72 Project

I have looked hi and low for a rear spoiler that will fit on a 72 convertible without success. I have seen so pictures here and there but no information on where they got them. Does anyone know of a company that makes a fiberglass rear spoiler for a 68 to 73?

Thanks

Jim

The13Bats

Don't I wish...ecklers offered it years ago
I believe they called it trans am because it did look like the ones on them...it was a mold in idea
Eckler's also offered it on the custom rear and you might recall seeing it on motion cars like the moray
However,
In the day it wasn't really very popular people I guess liked the flow of the stock duck tail better...once in a while a full rear clip or cut off rear bumper cap will pop up with one...I had one got silly sold it been looking ever after but I get torn between the stock rear or that spoiler.
You could try to modify a Camaro or trans am spoiler from the 2nd Gen cars likely thats what Ralph started with when he made the vette one

oldgto

I kind of like the look of the stock duck tail being enlarged... higher.

The13Bats

Jim,
How you been doing,
I had the bumper with that spoiler I flip flopped for 20 years about running it or not...regret selling it.
As you know I am building a road race poser...while that spoiler should look race car to me it never has it screams street custom to me and I really can't pin down why...not that there's anything wrong with that..if the build theme suits it,
I also LOVE old custom parts like a ncrs fellow loves his correct chalk marks so it would suck as in a new delimma for me if this part popped up...and yeah, if I scored one a mold of it would have to happen some folks still would love to have it.

oldgto

Doing great! Back to work on the car... new wiring harnesses, engine is rebuilt, and trans is half done.
The picture of this bubble-back shows what I was thinking....
the extra tall duct tail, along with the flares.... I LOVE that look!

loup68

Do any of you realize that the original 68 concept had higher front fender humps and a larger rear spoiler? They found out that the front fender humps restricted the front view too much and that the larger rear spoiler made too much down force and made the front too light at higher speeds. Lou.

The13Bats

Um..you mean the mako shark 2 show car...the rear spoiler retracted into the deck...adjustable...youtube has old gm promo videos showing this and other insane features and as the owner of the closest thing to the show car a silva mako front clip i can attest the fenders are too high one reason i might not run my clip and stay stock front clip...they look too high, but it makes great shop art.

Jim,
I like the taller rear spoilers when they flow with the classic lines.

I would love to have a rear spoiler addition like on liverpools real racer...sweet.

loup68

No, I don't mean the Mako Shark II show car, Bats. The original 68 production car drawings and first pre-production design car had the Mako Shark front fenders and a very cool looking 3-4 inch high rear spoiler on it. The book "Corvette - America's star spangled sports car" has the drawing in it, in the beginning of the 68-82 section. You should get a copy. Lou.

The13Bats

My bad...you called it concept in the other reply so my mind went to mako 2
I guess the preproduction drawing you speak of was still concept and changed before actual production...was it a real built prototype or just drawing...i happen to have a lot of books including the one you named but cant go grab it and look as it like too much of my junk is still packed away from the move,
Back to your point about front end lift i was under the impression all the chrome bumper cars suffered that at high speeds i cant speak for later tupperware cars

7t2vette

I am currently working on a bolt-on version of this spoiler:




I haven't decided yet if I will keep the parts that go down the sides of the body at a 45 degree angle, or just make the spoiler the width of the rear deck. I have also been experimenting with the height of the spoiler. I will post the results when I am done.

The13Bats

7t2vette
That picture pretty much looks like ecklers trans am spoiler



I am thinking if its taller that stock the wider helps the flow and proportion
I love the stock chrome rear and so far after 30 plus years the only spoiler that flows on it to me is this one
Please do keep us posted on your progress

7t2vette

I thought it was called the Ecklers GT rear spoiler, but that is it in your picture. I agree, it is the only one that looks "right" on the rear of a bumper vette. My only issue is I don't like the way it looks from directly behind; it makes the rear tail panel look like a giant wall to me!! That is why I am making it a bolt-on instead, and I am experimenting with the height. I will keep you posted.

Look how badass this car looks with that spoiler:

The13Bats

That car would look bad *** to me qith or without the spoiler but i get your point

I thought it was the gt spoiler for years but ecklers called their rear clip that had the slope rear window and flares and that spoiler "GT" i am fixing to post a thread with it,,
Then they had a rear clip no window with that spoiler they called "custom"

Here is a turbo wing i love them on 74-79 but this is on a chrome rear and well...

loup68

I just looked in my original 1973 copy, because I could not find my new third edition that came out over a year ago, and had more wonderful 68 design stuff in it. The styling drawing was for the new 1967 Corvette and they did test the prototypes. The large rear spoiler actually depressed the rear one-quarter of an inch at 120 mph. The nose was a lot lower than the final design and it raised the front up two and three-quarters at the front wheel centerline at 120 mph. Because of these problems, Zora Arkus-Duntov convinced the higher ups to delay the new Corvette launch until 1968. I was surprised to see the two inner tail lights in the drawing, were back-up lights. So glad that they changed that! In another book, I saw a rendering with three rear tail lights and it looked really bad. Lou.

Chonciceptor

I will be watching this with great interest!!!

PainfullySlow

I am a big fan of the original lines of the car but I do have to admit, that spoiler looks badass and 'right' on that car.

jimrowe0

Any update 7t2vette on this spoiler? I really like the one they did on the Ridetech c3.

theweeb

Just leaving this here as another way of going about this. I do not want to offer my opinion on it, as it may belong to a member, just adding it as a possible other way to go. Picture taken last week at a local Corvette show.

L-46man

Jim, Zora spent months working with Shinoda/ Haga/ Holls tuning the shape and placement of the rear duck-tail spoiler (on the Kamm-tail) of the C-3. The upshot of all this research and iterating is what we eventually got , Chevy Engineering's 'best compromise' for rear down-force versus front end lift in pounds of down-force or lift. (Vs. drag)
The C-3 is pretty UN-aerodynamic...so adding more rear down-force to the rear will cause the front end to lift...which can be scary! On top of this...adding more 'spoiler' to the rear increases drag.

Be sure your doing this for the right reasons! Er-Ah 'Looks', ain't one of them, IMHO.

Unkahal

jimrowe0

The one I posted was on the 48hr Ridetech corvette that won almost every event it entered. I suspect it had a functional benefit to improve handling.