1979 cutlass,are these tops an add on and considered luxury? was told i cannot re-thread shrunk top at the seam and have to replace but was concidering removing.any help would be appreciated..thanks,marty

 

Hi Marty,

Do you have a picture of the style of vinyl? Factory landau roof were an option I had a white over burgandy paint on my 79 Regal. Picture attached is a landau style

 

i am having problems posting pics but It is factory installed(assuming,car has 21,600 miles) like pic and where it meets on top at the stitching is my problem.Would like to leave on but dont know if taking it off is an option.Was quoted 400 for replacement but really wanted some advice from people who know these cars.i just bought it and trying to fix up.was there differnt styles fom factory? thanks,Marty

 

Hi again,

I am only aware of landau style roofs, 1980 has what they call a RMO stainless steel landau.

You will have to either remove and replace what you have or strip it and paint it. You already have talked to a trim shop already. My guess is the same is what they told me on my 70 full vinyl roof, once it's shrunk you can't restretch with tearing and it will never lay down correct!

If you do remove the landau, please save any trim pieces for possible later use or for somebody else.

Regards, Pat

 

Marty - no they aren't 'luxury' items. They are just options. I owned a 78 Calais with a burgundy vinyl roof. All the 2dr cars could only get the "landau" option - not a full vinyl roof. There were 2 different styles of roofs IIRC. One was the plain glued down vinyl. The other was the 'padded' vinyl. Mine was the latter. Far as I know it you have to replace 'part of' the vinyl top on any car you are looking at replacing it all. There are vinyl repair kits but I don't think they'll stand up to IR, UV and elements.

You can certainly remove the vinyl and paint the roof area where the vinyl was a different color. That was an option on early 70's cars called 'Two tones" My choice would be to replace the vinyl - it will save the cost of a lot of body work to refinish the roof of the car.

 

I do appreciate you guys taking time to reply to my issue.Going the replace route seems to be the better option.

 

Im having a problem where the 2 rear windows are. Do i need to remove those windows in order to completly remove the vinyl?