OK; I don’t mean from the factory, but when will the last dealer-installed vinyl-topped new Caddy be made? Seeing this STS on the streets of Eugene made me wonder, but since it’s not exactly new I decided to do a bit of research:
Someone (That Hartford Guy) has already found a 2013 XTS with a vinyl top. Ok; the XTS does skew a bit to the older demographic. How about the CTS?
Bingo. A CTS Coupe with vinyl top,as well as whitewall tires. I couldn’t come up with an ATS, yet.
But the real test will be if if anyone makes a kit for the plug-in gas-electric 2014 ELR. Photoshop, anyone?
“So When Will The Last New Cadillac With A Vinyl Top Be Made?”
When they build the last new Cadillac or when the last person with money and no taste checks out, whichever comes first
+1
yep. The markup on these are insane, dealers make bank on them.
My dad used to work at a Chrysler-Jeep dealer, and when the LX 300 launched he said DCX was pleading with dealers not to offer add-on vinyl roofs or fake convertible tops. at $2k a pop, the dealers said “Yeah right.”
That same plea was made and ignored by Lincoln dealers with the new 1990 Town Car.
My cousin found that out the hard way.When the LM dealer told him it was not available on the `93 Town Car, he said it was a “dealer option”,meaning that if he wanted a vinyl top or simulated convertible top, it would cost about 2500.00. He went for it,and the dealer probably laughed all the way to the bank.He saw him coming.
I just sold a 2014 CTS with a cloth top and gold package. Cha Ching. People still want them and pay fulllllll price.
I’ve seen new Lexus LS 460s with vinyl tops and each one had a older drivers.
Unrelated to Cadillac but someone told me, some elderly owners of Lincoln Town cars ordered vinyl or carriage tops so their cars wouldn’t be confused as “car service” vehicles. I suppose that would have applied to DTS Caddies as well. Defiantly in the same category as chrome grills and bumpers.
You probably won’t have to wait long for the vinyl roof, because they’ve already done this to the ATS…
someone must have sold a ton of Mary Kay.
Maybe someone could combine old and new school, and put on a contrasting Plasti-Dip roof (nice thing about that is it peels right off so it doesn’t ruin your resale value).
You know all you did was have to say it…
What even makes it more absurd is that *this* is a $15K dealer add on
“This ATS, which is at Sewell Cadillac of Dallas, Texas has $14,527 in dealer installed extras. That includes such popular items as tinted windows, custom wheels and tires, and a $9,995 “custom carbon fiber wrap.”
Something tells me its buyer won’t have a Highland Park address…
These things look more like stretched Priuses that “Cadillacs”. I think the Prius is better looking.
A Prius with a vinyl roof would be an interesting sight, indeed (particularly considering how the Prius’ roof was specifically designed to be more aerodynamically efficient).
Oh, c’mon, you all know how this game is played. If you can think it, someone has already done it
Not exactly the padded, alligator-grain, vinyl carriage roof I was thinking of, but close enough.
In ten years this will be the tacky everyone looks back at and rolls their eyes
Well, if one MUST wrap their roof, this is the better way to do it, though I’d rather they hadn’t even done the “carbon fiber” treatment.
I’m still waiting to see a new Dodge Challanger with that late 60’s style, course grain, un padded vinyl top in black.
… or some might prefer white
The Challenger does rock the vinyl roof, and that white one works with that dark blue, but would not look nearly as good with the other colors shown here.
This totally works for me. Almost want.
Saw a current-model Regal with fake convertible top on I-95 in Delaware today. The tennis-ball-sized satellite radio antenna was poking through the back, making the illusion of a convertible even more implausible.
The last vinyl topped Caddy will happen just before the last Caddy customer in Florida passes on.
Or perhaps when Florida itself sinks into the Gulf…
Haven’t seen a new gen MKZ with a mock top yet… it’s only a matter of time…
I hate vinyl roofs, they are ugly and costly to replace. There was a time when vinyl roofs were a fad in many cars. Up the street from me a person owned a 92-96 Camry sedan with a vinyl roof. When i was an oil changer at Performance Pontiac GMC Buick in Maryland while going to school, they were selling a brown 1992 Ford Tempo with a brown vinyl top.Here is a pic on the net of a Tempo with a vinyl top
id take a vinyl roof on my 1993….perhaps it will make it a bit quieter on the inside
Maybe, maybe not. The trim along the edges, and the interruption of the smooth surface by the vinyl top, can create wind noise.
The whole point of a vinyl roof was to mimic the look of a convertible on a two-door, hardtop, pillarless car. Ford and Pontiac even went so far in the early sixties to have a crease in the roof above the rear window that gave the appearance of a convertible spar.
But, today, convertibles are few and far between, there are no more hardtops (or even many two-doors), the rake of the rear window is so horizontal on just about everything, so a vinyl top doesn’t mimic anything or improve a car’s appearance in any way. As someone else mentioned, a vinyl top might work on retro-styled cars like the Challenger and Camaro, but even then, there’s issues with covering the ends. Original vinyl top cars had lots of chrome trim to cover stuff like the drip rails and rear window surrounds. New cars don’t have any of that.
do vinyl roofs have any effect on interior noise? I always assumed it was a cheap way of making cars quieter
Some padded tops are intended to look like convertibles, but there’s also a similarly strong association with limousines and formal cars. Derham was big on that for its formal conversions; there were some postwar Packards like that, among others.
You’re half right. A vinyl top mimics a carriage roof wile a canvass roof mimics a convertible.
That CTS coupe with the vinyl top and super-low-profile Vogues looks so dumb. I’ve seen a couple Toyota Solaras with the padded vinyl roof which were pretty bad, but that is worse.
You sure they were not Solara convertibles? Haha
Only seen the Camry’s with that treatment.
I must say, based on that picture, that XTS with the padded roof doesn’t look half bad. Maybe it’s the color combo…
The CTS coupé by contrast looks pretty bad, specially with the white walls. I’ve seen CTS sedans with the padded roof not look as offensive, but still a weird sight.
What is wrong with whitewalls? Whitewalls are style. Black walls were invented for lazy people with no class. Lazy bastard.
“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the stupidity or poor taste of the average American.” Maybe someone can identify the source of the quote. Vinyl tops sure prove the point.
The guy who does the aftermarket work and puts these tops etc. on otherwise nice looking cars, that’s who said it
Here’s the complete (not paraphrased) version of the quote. Authored by the noted critic and curmudgeon, H. L. Mencken.
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
I use it as my signature line on my emails.
That famous quote was by the late,great H L Menken. So true, so true.
Sometimes I feel as if I am watching Cadillac die a slow painful death. Their exteriors and interiors look like Chevrolets. I wish they would do something retro and rediscover who they are or were.
Cadillac exteriors look like Chevies? I hardly think so. While I can’t speak for the driving experience, Cadillac is one of very few car manufacturers pursuing a unique vision in exterior design.
The Ciel and Elmiraj concepts are good starts, don’t you think?
No doubt about, Cadillac is in the throes of death,dying like a dinosaur. Need proof? Just look at the new “Soho” tv ads.
Never. As long as there is bad taste, there will be these things. Back in about 1999 there was a new pearl ivory Town Car Cartier running about town–with a hideous dark brown fake convertible top–with a power glass moonroof set into it! Ugh, way to screw up a $50K car, buddy!
Here’s a contemporary Lincoln MKS I posted about a year ago: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake-i-guess-the-mks-really-is-the-town-car-replacement/
The last car that really looked nice with a vinyl roof was probably the 1990-92 Cadillac Brougham.
I like that photo with the ’88 Cadillac with a canvas top in the background
If you like that, you should probably check out this CC: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1988-cadillac-coupe-de-ville-how-not-to-downsize-a-luxury-car/
That’s a good piece on Cadillac you wrote there
Are there any practical value for vinyl tops? like less likely to rust or insulation etc.? The black CTS coupe with black vinyl top look, to my eyes, better than all black.
On a few cars – the earliest X-body Seville and Volvo 262C Bertone coupé come to mind – the vinyl top hid a welded seam where the roof was extended or chopped.
These were relatively low-volume models, so a separate dies weren’t made for the unique roofs, at least not initially in the case of the Seville. That changed in 1977, when it became apparent that the Seville was a success, and Cadillac switched to a one-piece stamping for the roof, which ended mandatory vinyl roofs for that model.
I didn’t know this, very informative
Might be quieter in a hailstorm!
Ha! 🙂
If anything the vinyl roofs make rust more likely. Moisture can get trapped underneath and that is not good. My personal rule is that if the top doesn’t fold, then it shouldn’t be vinyl.
I wouldn’t own one (and my Challenger could probably rock one) but I have to say the XTS and CTS coupes look kind of interesting with them.
“So When Will The Last New Cadillac With A Vinyl Top Be Made?” Today at the latest, but that’s wishful thinking.
The only time I have ever been fooled by a vinyl top was on a Ford ZX2, believe it or not. Someone in my neighborhood owned one, and I thought it was the real deal for a while, since it would make sense that Ford wanted to compete against the J-Body convertibles and the Sebring. It was badged “SC200”, and I thought this stood for ASC, the famous convertible company. I never looked to closely at the car, however; I honestly tuned it out.
Not too long ago, I saw a Celica convertible (which WAS made by ASC) and thought to myself – “hmmm, I haven’t seen the Ford one in a while”. Imagine my surprise when I looked up “Ford SC200” and discovered I had been looking at a vinyl roof all those years! I had been fooled by a freaking DEALER!
This is just another reason I dislike car dealers in general.
I looked up on google and I have to say that would have been fooled too. They put the vinyl over the rear glass making the illusion of a convertible window.
I am getting a serious Mustang II Ghia vibe from this car.
Whenever I see one of these, usually in holiday in the southern USA, it is invariably driven by a very elderly lady with beautiful coiffed hair.
Okay, I could swear I once read that – perhaps only during the early days of vinyl tops – Cadillac didn’t encourage two-tone exterior color schemes.
Of course I’ve seen Cadillacs with vinyl tops in a contrasting color, but I have to admit that it seems less common than in other makes.
Has anyone else ever heard this? A search of the Internet reveals a few threads that allude to the same thing, but nothing definite enough to bet the farm on…
Cadillac and ‘good taste’ are mutually exclusive terms…
I come from a family that has owned Cadillacs since before I was born (and still does) though I’d never own one!
The modern Caddy’s, not so much with the vinyl roofs, especially with the 2 doors, it just doesn’t work due to the angular design of these cars, and their very shallowly raked rear glass and the back pillar that tapers.
The vinyl roofs here look like they are separate from the car itself, instead of looking integrated like they usually do when done well.
Vinyl tops and modern car designs just do not go, I can’t understand why it’s still offered. It’s not only gaudy to begin with but to me totally goes against the sporty styling. On a big, curvaceous, floaty land yacht it works, but on anything new it doesn’t work at all. It’s like wearing dress shoes with shorts, or sneakers with a suit. Always ugly! Cadillac is the reason why we need Oldsmobile. Cadillac is too flashy and gaudy and Buick is just too eccentric.
The STS and CTS don’t look too good, but I have to admit I quite like the effect on the XTS. And I’m not even old! Guess I have no taste…
I’m 47 and I’m certainly not in Florida, but I like the last model Eldorado. A nice clean factory Eldorado. Not with add-on gangsta stuff, and that includes a vinyl top.
In my humble opinion the Eldorado was the last “true” Cadillac.
Now I only see Cadillac impressions of a BMW. Why bother ? The Bayerische Motoren Werke already builds them.
And if they were still building 96 Eldorado’s everyone would be complaining that they aren’t sporty enough, if the sun shines, it sucks, if it rains, it sucks, some people are just never happy with anything. Cadillacs have gotten sportier, sorry, even I don’t think they could still sell a Brougham d’Elegance, but the new Cadillacs have sharp aggressive lines, and high performance, evocative of the era from the 1930’s to the 1950’s when Cadillacs were some fastest cars on the road.
Almost all of BMW’s line up is bland blah compared to a CTS-V coupe, if you don’t want to look at the new Cadillacs, frankly, its your loss, not theirs.
I really like the XTS–especially in white diamond, dark red or dark blue. And my local Caddy dealer got in their first ’14 CTS. That one is quite sharp as well. For some reason it reminds me of a ’76 Seville, even though the lines are quite modern and not retro at all.
I got to see a new 14 CTS up close Friday, first one I’ve seen in person, it looks great, there is a nice almost 80-85 Seville slight bustle to the rear deck and the front is distinctive and dramatic.
+1, the current Caddy has more style than Bimmers, Merc and Lexus.
I know this thread is old as dirt but I’m wondering if anyone knows the last time the faux convertible top was an actual option offered by Cadillac? I’m looking at buying an 05 Deville for a song and it’s got a beautiful blue vinyl top on it which I totally love for all the wrong reasons but I can’t find it listed as a factory option anywhere.