Obviously this is personal preference but I really feel like luggage racks detract from the lines of the c3. Naturally, all the cars I am finding have them...

 

I totally agree with you. I think the clean deck looks much better too. It's just a personal preference thing. However, in defense of the rack,
when my wife and I took a cross country road trip in one of our luggage rack equipped C3's, it proved very useful.

 

Makes it easier to take the tops with you without putting them behind the seats or leaving them home.

 

While i agree with your taste i fully respect cats who like the racks and have them,
Any good bodyman or even a novice who does the job correctly can get rid of the rack holes with no ghost

 

There are reasons...

 

End the hate! Lol

 

Now you see 'em....now you don't.....
I totally agree. A C3 with a rack is like a chopper with a windshield. It kills the whole look. JMHO of course.

 

My '71 convertible's primary purpose is road trips. We'll be gone for two weeks at a time. Without a luggage rack, these adventures ain't happening. I find that younger people think they're cool and old folks don't like them.

 

Did you actually have some young pup say, " hey man nice luggage rack"

 

I like the clean look......

 

My luggage rack serves as a work bench with a piece of cardboard on top under the project Sorry NCRS guys?????

Seriously though it has been very handy when sheathing the T Top panels in their cases. I'd crap if I dropped one of them on the ground.
I have developed a nice technique for removing and installing them 1 at a time using the rear rack for a table.

Hate to think on a coupe how I'd do it on the road w/o the rack.
Hey it works for me as I drive her.
Marshal

 

They'll just start asking about the car and mention in passing that they think the luggage rack is cool. I've even had the luggage rack mentioned as being cool on a couple of podcasts hosted by 20 somethings.

 

I was curious,

Seems to me and im not poking more just being fun the nature of such a thread is to get people talking, like it hate it, argur why,

I do a lot of things to my cars people hate more than a rack....

 

Curious why they put the racks on these cars. The storage space is not that small. I mean there were smaller trunks. Makes me wonder if any other cars came with racks in this location. None come to mind.

 

Wilcox says he'll pay big bucks to a body man that can make holes like these go away permanently. Seems it's not as easy as you say. I agree with him, DON"T DO IT unless you really love racks.

 

IMO the rack only suits a '68-'72 or possibly the 1/2 n 1/2 '73...
Extra razzle n dazzle.
Forget them on a plastic bumper car.

Have done many a trip with the luggage in the back, and t-tops on the rack.
Although they make it hard to fill up when their on the rack....

 

I do not know if mr willcox out sources body work or not i thought it was in house with him, but i dont speak for others,

I know a lot of people/bodymen have issues with poorly done bodywork and ghosts of seams, holes whatever come back to haunt then there are the cars which have had holes and seams filled with no ghosts,

Im not going to debate how i feel about it and what i have seen.

 

lol...

The issue with the holes... (and I have a rack on my 72.. and hate it... I wish it was gone).

The issue is that when you fill the holes the filler material it will continue to shrink as it dries.. When this happens the old holes show.

The other issue is the expansion and contraction ratio's of the material used to fill the holes will differentiate from that of the original press molded panel. When this happens and combined with the shrinkage issue... the holes will show. I've never found anyone that can hide a hole in a upper surround panel or a rear deck.

Issues in the side fenders can, in most cases be hidden because they are A) below eye level, and B) Not as subject to the harsh sunlight that causes the filler to cure down.

I made my statement about the holes over 20 years ago and to date I've never found a worthy opponent to debunk that statement. (I wish I could).

The same goes for the header rivet holes when people drill them out from the top. You might make them look good for six months but I will guarantee you I can find them under a florescent light in my shop and out doors in the sunlight.

But the bottom line is how picky is the customer. When you tell him the holes will show and you can only make them as good as possible... and when you are looking left to right with a wicked eye... trying to find the defect, or under florescent lights waving back and forth to find the defect.... It's a give... give.. from five feet it might pass..

I know.. some of you will say otherwise... and I'm okay with that. I'm a bit on the **** side with my cars so I just replaced the factory rack with a stainless steel (no longer available) no hole rack. (I drilled my own holes in it and the recessed the screws).. I'm living with the rack but again I don't like it....

Ernie

 

I will say this and move on,

vettebuyers 69 doesnt have hole ghosts does it?, didnt alans car have a rack, perhaps they do have deck ghosts waving and i cant see them in pictures,

How many ncrs points off are hole ghosts?

I have seen many cars at shows with filled holes and "I" didnt see ghosts,
i guess on the vettes i need to wait longer for the spirits to materialize,
I have seen glassed in bumpers and other repairs years latet not have ghosts,

Heres where one discrepancy might apply,
i have filled holes that didnt ghost for the years i knew the car, but....the direct deck holes i filled were not on press molded vettes they were mat or chopped, buggies and kit cars, so in that i could be guilty of lumping the vette in with those, but i have done a lot of glass work on vettes that didnt show while i owned them,

So vette deck holes filled will at some point show,
wouldnt this mean any damage to press molded corvettes that is through the glass show at some point.....

 

stainless steel carriage bolts worked for me.nothing like the studded look.