[60sStuff]

Hi Rick,

This thread of your beautiful ‘66 396 Chevelle restoration is awesome, not to mention it’s being done in my old stomping grounds of central Illinois.
I was born in ‘54 in Springfield and traveled to just about every town including Washington/Peoria area in my good old days. Many corn fields.

The time, money and sourcing parts that’s required for a high end restoration like yours is exhausting. Congratulations to you for this undertaking.
This old muscle car was very fortunate to have found you!

Factory vinyl (Cordova) top.
I’m a GTO (65-67) guy and the Cordova tops on these cars always received a flexible retainer. I’m not sure if the Chevrolet models used this item?
Shown below is this retainer on my ‘65 GTO Survivor.
This retainer was also used on the 66-67 Tempest Series cars with this fabric top, but in a different translucent material opposed to the chrome retainer on my 65.

Looks like you’re on the downhill of this project and it looks fantastic!!!.

Thanks for sharing this restoration.

Chris.