I've had my 71 Cutlass convertible about 20 years and always hated the position of the inside rear view mirror. Whenever trying to turn right I would have to lower my head to see what I wanted to see thru the windshield because the rear view mirror was in the way. It could be very confusing to see what is happening in the rear of the car instead of what I needed to see. A couple years ago I got a 70 Vista Cruiser and after driving that a while I noticed it wasn't near as bad in the Vista. I knew the Vista takes 18" wiper blades and the convertible takes 16" blades so I figured the difference was the higher windshield and that is true, but while taking parts off another parts Vista I found the cars use 2 different mirror stalks. So I decided to try the shorter stalk on my convertible. I temporarily put the shorter stalk on and my 5'2" wife and I both drove the car with the top up and down. It wasn't a problem for her before and is ok w/the shorter stalk and it is much better for me with the short stalk. BUT... When I went to do this 10 minute changeroo I found there was no hole thru the stalk for the light wire on the one from the parts Vista. My 10 minute job turned in to about 2 hrs!!! I think they must have made 4 different stalks, 2 w/holes and 2 w/o..

 

Interesting comparison. I have an NOS stalk in the shed. What are the measurements on these?

 

Great info. I have the same issue with the mirror being in the way, I just never had any spare parts to experiment with.
So what did you do to get the mirror wire connected?

 

Allen, I'm not sure what the measurements are, I'm gonna say about 1" difference. I also went out to my 72 Supreme hardtop parts car and it has the longer one.

 

I drilled the stalk. But my other vista has a light in the mirror and has a hole already thru it. So if you want to use the shorter stalk on your car with a light find one off a 4 door or vista w/a light.

 

I have to say thanks for posting this. I had no idea there were different stalk heights. This could be very helpful.

 

I never had a problem. The mirror has enough adjustment with the attached parts...I flipped the small arm on the mirror 180* and that put it up high enough that it did not interfere with my vision. The stalk has the ball that will move almost any position for less obstruction. There are also different stalk lengths for a '57 Olds. Four door sedan is longer.

 

I never thought about rotating it. I did push it forward towards the windshield on the upper "ball joint" type joint but it didn't seem to allow me to see out of the rear window very well that way. I like the shorter one better so far. It just seems weird though- obviously the engineers thought it important enough to make different lengths.

 

The NOS maplight option arm assembly I have is the same part number listed from 1969-72. Group 10.187 Part 8767382. It's no longer than a standard mirror arm assembly on a regular mirror.

In all honesty, I've never had any issues with the mirror in the car. I can move it to a good viewing angle pretty much any time. I'm not over 6' though.

 

Funny, my daughter and I went for a drive to get pie tonight (I just wanted to drive, lol) and we were talking about how low the mirror is. I noticed on our recent trip to Missouri that if a SUV came up on my tail I would see it in the mirror out of the corner of my eye and think it was a car coming right at me. I assumed I'd get used to it though.
Good timing for this post.

 

I just stumbled upon this thread while looking for something else. Awesome information!

I'm taller, and my cutlass S has the larger convert. mirror installed. This would probably help a lot.