Post70

What's everyone's thoughts on restoring a car back to original with a dealer installed vinyl top? Have a red 70 Sport Coupe with a white top but the trim tag translates to a painted red roof . Unfortunately there isn't a invoice from the dealer proving it left the lot this way. No options except the OAI hood, radio, remote mirror and power steering. First thought was to keep it off but starting to have second thoughts. There's no rust so not worried about the bad stigma vinyl tops get but wondering what thoughts other enthusiasts have.

Dustin

joe_padavano

I'd go back to the painted roof

redoldsman

Dealer installed vinyl tops were very common back in the day along with dealer installed pinstripes. I would go back with a painted top.

rocketraider

Decide whether it's easier to install a new vinyl top vs filling holes and metal finishing where the outline mouldings were. If dealer installed (and that was common), the mouldings were probably installed with screw studs.

68cutlasssss

I’d do whatever. I like vinyl tops. I’ve had 4 vinyl top cars, two in North Dakota and two in Colorado, and none of them had a rust problem under the vinyl.

no1oldsfan

👍
My opinion is that Oldsmobile A body's look so good without a top.

Bfg

Painted top!

BangScreech4-4-2

This will just end up being a popularity contest between vinyl and painted as there are equivalent arguments for either.

Go with what you like.

BlueCalais79

Painted gets my vote.

olds 307 and 403

Painted. I have seen mid 70's Cutlass and the G bodies with plenty of rust under the "Rust Hoarder Top". Is it really worth the risk?

matt69olds

Thats because of the penny pinching bean counters couldn’t justify the extra money for primer/paint under the vinyl top. Can’t say I really blame them, let’s say each car with vinyl would cost an extra 5 bucks in materials to paint something that would never be seen. Five bucks doesn’t sound like much, until you multiply that by a few millio cars. Before long, your talking about real money!

I think vinyl tops look great on certain cars.

4+4+2=10

My opinion is the 68 - 72 Olds A body had the sexiest rear flank of any production car made. The vinyl top just breaks up all that sex appeal in a bad way. Leave the vinyl top off and get your mojo back...

tc

bw1339

Yes, but how long were those cars designed to last?

Vintage Chief

I like vinyl tops - on most cars. I'd prefer to see see a darker (than the red body color) red vinyl top on that car instead of a white vinyl top.

Loaded68W34

While the body work did not get finished out to the same standard (the lead work on my vinyl top cars is very rough and uneven from the factory), vinyl top cars did still get painted roofs before the material went on. In the pics below, you can see the original lacquer paint under the original glue from the factory top. The shop I bought the car from had simply pulled the original top off and coated the roof in white spray on bed liner before I got it. There were still strips of the original top under the trim as they did not even bother to pull the trim off. They just cut the old top off the car and sprayed the bed liner on. Luckily they also did not bother to remove the original glue so the spray on bed liner came right off by scraping it with a razor blade. My red original paint 66 chevelle also has paint under the original vinyl top.

Small strip of bed liner removed showing original paint below (you can also see the original lacquer where the trim has been removed beween the new base-clear paint and white spray-on bed liner):


Most of the driver side bed liner removed:


Top cleaned down to bare metal:



New top on (yes I painted the bare metal before putting on the new top):



Personally, I like the vinyl top and would leave it on.

olds 307 and 403

Yep, paint explains why the earlier cars didn't have the issue the later cars had, primer and paint go a long way. Yeah, my 88 was bare metal and lead filler. The rust wasn't nearly as bad as some cars, talking holes through the rotted metal!

Koda

When did they start ED dipping the bodies?

Fun71

My car has a vinly top. It just wouldn't be the same with a painted top.

BlueCalais79

Rust hoarders, that's a good term since that's exactly what they did. I had my 79 Calais re-painted in 2002 and I had to come back 2 years later for rust repair under the top. It was so extensive it cost $1800 to repair and that was 2004 dollars. You see this alot with the landau vinyl tops of that era, the rot travels right down the fixed rear window into the qtr panel.

Post70

It will probably get painted like it left the factory but will keep the trim in case an old pic from a prior owner surfaces. Not worried about rust since it survived this long w/o rust. Noticed in past restorations the factory was stingy with paint under the vinyl top. Also have seen seam sealer instead lead to fill the quarter panel to roof seams to save time or money. My own opinion is vinyl tops look great on most vehicles but got a bad wrap from rust issues. Makes you wonder how the assembly line didn’t get slowed down when a a couple of vinyl top cars were going down the line.

Fun71

That's what killed my 1970 Supreme. I removed the viyl top durnig the first paint job and repair effort, replacing the entire panel below the rear window, but the rust came back years later.

olds 307 and 403

If like them, as said, do rust prevention and paint possible. I would bet on the assembly line, certain people probably did the vinyl tops and got very efficient at doing them.