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Greetings everyone, Chris here from Melrose T-Top Int. For those of you who do not know us here’s a little background. Our family has been involved with Corvettes our entire lives. My father Dave owned a 4-stall body shop in Melrose Park IL, and was a bodyman for a good portion of his early life. He would often fill one of those stalls with a Vette in need of repair. One of those vettes I remember in particular was an early 70’s C3 that rolled in with minor quarter damage. It was black with a traditional flame job, turbine style wheels, and side pipes. I was about 10 at the time and seeing a real-life Hot Wheels car in person pretty much sealed the deal for me as a lifelong Corvette fan. Having learned the basics of automotive body repair by the age of 14, I had restored my first Corvette, a 1980 L82, by the time I had my driver’s license.
The 80’s- Tackier the better. Folks were stealing 78-82 Corvette glass tops on a level comparable to today’s catalytic converter epidemic. Dave, consistently being asked for leads on replacements, and not offering much help in return, decided to start making his own out of acrylic. How to market these T-Tops pre-internet? Corvette shows, and swap meets of course. An average of 8-10 shows a year, and what did these desperate folks buy? The ugly stuff! Bright blue, some red, some green and of course the run of the mill smoked grey, for the less adventurous types.
The 90’s- Down to biz with GM. Now a GM licensee with access to GM parts and tooling (including OE made C4 roof lenses and LOF T-Top glass), Melrose found itself struggling to keep up with orders, and short on space. During the early 90’s we built and moved into our current 12,000 sq ft facility in Cortland, IL., and focused on growing our dealer base to help with marketing, installations, and core banks for refurbished tops.
The 2000’s- 3 more generations of the Corvette. Melrose now carries T-Tops, roof panels, accessories, and many other parts for 65 years of the Corvette. Transparent, ready to paint, carbon fiber, OEM & Melrose branded roofs, along with C2 and C3 headlight and much more.
Present day- The internet, Covid, and why haven’t I heard of Melrose all these years? In the past, with the help of Corvette shops, and their knowledge base, we could stay tucked away as a wholesale manufacturer, and focus on production. Now, the mom & pop’s I once met with as a young child at Corvette shows, then also dealt with over the phone for decades, are closing shop. Reasons abound, from aging out with no one to take over the family business, Covid supply chain struggles, larger company buyouts, or the ever present “Amazon factor”, have forced our core distributor base into retirement, and with them- the “old timers” and their years of knowledge. The big guys and some small shops remain, but we know how it goes – you call the big company and most likely you are going to get someone on the phone that knows nothing about car parts, nor any knowledge of Melrose’s products. One of the reasons you are reading this now is due to our need to fill that gap and reconnect with our customer base.
So, here we are if you need us. You can order direct or call your favorite vendor. We are somewhat old school, so sometimes calling us will get you a faster and more thorough answer here at Melrose than a forum post, but if you do post I will do my best to answer as soon as I can.
Sincerely, Chris Wiehle
The 80’s- Tackier the better. Folks were stealing 78-82 Corvette glass tops on a level comparable to today’s catalytic converter epidemic. Dave, consistently being asked for leads on replacements, and not offering much help in return, decided to start making his own out of acrylic. How to market these T-Tops pre-internet? Corvette shows, and swap meets of course. An average of 8-10 shows a year, and what did these desperate folks buy? The ugly stuff! Bright blue, some red, some green and of course the run of the mill smoked grey, for the less adventurous types.
The 90’s- Down to biz with GM. Now a GM licensee with access to GM parts and tooling (including OE made C4 roof lenses and LOF T-Top glass), Melrose found itself struggling to keep up with orders, and short on space. During the early 90’s we built and moved into our current 12,000 sq ft facility in Cortland, IL., and focused on growing our dealer base to help with marketing, installations, and core banks for refurbished tops.
The 2000’s- 3 more generations of the Corvette. Melrose now carries T-Tops, roof panels, accessories, and many other parts for 65 years of the Corvette. Transparent, ready to paint, carbon fiber, OEM & Melrose branded roofs, along with C2 and C3 headlight and much more.
Present day- The internet, Covid, and why haven’t I heard of Melrose all these years? In the past, with the help of Corvette shops, and their knowledge base, we could stay tucked away as a wholesale manufacturer, and focus on production. Now, the mom & pop’s I once met with as a young child at Corvette shows, then also dealt with over the phone for decades, are closing shop. Reasons abound, from aging out with no one to take over the family business, Covid supply chain struggles, larger company buyouts, or the ever present “Amazon factor”, have forced our core distributor base into retirement, and with them- the “old timers” and their years of knowledge. The big guys and some small shops remain, but we know how it goes – you call the big company and most likely you are going to get someone on the phone that knows nothing about car parts, nor any knowledge of Melrose’s products. One of the reasons you are reading this now is due to our need to fill that gap and reconnect with our customer base.
So, here we are if you need us. You can order direct or call your favorite vendor. We are somewhat old school, so sometimes calling us will get you a faster and more thorough answer here at Melrose than a forum post, but if you do post I will do my best to answer as soon as I can.
Sincerely, Chris Wiehle
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