<VV> 1965-1969 convertible rear speaker enclosure

[Mark Corbin]

All,

I find that the installation instructions (available from Clark’s) for the various radio/multiplex/speaker options to be of great help in understanding the option assemblies. And yes, both the riser and foundation are prone to sagging. I found the cure for that was to glue a sheet of peg-board/hardboard material to the horizontal back side area on the foundation and/or riser.

Just so everyone is on the same page, I always try to go by what the various parts are called by GM in their parts book. The cardboard “shelf” piece that all hardtop cars have is known as the foundation (as it covers more area than would just a “shelf” piece), and the add-on (as you called it a “standoff”) is a riser. The convertibles simply used an individual cardboard speaker housing.

I’ve had several cars with various radio options in them. One option (on a ‘66-later car) is a mono radio with a rear seat speaker. It’s put in with a fader switch that took the place of the dummy trim ring that is under the right side tuner knob. It used a riser and a single speaker in the right rear corner. The rear speaker isn’t a reverb, but a second speaker functioning just like the front speaker. You just merely moved the sound track from front to back via the rheostat fader switch. Another option is in my ‘67 convert and is one of the factory tape player optioned cars. It has two rear speaker housings screwed onto the back side of the rear seat, in the boot well, one on each side of the car. Another was in a ‘69 coupe, and it also had the rear defogger option. The interesting point here is that the riser on the ‘69 comes up to the top of the rear seat, whereas the ones on the ‘66 and ‘67 only came up halfway, so the later cars’ riser is higher than the earlier cars’ riser. 

I don’t profess to know everything (no one does), but I do have a lot of experience with a lot of it, to the point that I probably ought to be called “Mr. Accessory.” LOL But regardless of what I have/had, or seen, it’s great to have this forum to learn even more about things from others who have things I haven’t seen before.  And I always enjoy learning more. Like with this thread, I learned some things from this discussion.

Knowledge, like love, is best when shared.

-Mark

From: hallgrenn at aol.com 
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 11:31 AM
To: airvair at earthlink.net ; 66vairman at comcast.net ; scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com ; virtualvairs at corvair.org 
Cc: clarks at corvair.com 
Subject: Re: <VV> 1965-1969 convertible rear speaker enclosure

Tom and Mark,

My first hand experience has only been with the coupes and 4drs--sorry if I confused things.  I have seen a '68 and a '69 convertible with two rear speakers installed (factory speakers with the perforated metal grills) with the factory cardboard "standoff" shelf that was screwed in above the standard cardboard shelf using chrome trim screws (in tabs at the back cardboard wall and one long tab that were screwed into the top face of the cardboard behind the seat--same as the coupes with that option--except that the rear seat had to be detached for access on the convertibles).  In such cases there was a cutout in the original cardboard shelf--rectangular but with beveled and not square corners so the speaker magnet could rest on the insulation.  The standoff shelf was supported above the regular cardboard surface with rectangular pieces of cardboard.  These cardboard speaker shelves did not last long in my experience--they cracked and sagged.  I do not know if these two convertibles came this way from the factory or not.  All the assembly manuals I have seen show the stereo system as having the two left and right channels in the front doors and one speaker in the front and one in the back--but I have never seen a single speaker in the back with a stereo only two rear speakers in the "factory" installations I've seen.    Whether dealer or owner installed I don't know, but the standoff shelves I saw matched the ones used in the coupes and 4drs.  Of course with the mono radio with rear speaker option--and mine was a reverb speaker--the rear speaker was on the standoff shelf in the passenger corner.  I do have negatives of my '68 rear speaker shelf (the car has gone to the field in back of the Corvair Ranch), but they are just some of the thousands I plan to scan to digital files when I retire--at least that's the plan.

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Corbin <airvair at earthlink.net>
To: hallgrenn <hallgrenn at aol.com>; 66vairman <66vairman at comcast.net>; scg-list <scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com>; virtualvairs <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Cc: Clark's Corvair Parts <clarks at corvair.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 10, 2014 10:32 am
Subject: Re: <VV> 1965-1969 convertible rear speaker enclosure


Got any pictures? Or is it identical to the coupe/4door version?

-Mark

From: hallgrenn 
Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2014 10:34 PM
To: Mark Corbin ; 66vairman at comcast.net ; scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com ; 
virtualvairs at corvair.org 
Cc: clark at corvair.com 
Subject: Re: <VV> 1965-1969 convertible rear speaker enclosure

I have the rear speaker enclosure for my '65 Corsa (metal) which is mounted in 
the center unlike the later year models which were mounted in the right rear 
corner unless you had the stereo option which gave you one in each corner.
Bob

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