Vinyl Roofs: Tasteful or Gouche?

mminerbi

Like many styling touches features, such as the
spoilers on today's cars, vinol roofs could enhance
the styling or ruin it. The factory installed
ones frequently dressed up the cars, in my opinion,
while some of the after market and dealer
installed roofs, such as on some Cadillacs and
Lincoln Town cars, look absolutely aweful.

What's your opinion? Styles often return; will
the vinol roof ever come back?

rea98d

I think on todays cars Vinyl (anybody know how to spell that?) on the roof has pretty much been replaced with a cloth similar to dyed canvas. Its more attractive, more durable, and more expensive. In my opinion, Lincolns and Cadillacs (and maybe the Grand Marquis, depending on the color) benefit the most from these "luxury tops" Although I did see a T-bird similar to mine with such a top on it. (Vinyl on a T-Bird-who'd have thought?). Personally, unless you put something like that on a Mustang or a Truck, I'd don't think there's too many vehicles it will actually ruin the appearance of, however, in the case of that red Contour with wire wheels and tan cloth top I saw the other day, you can insure no one else has a car just like yours. (As much as they spent on luxuries for that tiny little Ford, I would have forgone some of the customizing and bought a Crown Vic!). One rule for Vinyl and cloth tops-Get the top color different from the body color, but don't get colors that clash (ie-orange Grand Marquis with Navy top is UGLY-I don't care if that's your school colors!)

mminerbi

rea98d, Vinyl may indeed be the correct spelling, and I may have misspelled gauche also. I used the spellcheck below the message, and it didn't pick up on the misspellings regardless of which variation of these two words (vinyl and gauche I used). Interestingly, though, it highlights "spellcheck" as misspelled, even though that's the way it's spelled on the spellcheck access itself. Strange. In any event, shame on me for using words when I'm not sure of the spelling.

Can a grammarian help out here?

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, it's gauche, taken directly from the french word for "left", as in left-handed, and therefore meaning awkward or clumsy or lacking in social grace (sorry, left-handers, that's what the dictionary says).

rea98d

I would describe that red & tan Contour I saw as "lacking in social grace." Unusual, maybe, but it did kinda look nice.

Mr_Shiftright

I guess the idea of vinyl roofs is to harken back to the days when hand-built luxury cars actually had richly upholstered roofs that folded back. Somehow, cheap vinyl and a fake chrome hinge doesn't cut it for me. I think everything on a car should be real and should actually DO something. If the scoop doesn't scoop and the vent doesn't vent and the spoiler doesn't spoil, leave the damn thing off. The Great Shiftright has spoken (pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!)

mminerbi

Might as well shut this topic down for lack of interest, Shiftright.

Mr_Shiftright

Thanks, mminerbi, but lets' give it another week or so.

prophet2

Chrysler had those "White Hat" promotions: cars with white vinyl tops. One of the "Dodge Girls" on the TV campaign in the late '60s was actress Cheryl Holdridge, an ex-Mousketeer.

I had a '68 Sport Satellite 2-dr HT from the lowly Plymouth division: electric blue w/full white top. Looked sharp and a lot better than some of the "half-top" efforts by Ford (T-Bird) and Lincoln. Mine never cracked and it saved me a lot of time and elbow grease by not needing a periodic wax job on the roof. Others had horrible rust problems when water got under the "skin."

Later had a beige '72 Dodge Swinger with a black top: 318 auto, 2 dr HT.

fezo

I am no fan of vinyl roofs - think they look like they are trying to be something they are not. They also make it more difficult to maintain the appearance of the car. The roofs that really drive me nuts are the "convertible look" roofs. Some of these are done very well in that the car really looks like the roof ought come down until you notice that the material works into the doors.

Now I really like convertibles - drive one myself, but why would you want to look like one? My theory on convertibels is they have one advantage over other cars - the top comes down!!! Why on earth would you want the top to LOOK like it could come down when it doesn't??

bobs5

I remember when Great Flags amusement park originally opened up in N.J.
We went through the safari section, (took 3 hours, bumper to bumper traffic all the way, and 95 degrees that day), and many cars with vinyl roofs were peeled off by the monkeys. Should have seen the looks on the peoples faces...a kodak moment!
After a while the park banned cars with vinyl roofs from the safari section.

Mr_Shiftright

Man, I would have loved to see how they wrote up the insurance claims...."I was driving north on Safari Way, when suddenly I heard this noise on the roof of my car. Looking up, I was surprised to see seven small...."

isellhondas

Some sixties cars just don't look "right" without a vinyl roof. Some T-Birds, Lincolns and Cadillacs come to mind.

Because, the majority of these cars had these roofs, it seems out of place to see one without one.

They were rust traps in some cases, especially on GM cars under the rear windows.

In So. Calif we didn't have too many monkeys, but after ten years or so, the sun would take a toll.

Mr_Shiftright

Some of the cars you mentioned have tall roofs, and I think the vinyl tends to make them look smaller to the eye, hence the improvement.

rea98d

Shifty, you seem to like features to actually do something, so I'd guess you like the cars from the 80's. I personally don't see a problem putting totally useless features like tail fins and vinyl roofs on cars. It gives them a little distinction, and with all the retro styling going on, I'm surprised the carmakers haven't brought the tail fins back. I have a car with a vinyl roof (or at she least did have until she got in a fight with a bob wire fence), and happen to like it. Having seen the same model without one, I think it happens to give it a little luxury and personality. While it may not be functional, it does look nice. After all, how much fun can somebody have in a sportscar with all the charisma of a Toyota? Not to say you can't take a good thing too far (like I'm probably doing with this post at this point). I saw a yellow full sized Chevy, flareside, fiberglass bed cover, spoiler, and a Black vinyl roof! Somebody took the idea of customization a bit too far out into the deep end IMHO.

Mr_Shiftright

I think the best judge of what is good design is Father Time. If you look at most 80s cars now, they look pretty dreadful, but people seem to like the 60s stuff a lot, it's holding up better to the test of time.

carnut4

A local mechanic here who owns his own shop ia also an old car [especially Cadillac] guy. No Cadillac after 1970 is worth a damn, in his opinion. His daily driver is a restored '67 Coupe DeVille, bronze with black top. The original vinyl top was removed-and I have to say I think it looks better without the vinyl top. But then I never liked vinyl tops anyway. Shifty, I know you're just waiting for Chrysler to "refine" the Viper with a vinyl top and Rolls grill, then you'll jump on it right...

Mr_Shiftright

I look at the Viper the way WC Fields looked at Mae West. He described her as:

"A plumber's vision of Cleopatra".


She had a lot of curves and bumps going every which way, as you might recall from old movies.

carnut4

Saw Mae West's old '35 Cad V12 Town car at a recent concourse...even had room for the plumber inside.

Mr_Shiftright

I'm sure she HAD the plumber inside!

She did everything in a big way...WC really hated her.

carnut4

I'm reminded that this car had one of the original covered "formal" tops-in black something. I know it wasn't vinyl-what did they use then-fabric? Leather? Anyway, I think that old Caddy is one of the few cases where a covered
top is fitting. And of course, the privacy of that roofline for old Mae...........

Mr_Shiftright

Most were leather, but I think they did have synthetic fabrics at that time, but mostly for the fabric bodies they built (like Weymann). The old cars were not very durable if you exposed them to weather or rough roads.

alfa2600

The last car on which every part was strictly functional was the Model T. At the height of its popularity, THOUSANDS of accessories were sold for it, many strictly decorative. "Chrome" trim and vinyl roofs fall in this category. Consider this comparison: You live in a house. It has walls. On these walls you probably hang pictures. What FUNCTION do these have? Do they help hold up the wall? Of course not. Decoration is decoration. It makes one car different from the next. The kind of styling that a car has, inside and out, is part of what gives it the character of its time. Think how boring a '58 Buick would look with out the hundreds of pounds of chrome. We remember the '59 Cadillac for its outrageous fins rather than its dynamic qualities - though these were as good as any car of the time. Can you honestly say an undecorated Corolla is better for its alleged functionality than the '59 Cadillac?

Mr_Shiftright

True, but no sense gilding the lily...if the car is already beautiful by design (not a Corolla), it doesn't need anything. In fact, I think a good way to judge whether a car has good design is to strip it down to the body, take off the wheels, and pile it in a junkyard...if it still looks good, it probably is a classic design that needed nothing else. It's the rare car that improves by sticking more things on it, but occasionally that is the case--a piece of trim here, a vent there, can make a difference...but Landau bars and vinyl roofs--that's much more rarely an iimprovement, IMO.

tomcat630

vinyl tops looke dok on cars like early 70's Monte Carlos and Ctlass Supremes.
Any car after 1980's or so looks ridiculous with a "flashback" carriage roof.

carnut4

I just remembered a used car lot in San Jose, CA in the 60's that was putting vinyl roofs on 55 Chevy 2doors, and selling them at a premium [for the time.] A friend and I were cruising this lot one day, looking at the "creations." There were several 55-56 Chevs with vinyl roofs, and some other 50's cars with same. The salesman didn't appreciate our comments and finally told us to
"get our fxxxing xss out of there." We saluted as we left.

isellhondas

A 55 Chevy with a padded vinyl top?

Was the salesman wearing a plaid coat and white patent leather shoes?

Once in Oakland, I saw a lowered 78 or 79 Lincoln Mark 5 with a green astro turf top. He even put the astro turf on the phony spare tire hump on the trunk!

Mr_Shiftright

WEll, at least he didn't have to mow that huge lawn!

carnut4

That Mark 5 with the astro turf reminds me of the cars I saw during the 4 years I lived in Oakland. I'd bet that guy driving the Mark used it to corral his evening "ladies" [we're talking pimp here] and was wearing a yellow suit with an astro turf wig and white shoes to match. I used to get a few parking tickets when I lived in Oakland, and every time I went downtown to pay them, I'd see these outlandish Marks and Eldorados cruising the area, which was the prime "trick" part of town...

isellhondas

Glad you're back from the hospital. Sounds like no fun...!

I worked in and around the Oakland area from 1978-1981. Saw a lot of unique cars.

Mr_Shiftright

There's a wonderful Karmann Ghia with tail fins running around in Oakland...I'm dying to get a picture of it.

That was no pimp, that was an undercover cop! (You can always tell because they wear white socks).

sebringjxi

Of course, vinyl tops had their performance side too! Remember when Roger Penske illegally acid dipped the body for his Sunoco Camaro Trans Am car and the roof was too thin to pass SCCA inspection. The team put a vinyl top on it and raced the thing for the 68 or 69 season, I don't remember which year it was. It really looks funky now, a race car with a vinyl top!

But you're right some 70's cars, especially T-birds and Cougars, Monte Carlos and Gran Prixs don't look right without them! I was always fond of the padded tops that reduced the rear window to about an 8" by 8" diamond!

Viva la disco!

marquisbrougha

Alpha2600 is right. In life we decorate everything from our homes to ourselves! A vinyl roof or chrome trim or any type of embellishment on an auto can look good or bad depending on whether it fits the cars personality (landau bars on a 65 T-Bird, terrific), enhances the styling (Half-roof on a 97 Town Car makes it look like a "Town Car") or gives it a finishing touch (who would argue against the tons of chrome on a Jaguar XJ). On the other hand no amount of trim will help a truly ughly, misproportioned beast. The 1980-83 Thunderbird/Cougar - no matter Ford put on them or took off, they were true disasters!

Mr_Shiftright

I think that mostly they look like bad toupees.

rea98d

At least the car's arent bald ! (:-)

isellhondas

I think few things make a car look gaudier than a "gold kit". Others will disagree...

denniswade

I think the worst examples of vinyl roofs were late 60s to early 70s GM intermediates like the Chevelle, Grand Prix, Skylark, Le Mans, etc. They all had semi-fast backs, and I guess the idea was to make them look like convertibles. I thought they just made them look slow. I bought a '69 Grand Prix with one, and the first thing I did was strip the top. MUCH better!!

Gold kits look okay on cars with a matching color, I think......there's nothing sacred about chrome in my book (the less the better), so replacing it with another color doesn't bug me as long as it's not on a silver car or sumthin. I like black-out chrome best, but peeling the stuff off is so easy I don't know why everyone doesn't do it. Really cleans up the car.

warfish

I don't know which look I like best, the vision of a 10 year old Crown Victoria with the hat coming off in pieces and showing rusty spots underneath or a Buick on the turnpike with a giant bubble under the cap, knowing the driver has no idea this is happening.

nrd525

I am old enough to remember when pretty much all the cars had them.I always thought they looked cheap.I'm proud to say I have never owned a car with one.I had to drive my mom's 72 Cutlass with one though.Someone tore up the top at the movie theatre one night.I pleaded with my dad to just take it off,and paint the roof.Heck no,it had a new white one on it about a week later.
I was looking out the window a couple of days ago,my neighbor's father came over with his brand new Grand Marquis/Crown Vic(didn't look that close),white with a TAN fake convertible top.Damn,that looks bad...

carnut4

have to be the silliest, ugliest damn things I've ever seen. There's a mid-nineties Caprice around here with one of those-usually driven by a small high school kid. Kinda funny to see that huge, ugly car come careeing out of a side street, going recklessly too fast, and that little tiny head stuck way down low. I think I'd put a sack over my head if I were the kid driving that thing.

sgaines1

Those fake convertibles look nasty. Especially when they're on a car that is obviously not a convertible. Gold kits are really low class. What better way to advertise the fact that you're tasteless, than to stick gold trim all over your dented '86 Sentra? Really impressive. I hate those chain license plate frames (saw one on an Elantra wagon...puh-leeze!), and the neon, and the cruddy little Civics with yellow bumpers, japanglish nonsense like 'Number One Sport Race Wow!' on the door, and a spoiler that looks like the guy's kid brother made it in shop. The worst car in our area is actually a new Mustang. It's yellow, and the windows have been tinted a shiny bright yellow. Gag. We call it the Urine Sample ;-)

carnut4

Holy uremic poisoning, batman. I suppose the guy drives around with his mega-base rap tunes booming? Are there yellow lights on the undercarriage? Kind of ruins the old "mellow yellow" song for me...

sgaines1

but I wouldn't be at all surprised. I'm sure he has an obnoxious sound system, but I ride the bus, so I really can't hear much. It really does look like a bunch of winos stood tiptoe and filled the car. He seems to think he's cool, though.

andre1969

I've only seen 3 cars that the fake convertible tops actually look good on...
1) the 1980-1985 Cadillac Seville, although the car already looks pimpy enough, so the top doesn't hurt it any,
2) the 1980-1983 Dodge Mirada/Chrysler Cordoba. The top actually cleans up the lines of the car by hiding the second opera window, and the lack of a b-pillar helps make the car look more like a convertible
3) The 1979-1985 Eldorado/Riviera/Toronado. Since they made them in convertible styles anyway, the fake tops blend in fairly well. Plus, like the Cordoba/Mirada, the cars have no b-pillar, so they look more like a convertible with the top up.

Just my thoughts...if I were to get any of the above cars, I'd definitely stay away from the fake tops. I knew someone with a Mirada who's fake convertible top came off on the highway.
-Andre

zinhead

When I was growing up and worked in the automobile retail business (used cars), vinyl roofs were known to hide extreme amounts of rust. You could press down on the vinyl and feel the rust bubbling up from the moisture trapped within the roof. In the business, only marks bought vinyl roofed cars.

isellhondas

With a '65 Impala that has a vinyl roof.

When he went to sell it, he took a small rubber mallet and crushed the rust bubbles that were popping up under the roof!

Guess where the rust went?

rea98d

Into the passenger compartment?

gulfguy

Most of the vinyl roofs I remember fromt he 60s and 70s were (whether padded beneath or not) just one or another pattern of upholstery type vinyl. There WAS an EXCEPTION. It was the 63 Buick Skylark. It had a very heavily textured vinyl roof that appeared to be much thicker than the others, the tiny ridges were probably about an 1/8 inch high and from the rubbery feel when I'd press down between them with a thumbnail it felt like the material was at least an 1/8 inch thick from the bottom of the valley. It was way too thick to go on the way most were applied and was probably molded to fit. Yes it was factory... My mother bought a dark blue metalic Skylark with the factory white vinyl new and it was not a dealer add on. Years later I restored another skylark for her to duplicate the first one she'd liked so much and was unable to find any source for the orignal material.

For the most part......they were either okay or ugly but on that car, the original factory vinyl was SHARP!

tdugovic

I just went through this with my 19 year old son. I gave him my 1973 RS LT camaro that is code 74 (dark red) and we had the car painted the original color.

He was against the vinyl top. He said, "No cars have those anymore".

Well, I dug up some photos of the late 60s early 70s cars and showed him how the cars looked with and without VTs.

He decided to put one on.

Now he is very glad I suggested it. He thinks it looks great (black top, dark red car) and wouldn't have it anyother way!!

I think VTs can look REALLY bad on some cars though, especially the fake rag top cars!! YUCK!!

wevk

Starting in 1962 the roof line of GM 2 door hardtops were styled to look like a convertable top.
Many of those received the vinyl top treatment, which, I believe, started the trend.

Mr_Shiftright

I think it's just more fakey-doo, glue-on pretend junk from Detroit....fake leather to imitate the glory days of coachbuilt Rolls Royces, fake landau bars to imitate real ones that actually worked, and fake opera windows for someone who probably never has been to an opera (can't say I blame 'em). Add that to fake hood scoops, and fake wire wheels, and you have a mess of a car.