'Was that an option?
https://norfolk.craigslist.org/cto/d...341479470.html

 

.

1971 Oldsmobile 442 - $30,000 (Suffolk)

image 1 of 18

















1971 Oldsmobile 442

condition: excellent
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 99777
paint color: red
size: full-size
title status: clean
transmission: automatic

 

Doesn't look factory to me. Looks like that car has been worked front to rear.

 

I'll take a page out of the Joe P playbook.... your answer is "nope"

 

Not until 1972

 

I don't think there was a sunroof in 1972 either.

Stohlman car too.

 

Not like that one anyway. 72 H/O had a sunroof option. Not the holiday coupe, however.

 

The only sunroof ever offered by Olds in the 1972-earlier cars was the one in the 72 H/O. This isn't that one. Buick did offer the Sun Coupe on the 72 Skylark, but that was a cloth sunroof. The one on this car is a generic leaking aftermarket one that was very common in the 1970s.

 

Those aftermarket kits usually looked like this.

 

Ziebart was always advertising these back in the 70"s can't remember the price but it was cheap!

 

I use to install those for Ziebart in the early 80's. We got $150.00 for them installed..

 

How many callbacks for water leakage did you get?

 

The terms sunroof and moonroof are, unfortunately, not regulated. There are a whole different bunch of mechanism terms for the actions, as well. Using the terms as broadly as I can, the 72 H/O could have an "in-roof, sliding sunroof" as it did not pop up, nor was tinted glass with a separate opaque panel underneath it like what is called a moonroof today. That red car has something closer to a moonroof and is from the 90s or later, I would think.

 

Perhaps they should be called astral observational overhead vehicle portals? Yeah, that should clear up any confusion.

 

I think we should let the roof opening self-identify with how it "feels" when it is open. Open it during the day- it's a sunroof. Open it at night- Moonroof. Respect the roof's decision. We should all go to our safe spaces now.

 

Touché'

 

I would have thought that someone would have had the sense to reskin the roof before painting it. If it had staggered Keystones, Gabriel Hi-jackers, and a psychedelic paint scheme, I could understand the “day two” look. (No offense Copper, I can dig your car!)

 

Lol.

Ok, best I can tell:

1. In Roof: These go down, and then rearwards, inside the roof, above the headliner.
2. Spoiler. These go up, and then rearwards, above the roof.
3. Pop-up. These pop the back up for air drafting.
4. Panoramic. These are whole, or close to it, glass roofs of which the top section retracts. Usually heavily tinted glass.
5. Folding Ragtops, Like what Joe put above.
6. Removable top pieces a la T top or targa top.
Edit: For completeness:
7: Convertible: Soft top.
8: Retractable Hardtop: first popularly seen on some 50s Fords called Skyliners.

A: Sunroof: a metal panel with headliner material on the inside, and painted body color on the outside.
B: Moonroof: a glass panel, often tinted, that has a separate sliding panel of headliner material on it to cover the glass when it is not wanted.

Most modern cars have an OEM device that is a moonroof that will both pop up, or retract in roof. They will typically hook the sliding headliner piece with them to open as one, and the operator can manually slide back the headliner piece by itself for just the view without opening the window, and also must slide that piece back closed as a separate motion due to the mechanism.

 

That is one hardcore (BONEHEAD) move to cut the roof out. Yikes. Love to see before pictures. Oh wait let me guess. You didn't take any.

 

Indeed common in the 70’s. We had one of the glass pieces in our ‘73 Vista Cruiser (green!).

A friend and I were sitting atop it as 10 or 11 year olds and my brother pushed up on the opener.

Shattered in place. It was tempered glass.

Boy my Dad was pissed.

Chris

PS: My brother wound up driving the ‘73 Vista until around 1986

 

The pop-up ‘sunroof’ was standard in the ‘73 Vista-Cruiser.

 

Most of the aftermarket sunroofs installed back in the day, before air conditioning became for all intent and purposes standard, were installed in non-A/C cars, vans, and pickup trucks. Surprised this has one installed. Hopefully it was installed correctly, as many amateurs destroyed the roof supports. Sunroofs were available on most Chrysler corporation vehicles from the factory back then, including their muscle cars. Other than the Hurst cars, and select Buick models, GM & Ford did not offer them on their muscle cars.