Hi all,
I don't own a Corvette, but I do have a '55 Studebaker, and have a friend who's seriously into 53-64 Studes. What does this have to do with 'vettes, you ask? Well, all 56-64 Studebaker Hawks use a 12" wiper blade which I have confirmed to be the same Trico wiper blade that was used on the C1 Corvette, and I'm pretty sure the 15" blades used on the Avantis and 63-66 Larks is the same as an early C2 Corvette.
The problem that I'm trying to solve is that I am a bit of a stickler for some details, and I really hate seeing a nice old car "ruined" with ugly modern wiper blades. The original ones are really nice and low profile and just look right. Even the aftermarket "classic" style blades look big and chunky next to the originals, and the attachments to the wiper arms are often... inelegant. Problem is, if you have a "driver" car, how do you properly maintain your blades? The 12" blades apparently never were meant to be refilled; I've got the repro rubber from Corvette Central on some '56 style wiper blades on my '55 coupe. Expensive solution, but works. (the original '55 blades... haven't found a solution for those yet. The 12" ones work better than the original 11" ones anyway.) The later 15" blades look to be easily refilled, *if* I could find refills in your average FLAPS.
I've got a couple ideas and have actually ordered a couple different types of refills online with which to experiment, but I was wondering if I was trying to reinvent the wheel here and you 'vette guys already had this figured out? If you have a part number that works, or can be easily modded to work, that I can order at my FLAPS, let me know. Otherwise, if I come up with a good solution, I'll be sure to post back here as well as on the Studebaker forums.
Just so you know where I'm at, I've pretty much verified that for the
15" blades, I think that a Trico 43-150 refill should fit in the 15" blades, although the 16" one that they had at my FLAPS did seem to bind a little between the rubber and the claws unlike the originals. However, I found this:look at the longer refills... THOSE look like the stock splines on the original refills. I've ordered a pair of those to play with; I'm thinking that one might be able to pull the rubber out, trim it to fit and then work it into the original spline in your old blade. Maybe even on the 12" blades? That would be great, so I wouldn't have to shell out for the "show correct reproduction" stuff every year or so for what's basically a driver car.
If it works, I'll let you know...
thanks
nate