and someone had the idea that instead of replacing the vinyl roof, they would spray Rhino Coating on it.

Never seen that ...

https://buyavette.net/inventory/2569...mobile-Cutlass

 

Yeah, I've seen that in the past, old car lot trick to make it look "classier". The sometimes even put a thick piece of tape on it to simulate the vinyl seam!

 

I have. When I bought my Toro, the previous shop had sprayed the top with white bed liner. Looked like they pealed the old vinyl off and sprayed the bed liner (didn't even remove the layer of original glue or the dents in the roof). Luckily, the layer of glue between the bed liner and the original lacquer paint made it easy to scrape the bed liner off with a razor blade.

 

Some of the old hearse conversion companies would do a simulated vinyl top exactly like you described above.

 

buddies dad did that to a 72 toro we gave him.the vinyl top was kinda cracked and coming apart.well we decided to use it as a benchrest doing some target practice.the muzzle blast from the hi powers blew big chunks of the vinyl off.so he just ripped it off and blackjacked it.looked pretty nice actually.til he left it out on a hot humid day and it started running down the sides.