shaks 442 clone

why were vynil tops so popular in the late 60's and 70's?

I'm just wondering because personally im not a fan of them and i do not get why people liked them.

Dapapadon

They just plain "Looked Good!". And still do in my opinion. I guess they added style to an otherwise plain car. Remember also this was after the great fifties two tone styling. Two tone cars of the fifties just plain looked better than the same car in a single color. The sixties body styling didn't lend itself well to tone paint jobs. I guess that's why the auto manufacturers came up with the vinyl tops in the mid-sixties. T

Black vinyl tops were always my favorites. But I had a 74 Camaro, dark blue w/ a light silver blue vinyl top. That was one sharp color combo.

Don

Modern Motoring

"Vinyl" tops give the car a cool convertible look!

shaks 442 clone

is that really what made people want to get them?

joe_padavano

Look, it was a popular style then. Personally I think monster rims with rubber band tires look ridiculous today, particularly when they are installed on an SUV. How do those things do off-road???

Olds64

Vinyl tops were popular because they were AWSOME!

Modern Motoring

ever owned a convertible ? They look good, but even with the top up they are a rattling noisy car, especially ones from that era. The abomination though is those Florida specials. Those are the fat thick tops with the fake cross bows under them, usually on Lincolns & Cadillacs, driven by old geezers who think they are sportin' !

Dapapadon

Vinyl tops were NOT meant to give the cars a convertible look. Expect for the much later ones mentioned. It was a styling thing, nothing more nothing less.

Come to think of it, if convertibles were so Cool why did everyone call them "Rag Tops"? I grew up in the Midwest. Convertible tops didn't hold up well to snow loads.

Don

rocketraider

Not to mention slapping a vinyl roof cover on a car was often cheaper than metal finishing the roof-to-quarter seam. They usually already had the division mouldings in place for painted roof cars, so they could get away with: less finishing work and less paint on the roof panel. Which explains why so many cars rusted under their vinyl tops. Y'all ever noticed you can often see the roof-to-quarter seam under the VT? whereas you wouldn't see it on a painted roof car?

Biggest reason was it was an extra-cost styling gimmick, meaning the public ate it up.

GM would put a vinyl top on anything back then too- even on cars that were clearly never meant to have one. I think the most ridiculous VT offerings were station wagons and some high-line pickup trucks. GM styling made sure that most cars could wear a vinyl top though, making rooflines and sculpture lines "work" for VT jobs.

Even GM couldn't hold a candle to Chrysler with their "Mod Tops". Paisley and psychedelic printed vinyl tops. We had a neighbor when I was a kid, who owned a Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe. Car was copper brown with a matching Mod Top, and the damn thing always looked like a copperhead snake to me.

88 coupe

Yip.

Kinda like "hoola hoops" but with more money involved. It was a "keep up with the Joneses" thing, that started on the "car show" circuits. Like most of the "add ons" of the day, "lot boys" did the install and the Dealers added 500-1000% to their total investment. Sales Department did the rest.

Norm

Olds64

What is the best chemical to clean vinyl tops? Oldsguy said he used to utilize a paste similar to shoe polish on his vinyl top in the early 80s. Anybody ever hear of a product like this? I always used the 2001 vinyl cleaner from Turtle Wax. I like the way it smells, it is also good for the dash!

GoodOldsGuy

I am kinda partial to vinyl tops. Bought this new...I wanted without but this was the only one available and I wanted it NOW. It kinda grew on me.


Regards,

GoodOldsGuy

rrielley

Why were vinyl tops popular back then? The same reason Leisure Suits and bell bottoms were popular. Someone told us it looked good and we believed them!

rocketraider

Difference is a VT on the right car with the right styling lines, STILL looks good.

Leisure suits OTOH, never looked good on anyone.

Olds64

That is a pretty car! I like the shade of green!

J-(Chicago)

I still love complete white vinyl tops, from hood to tulip panel. I think they look awesome. The 74-75 Monte Carlo with the Midnight blue paint and a complete White top is probably my fave car with that look.

joe_padavano

Yes, but there are few of those. The 66-67 GM A-body hardtops are one style that does look good with a VT, in my opinion. The 70-74 Chrysler E-body (Cuda and Challenger) is another, as is the 67-70 Mustang notchback.

I never did care for the 70-71 Supreme VT, with the "halo" of painted steel around the edge. At least they fixed that for 72. And the half-padded top on the 72 H/O is just wrong.

rrielley

The car that transported me to grade school, baseball practice and church on Sunday was a '73 Caprice Estate. White with the wood veneer trim and a full length black vinyl top (complete the chrome luggage rack). Everyone thought it was a little bizarre and I know it was rare. Of course, the big wagon also had a 454 which gave it a little street-cred to make up for that ridiculous top.

Cecil Anderson

Vynal tops are really nice because you save hundreds of pounds on purchasing wax and it is a lovley place to hide rust. Andy

joe_padavano

It took me a minute to figure this out - until I looked at your location.

98sforever

Both rrielly and rocketraider got it right. Vinyl tops were popular because they were the "in" thing to have. However, some cars look great with them in one version, not as good in another version. As an example, the '72 Ninety-Eight 4 door hardtop looked great with the vinyl top and wrong without it, but the same car in the 2 door version looked much better without the vinyl top. Any car with a sloped or fastback (as they were called when I was a kid) roof looked better without a vinyl top, i.e. the '68 and '69 Cutlass and 442 2 door hardtops. I also agree the fake convertible tops on luxury sedans are repulsive.

shaks 442 clone

hahaha thanks for clearing that up joe

ijasond

Vinyl tops should be against the car law. So ugly & so much rust underneath.
I recently did the paint & bodywork on a 66 Caprice. It was a beautiful original 2 door, hard top, 427 4 speed car that looked really good in it's black vinyl top. Other than that though, there hideous.

UCF72Cutlass

how much will removing a vinyl top and painting the car cost?

Olds64

You might want to make a new post for your question. This post has been dead for awhile.

However, I think it would cost quite a bit. Not only do you have to remove the vinyl you also have to scrape off all of the glue, prep the metal underneath, and modify any emblems or trim on the car that might be vinyl top specific. I would expect to at least pay $1000. Then again, I am not even sure how much it would cost to have a car totally painted. I guess it all depends on how much you WANT to spend.

ijasond

He's right. It varies quite a bit. There could be little rust underneath, or a lot. there could be holes to fill, or studs to remove. I'd say his $1000.00 estimate is pretty accurate.
A lot of people come into my shop & want to get rid of the vinyl top because they think it would be cheaper to get rid of it when they are getting the car painted than to replace it. That is never the case. A lot of the time, the seams are not finished for paint from the factory on the vinyl top cars because they never intended to paint them, so that usually needs to be done as well.

wmachine

Love them or hate them, they were very popular.
I don't have figures for every year, but in 1970, about 58% of the eligible Oldsmobiles on the F-85 platform had them. About 83% of the eligible (meaning that coverts aren't counted) Cutlass Supremes had them.

Yes, one of the thoughts behind the VRs was it made them look like convertibles. Interestingly, if you'll look closely at the roof/roof lines of the early to mid '60s full size Oldsmobiles, you'll see there are styling details that made the hardtops look like convertibles, and convertibles look like hardtops.

jaysun

i'm surprised that no one mentioned that they were practical. you could throw a bike, xmas tree or a dresser on the roof without worrying about scratching the roof or it sliding around alot.

OLD SKL 69

Good point. I don't know about a dresser but I remember my dad bringing home Christmas trees on top of his 67 T'Bird when I was a kid. That roof would have looked terrible if it did not have a vinyl covering on it.

The car I am restoring right now had a vinyl roof on it. Had a lot of surface rust underneath it. Took a lot of sanding and finishing work to get it ready for paint. I am still undecided if I am going to put one back on or not. They look good with and without them but I am kinda leaning against putting it back on right now.

Allan R

Based on what others suggested to me about a vinyl top for my car (most said don't do it) it depends on whether you like the look of the top and if it fits your expectations. Like I said, most of CO thinks it's a bad idea to put a vinyl top on. In spite of that, it's gonna happen. I personally like the look and it's a really nice body color accent on my car.

I think you're right about the vinyl roof styling on some cars. It does create an illusion of being a semi vert.

RTTOY

Nothing is sexier than a black vinyl top on a safron yellow 68' olds.

mugzilla

<<< removed vinyl top. The seem was already finished nicely. I had to remove studs .

70_CS

i personally think its a matter of personal taste i see alot of stuff i dislike in cars nowadays but other people may not

wmachine

Yes, indeed, it is certainly a matter of personal taste. How boring (and difficult) it would be if we all liked exactly the same thing! One make, one model, one color, etc...............

Seems we want to find that balance between having something different and having enough others saying "yeah, that's cool"!

My442

Wken I worked at the Framingham BOP plant in 1972, they used lead to fill the seams on the front and rear pillars of all the cars. There was a lead finishing booth when guys in spacesuits ground down lead for 10 hour shifts.

There was lead dust EVERYWHERE.

The amount of finishing for a vinyl roof was about 75% less than on a roof that was to be painted.

So, GM probably made more money on a vinyl roof car, with less labor.

And, they did not paint the top if the car got a vinyl roof. That is why most of them rusted out.

Willidog

My car was an original vinyl top car and I am trying to decide whether to put one back on. I am leaning against it.

rane

Black vinyl is looks good..

http://picasaweb.google.com/rane.har...BILE98Project#

And new look in Finland.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rane.harkonen/OLDSMOBILE98#