For a single year in 1939, the Chevrolet division at General Motors did not offer a convertible. Why?  It’s never really been explained.

Not long ago at Mac’s Motor City Garage, we explored the story of the 1939 Plymouth convertible, the only convertible offered by the Chrysler Corporation that year as the Dodge, DeSoto, and Chrysler brands opted out. (See the feature here,) There must be something about convertibles in the Detroit auto industry in 1939, it seems, for Chevrolet didn’t offer a convertible that year, either.

Chevy produced Convertible Coupes at the low-priced base (Master) trim level in ’37 and ’38, as usual, but for ’39, Chevrolet took a gap year for reasons that were never officially explained, as far as we know. That’s in the USA and Canada, anyway. In Australia, where open cars were big sellers, Holden continued to offer Chevrolets with locally produced roadster-cabriolet bodies in ’39, and there were some open cars in Europe, too, including 15 touring phaetons for the Swiss Army. But in the North American mass market, the body styles were limited to coupes, coaches, sedans, and a station wagon.

Since the Chevrolet people never gave an official reason (and why would they?) all we have by way of explanation are bits of Detroit industry lore passed down through the years. And of course, there are several versions. In one, when Chevrolet redesigned its chassis for 1939, switching from Dubonnet Knee Action front suspension to a conventional short/long arm system (above), time and resources were lacking to engineer a reinforced frame for the convertible. (This was often but not always done by adding a heavy X-crossmember). There’s another story that when the Master A-body was updated for ’39, problems arose with the design, tooling, or supply chain for the convertible top mechanism.

In any event, we can bet that priorities played a role in dropping the convertible, specific issues aside. The demand for ragtops was shrinking at Chevrolet in the late ’30s, just as it was at Chrysler and throughout the Motor City. In ’37, fewer than 1,800 Chevy convertibles were sold, and not quite 2,800 in ’38. With total annual production in the half-million unit range, convertibles were a drop in the bucket. Even without an open model, Chevrolet comfortably outsold Ford in ’39 by 90,000 cars.

Whatever the reason or reasons for discontinuing the convertible in ’39, the decision was strictly temporary. For 1940, Chevrolet returned with a convertible coupe (Cabriolet was the factory designation) on the KA Special Deluxe model line. With a premium price of $898 and all the trimmings, this convertible featured Chevrolet’s first powered top (below).  Sales recovered to a respectable 12,000 cars, and convertibles regained a lasting  place, more or less, in the Chevy lineup. If we include the Corvette with its retractable hardtop, Chevrolet is still producing convertibles today.