Looking for a reputable installer of a softop that needs replaced on my 64. Hopefully within a 100-150 mile radius of Lawton, Oklahoma. I also have a hard top that needs restoring.

Any help appreciated.

 

About the only reputable installer in North Texas (Dallas) is Jason at Motorcars Made Mint, but he’s not cheap.

 

Craig, doing it yourself is not that difficult. I did it and it turned out great (I was actually replacing a “new” top that was done for the prior owner—a very bad “professional” job). Probably took me 6 hours for the top (I spent more time than that overall but that was because I also used the time to make some serious adjustments to the top frame and dial it in just right—something the “professional” didn’t do either). The Al Knoch video makes it relatively easy. So you might want to think about it rather than the brain damage of finding a “professional” that may not be that good.

I also restored my hard top. Again not that difficult (though I had it professionally painted).

 

Sue ,ASM Auto Upholstery, before ,Gas Monkey, did a Al Knoch top on my 66 in 2010,I still get a lot of complements on it, her prize has gone up

 

I had mine done while in the shop at Corvette Corner in Rowlette, TX (for an electrical issue involving some re-wiring of the starter and fusible links down there) and I asked whether they had to good top guy because I figured while someone else had my car, I would bite the bullet and have the top replaced. There's a local shop CC uses (name never told to me) that did the work with an Al Knoch top all new seals (meaning not just the top but the door seals, felt in the window tracks), removed and repainted the top frame, and did nice work. And it was brutally expensive which CC marked up 10% of course. The bill including the electrical work was almost $5,000, which I thought was outrageous. The top work was most of that bill. In fairness, they did call me to tell me the "cost" and ask for more money before the work started, me having originally given them $2500 deposit. I warned them that they better not be calling me for more money after they wanted another $2,000 on top of my original deposit.

When I had bought my 67 (from the prior owner up in Boston) I didn't see the car in person but was inspected by a person I met personally that inspected another C2 with me there, and operates the BowTie shop up there. When I saw the car the top was ok, in that the rear window wasn't foggy and you could put the top up and down, but it is a white top on a Marina Blue car, so it had seen better days and was no where near rain worthy. I was never really happy with the top as is and knew I'd replace it some day. The logistics of arranging it delayed it for years as I could never seem to get Carr's Corvette in Plano to commit to do the work unless I gave them my car with no ETA on when they'd work on it. Overall, I regret not asking Joe Scafidi at the BowTie shop up in Mass to do a new top, before having the car shipped down here. His labor rates are much more reasonable than anywhere in DFW that I've ever found when it comes to working on midyear Corvettes. But that's another story.

From what I've always read, if you have a hardtop, that's very handy in getting the soft top frame properly fitted to the car; I don't have that so doing it myself was not something I was interested in. If I were the OP with a hardtop, I'd be tempted to DIY.