The accessory that sets Roy's straight-axle off the most, however, is its green-tinted, transparent Plexiglas bubbletop. The see-through aftermarket hardtop is a rare item indeed. It had belonged to a good friend named Bob, who owns a '54 that Roy restored. William Chaffee of Model Builders, Inc. in Chicago was the original architect of these bubbletops in the '50s, and only about 15 to 20 were produced. Of that handful of original tops, only five were green-tinted while the rest were clear. Chaffee got involved with building these tops at the request of Eugene Kettering (then Chief Engineer of GM's Electro-Motive Division). Kettering wanted one for his early Corvette. It seems that Chevrolet had even installed a Model Builders bubbletop for testing and gave Chaffee some positive feedback, but obviously it never became a factory option. The limited numbers of people who know of these bubbletop roofs have lamented that so few were made-so Roy has recently begun to reproduce them.
Roy's taste for non-factory accessories keeps the Copper '55 out of NCRS because the Restorers Society only recognizes factory options, but he doesn't mind. Roy knows that he restored it well and correctly-so he doesn't require official approval. "Having owned many '55s, this one just came together like it was meant to be," he says. Besides, Roy and Mary enjoy simply showing it to people they meet on the road. "We're not saving it for someone else by not driving it. I restored it to use and drive," and they average 10,000 miles each year, cruising around 75-80 mph. "The funny part about driving it is that few other Corvette owners on the road recognize it as a Corvette, so we don't get the Corvette Wave very often" Nonetheless, they keep a bubbly disposition!