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Vinyl Roofs: Tasteful or Gouche?
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?
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?
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Comments
Can a grammarian help out here?
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.
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??
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.
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.
"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.
She did everything in a big way...WC really hated her.
top is fitting. And of course, the privacy of that roofline for old Mae...........
Any car after 1980's or so looks ridiculous with a "flashback" carriage roof.
"get our fxxxing xss out of there." We saluted as we left.
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!
I worked in and around the Oakland area from 1978-1981. Saw a lot of unique cars.
That was no pimp, that was an undercover cop! (You can always tell because they wear white socks).
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!
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.
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...
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
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?
For the most part......they were either okay or ugly but on that car, the original factory vinyl was SHARP!
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!!
Many of those received the vinyl top treatment, which, I believe, started the trend.