[rdl]

I’m looking to replace my convertible well liner. None of the suppliers seem to have the correct well liner made of authentic material. The replacements just use vinyl rather than the original canvass style fabric with vinyl backing. Does anyone have a lead on where I can find this item (or the material itself)? Also, if someone can post a close up photo of the correct one that would help too! Thanks in advance.

[JimFB400HO]

I wish I could find the thick insulated well liner originally on my '68. Unfortunately cramming stuff in the trunk shredded it during the early daily driver years.

[north]

This has annoyed me for years, apparently no one makes an even remotely correct well liner. A few of my cars still have the originals. The factory liners were a dark canvas type material on the well inside and a the back half of it (the side facing the trunk) had a layer of sound deader and an outer plastic skin (think a black trash bag) that was sewn in a cross pattern onto the inner material. This sewn on shiny plastic is what you see from the trunk. That outer layer held up nicely on most cared for cars but the inner material tended to fade, dry up and crumble.

What I did on one car was to buy the incorrect well liner repro and drop it into the well while leaving the original liner under it. This works really well because looking in the well you see a correct looking dark material but from the trunk you see the correct original top well.

Has anyone talked to Ames about this? It is such a blatantly incorrect looking repro, I can’t believe that every concours GM convertible resto has that dead wrong look when you open the trunk?

[JimFB400HO]

I contacted numerous convert top companies and none had such a well material. You are fortunate to have it intact on some cars. As a daily driver I hauled all kinds of things in the trunk, including all the camping gear it could hold back in the 70's. I think the Chicago area winters did not like the material the insulation was coated with.

I kept picking pieces off out of the trunk as it disintegrated. When I replaced the top, I discarded the little that was left of it.

Mine looked a lot like this one in photo posted by BobS over on the First Gen Firebird site: https://firstgenfirebird.org/forums/...=218628&page=2

[fairwayhit]

I’m not certain but I think I’ve seen chevelle well liners in canvas with the vinyl backing. Are those the same?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[north]

Here are some pics of an original well liner from a 69 GTO. The first pic is of the trunkside, the second pic is looking at the factory rear speaker looking forwards (speaker is behind rear seatback), last pic is looking rearward from rear seat (top of photo is facing trunk).

So you can see that the insulation and "trashbag" outer quilted lining is only on the back half of the top well liner. Also that beige inner liner appears to have washed out because under the speaker grill it was clearly a dark grey-black color.

I would think the basic design was used across all GM ragtops of the day, one of my fullsize ragtops has the exact same construction.

[rdl]

Thanks everyone. Someone must have the material. I saw a ‘69 Camaro a few years ago with a new one installed. It never occurred to me to ask the source at the time. I’m hoping to at least find the fabric “up” surface material that I can fuse to a vinyl backing. Does someone have a hi-resolution photo of a pristine example they can post?

[rdl]

After a long search… success! It’s the last one cut from the original fabric roll.

[gtobird]

Originally Posted by rdl

After a long search… success! It’s the last one cut from the original fabric roll.

I have the same issue to deal with in spring. My original well cover is tattered and torn, but it does look like the one in the picture. You mentioned it was the last one cut from the roll. How were you able to get one? Also, does anyone know if they were all this sort of greenish / tan color?

Thanks
Old Joe

[dirtybird400]

I own a survivor 1967 Firebird convertible and the top well liner looks nothing like the GTO liner that was posted. The well liner is essentially the same material as the top or maybe more a vinyl on canvas. The car has a light blue top and the well liner is a medium blue.

[RA1John]

Could you please share some pix of your original conv. top well liner?

Thanks!

SR71 -at- comcast.net

Originally Posted by dirtybird400

I own a survivor 1967 Firebird convertible and the top well liner looks nothing like the GTO liner that was posted. The well liner is essentially the same material as the top or maybe more a vinyl on canvas. The car has a light blue top and the well liner is a medium blue.

[dirtybird400]

Originally Posted by RA1John

Could you please share some pix of your original conv. top well liner?

Thanks!

SR71 -at- comcast.net

Here are a couple of pics

[north]

None of my Firebird ragtops have their original well liners so I don’t know for sure what material they would have used on F bodies for sure but I can offer a hint.

My 69 Sprint ragtop had an obviously replacement well liner when I bought it but being a factory Stereo-8 track car it had two factory rear speakers.

Whomever installed the new well liner didn’t bother to remove the speaker covers. They just ripped out the old well and dropped the new one in, hiding the speakers.

I pulled the speakers to get them reconed and between the speaker grilles and the speakers were the remnants of the old well liner and it looked just like the material on my A and B cars with original liners.

Since the speakers are on the forward side of the liner there was no added layer of insulation as expected.

[rdl]

My car came with the original top and well liner when I acquired it in 1980 (white top and parchment interior). The new liner is exactly what was in the car back then. Here’s a pic of a correct original liner used in one of the eight TransAm convertibles. It’s is possible that other colour versions were used.

[north]

Mine is a late production 69 from Norwood.

[rdl]

These pics were provided to me by a source at the GM Heritage Centre in Oshawa. They are taken from a ‘67 Camaro in the museum.

[rdl]

It’s never a bad idea to review the Product Information Manual when you’re sourcing uncommon items. I found these resources describing the “well liner” as “acoustical material” if they are of interest to anyone…

[trmjr1]

This is what I put in my '69 convertible. Pretty good quality and doesn't flop around.

https://www.heartbeatcitycamaro.com/...lity%21-Black/

[north]

Looks like the same material used on A and B cars but without the insulation added to the trunk side

[dirtybird400]

I didn’t realize how dirty it is, I have to clean it, 55 years of grime. It looks to me like the well liner could be made out of the same material that was used to make the smooth sections of the seats. I have a black interior but medium blue interior vinyl was used to match the light blue top. My car is an earlier build, 2nd week of April.