1955 rear deck top clamp plate question

[zeroroadkill]

I assume the rear deck respectable has two sets of holes because one is for the hardtop and one for the soft top? Why would they be different? Or are there two different hardtops?

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[Martin P]

I assume the rear deck respectable has two sets of holes because one is for the hardtop and one for the soft top? Why would they be different? Or are there two different hardtops?View attachment 13607

Thanks

It is my understanding that the two separate holes are for soft top and second set is hardtop as they are different. The clamps are also side specific as well

 

[zeroroadkill]

Why would Ford not make them use the same holes? Was the soft top not a Ford part?

 

[MRansom]

I believe they are different & utilize different mounting holes

 

[zeroroadkill]

I’m thinking with a lot of things Ford did to produce the T-Bird fast and with available parts they didn’t engineer the tops but used shelf parts otherwise why have two sets of holes? Since the T-Bird was built as a convertible I guess the hardtop came as an after thought and for some reason couldn’t use the same deck plate holes as the soft top???

like the water pump spacer was this used because the engine didn’t fit close enough to the radiator? I know Ford was trying to compete with the Corvette and had to do it fast to get market share which worked since less than 700 Corvettes were sold in 1955 compared to over 16,000 Thunderbirds.

Anyone know why the 1956 was 10” longer and the 1957 only 6” longer? 175” vs 185” vs 181”.

 

[cokefirst]

The deck plate for the Thunderbird is not an off the shelf item from the Ford passenger car. It is unique to the Thunderbird. The soft top for the car was designed to fit under the rear deck behind the rear seat. In order to do that, the distance from the front corner of the rear bow to the outer edge of the rear bow needed to fit in the distance between the floor and the deck behind the seat. Thus there is a reason for the two sets of holes based and space and design.