Before
#368, I never knew of such an F Body (and I follow FMJ's closely). More than that, never heard of a Carson Top. Turns out that is a neat piece of automotive customizing history.
Started in California, late 1930's.
That name was gone before I became aware of cars. Custom tops I was aware of were the "faux" convertible (Chrysler had them on J body Cordoba early 1980's as factory option), maybe some other OEM's did it too, and aftermarket joints put them on all kinds of cars ... probably to this day.
Note below that 1948 invoice. $319 (included the chopping) in 1948 is almost $3,800 today, or $2,000 for the top alone. Guess you had to really want one of these .. and had the lettuce.
Anyway, I will put it here in this thread for posterity.
source:
The Carson Top Shop Part 1 - Custom Car Chronicle
"The traditional Custom Cars as we know then had their birth in Sunny California in the later part of the 1930’s. The looks of these custom restyled cars developed during the 1940’s and around 1946-48 the style had reached near perfection.
Custom cars in those years were restyled to reach the long, low road hugging illusion. These cars were restyled to reach an graceful effect of unbroken lines.
These cars were created with eye for balance, using other brand parts to make the Custom to look better, more elegant, more exclusive, but always with near perfect proportions.
The early restyling on cars were mostly based on convertible and roadster bodies. The windshields were chopped and smooth perfectly flowing padded tops were created to flow with the smooth lines of the cars.
The Carson Top Shop located on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles had developed this padded top in 1935, and used it on a chopped custom for the first time in 1937.
The look they achieved with that changed the look and feel for the custom cars from that time on. The Carson padded top would become very popular first in Southern California, later migrating to North California, and then to all over the US."
View attachment 576978
View attachment 576976View attachment 576971View attachment 576977
View attachment 576965View attachment 576972View attachment 576966
View attachment 576967View attachment 576968
View attachment 576969
View attachment 576970