Hey guys, I'm in the process of looking for a hardtop for my 69 right now. The kicker is that I have a homebrew tailgate. It sticks up about 1/8th inch above the rear sides. Will the lift hatch still close with this much interfearance(sp?) ? I'm not familiar with the bottom "sealing" edge of the hardtop and don't know if it will allow this much of a differance. I also need to verify that a 71 top would fit. I believe they are still lift type until 73 or 74, correct?

I have a stock LC tailgate on my 40 and when it's closed it's the same hieght as the top of the tub. The hard top door comes down with a small overlapping lip.
If you're home-brew tail gate is too high it might interfer with closing the hard top door.
If my stuff wasn't under a foot of snow I'd go out and take some pics for ya. But I'm afraid pics will have to wait. :)

After giving it some thought, I don't think an 1/8th of an inch is going to cause you a problem.
I'll check it out tomorrow and get you some accurate measurements. I have to measure it anyway for spomeone else.

AFAIK... Both the factory tailgate ant the factory half-doors only came up as high as the tub's edge. I think that you would be able to get away with 1/8" at the most as teh hardtop liftgate has a little room... any more than that and your liftgate would not shut correctly. Good Luck...and yes the 68'-74' all have the same liftgate design...:D

Thanks guys,
I'm gonna go home this afternoon and dick around with the tailgate to see if I can get it back down to match the tub.
Let me know on those pics Dog.

Why can't you trim the top of the tailgate 1/4"? Seems to me like this would be the best way to solve the problem... do you have hinges on the bottom of the tailgate so it functions? or does it just bolt on rigid?

Not that it matters but...was your 69' a factory softop or hardtop?

My 69' was a factory rag...:D :D

Yeah Kurt, I was thinkin the same thing about trimmin her down. The tailgate is hinged at the bottom so that it's functional w/ latemodel pull handle and all. It actually works really nicely, and after looking at it closely, she barely sticks up at all.

Not too sure if it was a factory hardtop or rag. I'm assuming hardtop since the doors are matching hard doors. Is there any way you can tell? VIN maybe?

I'm sure you can tell with the VIN but I can't. Anyways there a re a few tell-tell signs of a soft top model...the first is a factory tailgate. You can tell iof it was OEM because it will have holes in the tub about a foot off of the bed for chains to bolt up. There is also a hole on each side of the dash near the doors. This is wear the safety strap would have hooked up... There are a few other ways to tell but those are the quickest.

:D