driven by men. This is in 75 degree, sunny and cloudless days, on regular roads under 45 MPH, and especially near the beaches. What should be ultimate conditions for top-down motoring, as one would think, but no, the cars have the top up and A/C going.
As car-buying changed from the male-dominated event to one where women make the majority of car-buying decisions, the convertible lost its appeal. Since the convertible was niche to begin with, it was easy to kill them off. I think this also applies to the rise of the SUV. When female drivers got into them, they liked the higher sitting position offered, and the implied safety of a larger vehicle also was appealing.
At least I have a couple of convertibles at my disposal. I enjoy them as much as I can. YMMV.
Interesting observations that ring true to me!
Exactly. Many of these women seem to have an affinity for the sporty, convertible ‘look’ but never put the top down. Again, they were prime fodder for the era when air conditioning and vinyl roofs came into vogue on more affordable cars. I sure see a lot of six-cylinder, vinyl roof, air-conditioning equipped Mustang hardtops being sold this way.
Now, with vinyl roofs being a thing of the long-ago, squared-up, brougham past, they have no choice but to get a real convertible and just leave the top up all the time. The old Chrysler Sebring convertible is a prime example and had a very strong market for this demographic. I suspect this is also where the lame Buick Cascada is aimed.
The author was going “Why did these exist?” and it’s simple. These big ragtops were the last of “standard size convertibles” that had been offered since the early 1900’s.
They were the descendants of the first ‘standard’ automobiles that had convertible tops. Example, the Ford Model T, which evolved into the Galaxie/LTD by 1965.
It’s easy for some to look at the 70’s big cars and scoff, and say “why were they so big?” “Who bought these?” etc. But these were #1 sellers for decades, until model proliferation in the 60’s. Not everyone in the 60’s bought performance cars or Mustangs.
I once read that the UK has the most convertibles in Europe. It doesn’t make sense at first, but when you go to sunny Spain, most of the cars have tinted windows and air conditioning. It’s simply too hot to drive around with the sun beating down on your balding mid-life crisis cranium.
I guess that partly explains why the spiritual successor (or at least the closest thing sold today) to the full size convertible land yaught are produced by (German) British car manufacturers. That is the Rolls and Bentley.
I always thought the UK’s affinity for convertibles was odd, as well. It just didn’t seem like the weather suited their use all that much.
But, then, we’re talking about the British so, considering their humor, I suppose it makes perfect sense.
You’re missing the whole point: folks who live in cloudy climates crave the sun. Germans buy even more convertibles than the Brits; same reason there.
Who in a sunny hot climate wants a convertible? You want a break from the sun, not more of it.
Bingo. Same reason, I imagine, why convertibles are quite rare in sunny Queensland. I sure wouldn’t want one…
Convertibles are a ridiculous purchase in Australia. North, it’s too hot (and when hottest, rainy!), in south, the elliptical path of the earth means the UV index is amongst the highest in the world – and I swear, you can feel it. Very noticeable in midsummer Tassie, for example. And because the vast majority are of white Euro stock, the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.
Great piece, William. Distorted entirely by TV and film – almost entirely SoCal locations, too – I thought that convertibles took a much, much bigger slice of the market then.
That is very true. I used to live in Arizona and I still prefer cloudy days to sunny!
This is also why Quebec, which has a very short summer season and long, cold, snowy winters, has the highest proportion of backyard swimming pools in Canada.
This was very diverting and I enjoyed all the photos as well. For many years I drove a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, so I can instantly recall what it was like.
One small correction: “The fuel crisis and the continuing shift towards plusher, more luxury-focussed models meant the Centurion didn’t survive past 1973.” But the OPEC fuel crisis didn’t begin until October when the 1974 models were already being sold, and it wasn’t a reason for the cancellation of the Centurion line. In fact the 1974 LeSabre Luxus package was just the Centurion with a different name, with one additional body style (pillared sedan) and an available 455 motor; see http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Buick/1974_Buick/1974_Buick_LeSabre_Folder/1974%20Buick%20LeSabre%20Folder-02-03.html. In 1975 the LeSabre Luxus was renamed LeSabre Custom.
I’m not a convertible or roadster person, I’m always one to pick the more finished styling and rigid structure of a coupe sportscar than a floppy ragtop. If you twist my arm however and demanded I pick a convertible, I would without hesitation pick these old full size boats. Why? Because they are the most boat like, made to be driven leisurely with a wide open cockpit. I cannot stand being in Mustang or Camaro sized Convertibles, especially modern ones with their high beltlines you can barely see over
Beginning in the late 1960’s convertible tops would often get slashed for no reason in urban and suburban areas due to a general collapse of society.
It’s my understanding that before the small block ‘55 V8 Chevy Ford had the convertible market (and wagons) pretty much to themselves.
Ford generally had a younger, sportier image than Chevy pre-SBC.
Ford was a strong market leader in the woodie wagon era. They equipped to build in (relative) volume.
I was lucky enough to buy a ’76 Eldorado convertible as my first new car. Got it loaded, even with fuel injection. I kept the car through 150,000 miles and some 12 years as my daily driver. The family took it on several long trips (1,500 miles plus) and it was very comfortable, with the top up it was fairly quiet and the top worked ell and quickly. All in all, it was a terrific car, as practical as the coupe would have been (not very!), with the top down fun of back road weekend excursions through northern Maryland.
Anyone recall the 1965 Fury III convertible driven by Tim O’Hara/Bill Bixby in “My Favorite Martian”?
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_245184-Plymouth-Fury-1965.html
I may not like convertibles as a rule, I just find the drawbacks too much to justify making them cars I would own. But other than the old British Roadsters from before the 70s, these are maybe the only other convertibles I like. There’s a certain charm to all of these full sized convertibles that’s hard to ignore, and that even a cynic like myself can appreciate with cheery glee.
Great article Will! For anyone interested in these automobiles and looking for a great reference, I recommend this book. I requested this for Christmas 1981,and I still enjoying looking through it. https://www.amazon.com/investors-illustrated-convertible-special-interest-automobiles/dp/0498021831
With a sample page from 1972
Thank you for this! I used to take that book out from our public library years ago. I have been trying to remember the name for years so I could purchase it. Thanks for finally solving that one.
Full size convertibles were made as halo cars for a model line.
They filmed beautifully and Hollywood put them in movies and on television.
Interiors were usually a vinyl. Dashboards could take being exposed to daylight, air, rain and dirt.
Air conditioning killed them off, as did the glamorous interiors demanded of the Brougham age. You just couldn’t let your crushed velour tufted pillow interior get soaked in a downpour. Want bird poop on it? Sheesh no.
Before multiple vehicle sizes, standard size convertibles were big business, in addition to being eye candy for the showroom. They were the most glamorous, youthful, sporty choice in the line. Ford and Chevy sold them in the tens of thousands.
Actual sporty cars made them obsolete for anything but parade duty.
Noted too in this fine piece are the last of another market anomaly: the lower series of a middle-priced make convertibles such as those exampled by the ’49-’52 Dodge Wayfarer roadster, ’56 Mercury Custom and later Montereys, ’60-’61 Dodge Darts, most Chrysler Newports. I recall encountering a few of these lower-line convertibles with column-shifted manual transmissions, dog-dish hubcaps and black-walls, so much for glamour.
Full-sized Mopar buyers weren’t as a group much of convertible customers throughout the period. Even when they had elegant New Yorker convertibles available the sales were tiny compared to Buick Roadmaster/Electra.
The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975, Edited by Gunnell list production of the 1967 Ambassador DPL convertible as 1,260.
Growing up in Australia, we were fed a diet of American films and TV shows in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. In just about all of these, everyone seemed to drive around in convertibles, so naturally one assumed that they were a lot more popular than what they actually were in real life. It was only when I got older that I realised that the reason for this was that the actors were a lot more visible when filmed in a convertible. Up until the 70’s there was a small but steady market for full sized US cars in this country, most of which were assembled here. All were 4 door sedans and hardtops, no 2 door coupes or convertibles were ever available unfortunately. Nowadays you sometimes see 4 door sedans that have had the roof cut off. A friend of my brother has a 66 Pontiac modified in this way, a travesty in my opinion.
As a kid, I can recall thinking that most Americans had a big convertible. What a fantastically big and luxurious place it must be, I thought, especially as the tiny number of US convertibles imported here were very expensive things indeed after duties and mandatory RHD were paid for.
Those ‘convertibles’ with nothing to convert, usually suffer from considerable vibrations at road speed and even pinching door openings as the lack of structural additions typically made by factory-engineered cars manifest itself.
Even factory-made convertibles were often a bit more flexible than might have been desired. I remember occasionally being a rear-seat passenger in my old Pontiac convertible (’66 Bonneville) and could see the doors float around a little in their openings, while latched, while the car was moving on a smooth highway.
There was a couple in our little town in northern Indiana who bought new a 58 Ford Skyliner convertible hardtop – as close as you could get to the best of both worlds back then. I remember distinctly the day they drove home with its replacement: a new 62 Chevrolet Impala coupe with A/C. That was the year GM gave you yet another option: a hardtop coupe with a convertible roofline, creases and all, the high style of a convertible with the security of a closed car. You could begin to see the future right then.
Notice the not-yet ubiquitous RH mirror?
Out of all of these, I would take the 1967 AMC Ambassador or 1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88.
Great post William! I have never been a huge fan of these last big convertibles, but I have to admit, they are more interesting to me than the typical sedan/coupe version of these same cars (at least the 1970’s models).
My father briefly considered purchasing a ’72 Ford LTD convertible new when he was car shopping. He didn’t really want such a big car, but he really like the idea of a convertible. A Mustang was too small, and at Chevy he didn’t car for the plain Chevelle (he liked the Monte Carlo, but there was no ragtop). In the end he passed, and I am kind of glad he did. But, it would have been a very rare car had he bought it.
Very enjoyable article sir and great photos. So many beauties to pick from,but as a fan of AMC, I have to say that ’67 Ambassador DPL really stands out to me. I’m not really a convertible guy but I sure would be proud to own that one.
Hello! I’ve tried to register with two different email accounts; once a day ago and just now. I am not getting the confirmation email, so can’t complete the process. Thanks for any help may have. This is a wonderful site which I hope I can contribute to eventually. –Mark (would someone please pass this part on to an admin?)
The photo below was residing in my wallet until yesterday. For almost two years in the early 90s I babysat this car for a friend who moved to England. Every time I drove it my first stop was the gas station to put air in the suspension system. This car had some serious issues but it was fun.
One convert that may or may not fit this article just happened to be both the first of its line and its last 🙂 … the ’67 Grand Prix convertible. There was a girl at my high school that had a triple white GP droptop, thought it was a sharp looking car then and still do today. Back then (’80-’81 school year) I had no idea just how rare they were.