If one accessory defined the Brougham Era, it has to be the vinyl roof. Sure, you can have your opera windows, your tufted velour, and your fold down armrests, but from the start to the end, no self-respecting luxury coupe or sedan would be seen wearing a bare metal roof. As late as 1978, over 98% of Cadillacs were so equipped. After a simple beginning, vinyl roof designs went exponential – landaus, wrap overs, halos, and textures and colors of all kinds. So who did it best – and who didn’t?
The vinyl, or covered roof actually has a long history, dating back to horse drawn carriages. Covered roofs were a feature of many coach built and classic cars up right up to WWII, and even made appearances in popular brands, perhaps the earliest being the Model A Sport Coupe – which also shares the honor of introducing that other Brougham-era icon, fake landau bars.
Of course, these roofs weren’t actually vinyl. Some were leather, while others were treated canvas like that used on convertible tops. But like their polyvinyl chloride descendants, they added a sense of convertible sportiness and color contrast to a plain coupe or sedan.
After the war, the covered/vinyl roof made an abortive takeoff. The 1949 Kaiser Virginian “hardtop” featured a nylon roof covering with simulated top bows, a feature GM would return to in 1962, and in 1950 Ford and Chrysler joined the show. The former, caught without hardtops, dressed up top-end Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns with similar roofs, while the first modern Chrysler Imperial was simply a New Yorker 4 door sedan with a better interior and a “Haartz” top. Haartz, btw, was a long, and still existing supplier of convertible and covered tops.
But the real breakthrough came when Carleton Spencer, K-F’s brilliant interior stylist and color coordinator, put a padded, vinyl roof on the new 1951 Kaiser to create the Kaiser Dragon, in a series of color combinations. Combined with “Dragon Vinyl” upholstery, this was a real proto-Brougham, and a precursor of many attempts to identify vinyl as something other than leather for legal reasons. Morrokide anybody?
But from there the trail went cold for several years, as designers mined jet-age influences, and outside of the occasional formal limousine, covered tops had no place in a world of thin roof pillars and tail fins. But with the turn to traditionalism in the early sixties, the vinyl rof came back with a vengance, first as an option on those faux-convertible GM 2-door hardtops. At first, your choices were a bit Ford-like: Any color you want, as long as it’s black or white, and full vinyl only.
Of course, the designers weren’t content to remain conservative, and soon all types of vinyl tops were available. Starting with the 63 New Yorker Salon, Chrysler had a penchant for partial vinyl roofs, covering the front of the roof, or the back, or just the C-Pillar. Ford gave us the opera window, GM, the padded vinyl top.
As well as morphing from from black and white to every color in nature, plus a few that weren’t. Not to mention patterns – paisleys, Mod Tops, and even houndstooth. Or Landaus of every stripe.
So who did it best? And worst? I have my picks. Looking forward to yours.
There’s no such thing as a good vinyl roof treatment.
+1, I’ll take a Taurus or Accord instead, thank you very much.
I liked the way it looked on my car. I bought a replacement top to install after I paint. Full size squarish cars look best with them imo.
My roof had zero rust or signs of shoddy build quality underneath btw
+5000.
I had the misfortune of finding this page after dinner tonight. Which I managed to keep down. Barely.
I am of the era where I still think certain cars look better with a vinyl roof. The best were cars like the 60s Continentals and Thunderbirds with sharply defined borders where the roof met with the lower body. My 64 Imperial Crown Coupe looked quite nice with its black vinyl roof. Those that did it worst were those with fuselage/coke bottle shapes (think 66 Toronado or fuselage Chrysler) where the roof and quarter panel did not have a natural boundary line.
Specifically, I always hated the “halo” vinyl roofs as were found on some late 60s GM cars, where you got the band of painted metal all around the edges. I’m specifically thinking of the 68 Grand Prix.
As far as the biggest quality snafu, it would have to be the famous 1971 Imperial burgundy vinyl roof option where some Einstein decided to take all the leftover Mod Top vinyl fabric and dye it burgundy. When the dye started coming off in the weather exposing the paisley underneath, Chrysler recalled them.
BTW, the 1962 Thunderbird Landau probably came out the same time as the 62 Buick version that you mention.
I think that there were some limos that kept the vinyl roof flame flowing during the lean years, but those were low production semi-custom jobs.
Limos have vinyl tops to hide all the non factory seams. The superbird and dodge daytona winged cars had vinyl tops to hide the rear window filler plug
I got curious and checked. The 1969 Charger 500 had a similar rear window treatment with no vinyl. This must have taken a whole lot of finishing work, so I guess they finally brained up and covered it with vinyl on the Winged Cars.
The Daytona never had a vinyl top, only the Superbird used one for that purpose.
You’re right. Have to amend that. It’s funny but i agree with almost all your likes and dislikes, especially halo roofs! Why did anyone ever think that was a good idea?
My one exception would be the ’71-78 B body sedans. They had an inset at the rear quarter to receive the C-Panel (as did the the 69-71 Plymouth & Dodge C bodies), so a vinyl top actually worked on those. Without one, they looked really plain and all too cop-carish, as I vividly remember with my dad’s dark green ’76 Fury Salon.
You have to think that some automotive snafus probably resulted in executives snorting in their third martini. This has to be one of them!
A few of those executives probably had examples in their garage!
Yeesh, I learned a long time ago that trying to use dye on Vinyl is about as effective as painting things black with a Sharpie. That had to be a fun surprise for the owner when that became noticeable!
Too bad they didn’t call it a “shadow print” and go on with it. It really is hard to believe that they had enough material left over to have even created this problem, but I’ve known it happened for years.
I kind of.. like it?
Wasn’t that same “paisley” vinyl roof used on other Mopars (not just Imperial)? I recall seeing a ’71 Plymouth Fury with this roof. I’m not really a fan of vinyl roofs, but I didn’t realize this was a mistake when I first saw it, I thought they were just trying to put a fancy pattern on vinyl roof (see how gullible I was at the time?).
Interestingly, among the many cars my Father owned, I don’t think any had a vinyl roof…probably because he was buying wagons back in the day when vinyl roofs were popular, or imports that didn’t have vinyl roof option. He did own a di-noc sided 1969 Ford Country Squire (oh, and almost forgot about a ’78 full sized Chevrolet Wagon with that paneling, though we had a ’73 Ranch Wagon without the paneling in between. I think almost all those cars also had the fake wood on the dash (I think I’ve only owned one car with fake wood dash, my Scirocco had one).
We lived up north back when vinyl roofs were common, and had enough problems with rust on our cars (at the bottoms mostly) that I don’t think we’d want to have vinyl roof. I remember being surprised seeing a car rusting from its roof (with lower body OK) when I moved south, guess cars near the gulf would often rust this way, but I’d think that would also be a good reason to avoid vinyl roof in areas where that can happen.
Living in the south as I do now, I often thought that they should go back to having cars with lighter color (white)? painted roofs, which I guess was not uncommon before vinyl roofs were a big deal, maybe in the 50’s and 60’s…maybe would keep the car cooler, but probably wouldn’t look to good on cars with the “blob” styling we have nowdays…don’t want to divide up the roof from the body since the character lines are all different these days, the roof is supposed to look like it is “one” with the rest of the body, but different colored roof looked OK to me on these older models. Some of today’s cars look like the whole body could be made to look like a “lizard” skin to match the rest of their styling.
Come to think of it, I think the worst would be to see a station wagon with a vinyl roof…since I think the idea of vinyl roof is to kind of make it look like it could be a convertible (with the top always up)…I don’t think I’ve seen (or ever want to see?) a convertible station wagon…maybe also goes for minivan…though I guess they’ve tried a convertible SUV, though it wasn’t successful, I don’t think a vinyl roof on an SUV would be a good idea either.
The paisley material was for other models, but it evidently did not sell nearly as well as expected, so there was lots of leftover fabric, and when a late decision got made to add a burgundy vinyl roof to go with an Imperial-exclusive burgundy paint color, it was decided to print the burgundy color on the existing paisley vinyl fabric. There is a good article at the Imperial Club’s website. http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1971/Paisley/
Yes, I think large cars with sharp lines and creases best pulled off the look. A big, dark car with a white vinyl roof, or white car with a black one, could look very classy. Preferred the full vinyl roof, as some of the half-roof versions left me cold. The worst were those Chrysler Corp. mod tops – the reptilian, paisley and other weird colors.
If I bought a purple Imperial and the vinyl slowly turned into purple paisley, I’d think I hit the jackpot.
Best? I pretty much like all the conservative factory ones.
Worst? I never really cared for the Mopar or certain Lincoln tops that covered the front 75% or so. It just didn’t look right.
Some cars I’ve seen look good with vinyl roof, while others just look tacky.
My first response was the worst? You mean all of them? But I have to admit I do like the vinyl roofs on 74-76 Dart/Valiants quite a bit. Someone by my office has a 75 Dart Swinger with a Green Vinyl top that looks quite nice. But generally I think vinyl looks really bad, especially after it starts peeling and fades.
I also think the Dart and Valiant have some of the best looking ones, more likely something to do with the roofline itself than anything else.
That being said, what’s involved in replacing a tattered vinyl roof and/or the cost to have it done? If I bought a Dart and it needed a new top I think I would do it vs sanding it down and painting it along with the body.
In general, I think cars that have a natural “break” between the bodies and the roofline tend to look good with a vinyl top. Think mid-1960s GM C-bodies, for example, which almost looked naked without the vinyl.
Square cars, such as the Gen1 Seville, and notchback A-/G-bodies like the Cutlass etc., can look good with the padded top.
One oddball I love: 1965-1968 Chrysler New Yorker with just the vinyl covering on the c-pillar. Unique and understated.
On the other hand, cars with flowing lines can look horrible with the vinyl slapped on, like the ’69 Buick Skylark coupes, early ’70s Camaro/Firebird, ’74 AMC Matador, Fuselage Chryslers…
Personal pet peeve: half-vinyl tops on 4-door sedans, like the 1980 Lincolns. Looks so busy/clunky.
“One oddball I love: 1965-1968 Chrysler New Yorker with just the vinyl covering on the c-pillar. ”
This is kind of funny – my oddball love is the opposite, that 63-64 New Yorker with the vinyl on the forward part with a metal body-color “basket handle” going across the back part of the roof. The 64 Stude GT Hawk offered this treatment too.
1965 Ford LTD 4 door hardtop. As part of the “Broughaming of America” this vinyl roof set a style standard.
Undeniable elegance………….
Have to agree, I think all of those ’65 Fords are really beautifully proportioned cars. Vinyl roof sits well on it too. These tops start looking silly on any rounded shape car; they seem to work best with straight angles.
I have seen many US cars and their Australian/Canadian/Latin American and some English (Ford Granada for example) cousins with vinyl roofs, but I do not recall ever seeing any European cars so equipped. In Australia back in the ’70’s some Nissans (then Datsuns) had this option (notably 240 K’s) but they may have been locally dealer fitted. Very rarely you will see a Jaguar XJ6 or Daimler variant with vinyl roof fitted – many of the rare 2 door coupes had them (probably to hide something!).
I
Agree!
One of my college “flip-for-tuition-money” cars was a ’65 Galaxie, turquoise with an aftermarket added on, sprayed on black vinyl top.
I didn’t realize it wasn’t a factory vinyl top until I tapped it with my fingernail!
The second person that looked at the car bought it; commenting on how well the vinyl top had held up for a (at the time) almost 20 year old car.
Back in the late 60s and 70s we had some german cars with vinyl roofs, for example the Opel Diplomat or Admiral. These cars with big V6 or V8 looked really great with the roofs.
Ive owned plenty and dont really like any of them but the biggest hate is those half vinyl roofs a really sad look like they were too cheap to cover the whole thing.
Not that I like them either, but the half-vinyl was supposed to connote pre-war town cars, in turn derived from the horse-drawn Coupe de Ville (UK clarence); the coachman was supposed to be exposed not out of cruelty, but so folks could recognize his less-visible master by his livery (maybe the coachman could see highwaymen more easily?):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupe_de_Ville
Can’t really call it a town car with a full hardtop now can we, but some traditions (esp. pointless ones) die hard.
Ironically, it was often cheaper for the manufacturer to install a vinyl roof than to properly finish and paint the bare metal.
Probably true, and they live on with funeral cars as it’s easier to hide the splices with vinyl.
That said, the roof treatments weren’t necessarily about expense but rather about traditional style. I love old traditions, even “pointless” ones. They are much better than floating around unmoored and unrooted.
It was also this way it used to be with nickle plated guns, Blued guns require more finishing(more labor)and were often priced higher than blued guns.
With New Zealand assembled cars the vinyl tops were a dealer fitted accessory so the got applied to finished painted cars so none of the awful rust problems factory tops had, they were also used to disguise hail and rollover damage by unscrupulous panel beaters, best to avoid vinyl toupees if possible on used cars.
Not quite sure what the first Brougham was, but the Eldorado Brougham came with a stainless steel roof, not plastic.
The best were the C pillar covering on the Rover 2000/3500 through 77. Just enough formalizing to add dignity to a sports sedan.
The worst were on the early TR7s. Early ones often had the vinyl top in combination with spoker wheels that looked like they came from a small pickup. Vinyl tops do not belong on sports cars and the TR7 was already a big enough change that it was a mistake to add evidence that the TR7 was just a small sedan.
It may seem strange that both of my choices were British. In this period most American cars looked just fine with the vinyl top.
Ah, I had forgotten the TR 7 and even some other Triumphs and Rovers used vinyl roofs.
Now I wish the TR 7 had not been brought back to my conscious memory! I knew two people who had them new – one a coupe and the other a convertible. The first had terrible engine issues and the latetr had all of those plus, in the tradition of English drop tops, leaked everywhere.
The owner of the convertible was so deperate to get rid of the car he ‘accidently’ left it parked, unlocked and with the keys in the ignition, in what was then the seediest part of town. According to a nearby pizza shop owner, someone did try to steal it…..but it would not start!!!
The P6 C pillar was my choice. I even have a photo to illustrate it! Very handsome.
We also had a 3500S with a full vinyl roof, which was minimally glued. Not such a good looker, and BL build issues too – after a fast motorway run, it would inflate like a gas balloon, and took about half an hour to subside again after we came to a halt.
Early 80s GM A/G body sedans had the option of TWO types of vinyl top…plain old vinyl with a chrome trim strip around the back glass, and the padded top with the “frenched” back glass with the vinyl wrapped around to the glass. I truly don’t know how the heck they installed the padded one because there was no trim around the glass. I also wonder how you would replace the back glass if it got broken.
Any car that had a fiberglass cap to give a squared-off rear roofline had the potential to be poorly assembled and just tacky, although the M-body Chrysler Fifth Avenues looked worlds better with the top cap.
I really like the way 77-79 full size Cadillacs look without vinyl, but they were few and far between…
First picture in this article is the best IMHO.
I agree but it makes me sad. I had a 67 Continental coupe with black vinyl for 13 years. I really miss it.
I had a ’67 Continental 4-door with a beige vinyl roof. It looked good on the car, which was painted light green.
How about the best and worst, on the same car!!
I really appreciate the ’74-’78 full-size Chrysler. But, Chrysler seemed scared having a newly introduced traditional hardtop in the face of all the funky greenhouses that GM was coming up with in ’73 and ’74.
By ’75, you could buy an abomination the called the Crown Coupe treatment on Imperial two door hardtops. I believe Chrysler called it the St. Regis treatment on other cars.
Vinyl I can live with, and vinyl I just don’t like – from the 1975 Imperial brochure……
Thought the black vinyl over grey looked pretty good on my 74 Charger.
I actually like most of them up until the mid 70s or so, the 68-70 Charger was the best I think. Many cars of that period I’m as indifferent with the presence of them as I am the paint color, but they actually enhance the coke bottle lines of the Charger.
Worst is tough, I absolutely abhor the puffy ones that just cover the back half of the roof, often accompanied by coach lights and opera windows by the late 70s, Lee Iacocca seemed to love those, as Fords in the late 70s all had them, and Chryslers in the 80s all had them. The aftermarket ones installed on Cougars in the 80s-90s are probably the most grievous offenders.
Best
+1
+2. Chargers, in fact all 68-70 Mopar B-bodys need a vinyl top; IMO they look odd without them. The roof ‘sits’ on top of the body so it looks like a separate part of the car and the vinyl really makes it stand out.
The worst has to be Gen 2 Firebirds and Camaros; what a way to ruin one of the most beautifully designed cars ever
+3
Cougar, and Thunderbird. There were some very bad tops, but the landau style top on lower end 1980 Thunderbirds has to win some awards for an effort that would be generously described as half-assed. 1/8th assed maybe?………………….
Yeah those deserve extra criticism since those were actually done at the factory, all the Fox and MN12 ones were farmed out.
Ugh, I just HATE these! Such an awful looking car from every angle, and a disgrace to the Thunderbird (and Cougar) name. And YES, the worst vinyl top treatment ever–didn’t line-up right with anything, looked like a cheap, pathetic aftermarket job. Perhaps it was a play to get buyers to spring for the pricier Exterior Luxury Group–though still hideous, the padded landau at least looked like it came from the factory that way, versus looking like something that had been applied by the dealer’s stoned nephew on the back lot in the dark.
I concur; that is one ugly car. Yecch! Those are the kind of cars I don’t miss seeing on the highways of 2016.
Worst (poor Cougar)
+1 – That’s the LAST thing an MN-12 Cougar needs.
Another poor choice in vinyl tops… the ones that look like a fake convertible… ON A FOUR DOOR SEDAN… REALLY?!?!?!?!
While the fake convertible thing looks great on a Lincoln Mark V Bill Blass Edition (a 2-door hardtop), these things have no place on any car that has a B-pillar.
Hopefully the 1st gen Cougars fair better.
The Charger is my favorite vinyl roof as well.
While the roofs on the Charger are sort of ok, they would look a lot better if the A pillars were free of vinyl.
I believe the mid 60s Mopar products used body colored A pillars with the vinyl roof option, a much better arrangement IMO. Thats if you ” must ” have a vinyl roof.
Yes…I also thought about this, since I think a vinyl roof is supposed to emulate the look of a convertible …how many of them have “fabric” A pillars? None, I think…so the A pillar should be painted, not covered with vinyl if you really want it to look more like a convertible…but I’m sure it is easier/cheaper for them to cover the whole roof in vinyl rather than keep the A pillar painted…but I guess they are really just “approximations” of what a convertible really looks like (even if they have the “fake” hardware simulating the bows, and maybe the snaps for the top cover)
I actually prefer the A pillars covered because it looks more uniform and symmetrical. But I’m weird, I like vinyl tops, I don’t like convertibles.
Best quality I would say general motors, worst Ford products. I prefer no vital top. They are high maintenance and cause rust and many cars are unfinished under it.
Stupidest final tops, the box caprice brouugham quarter top looks awful as do vinal tops on the last town cars with the aero body. I also don’t like the forward only half tops on some Ford’s and Chrysler products. They also look bad on most aero cars like Taurus and sable.
Best looking I would say Lincoln Mark v Bill Blass and dodge mirada . Honorable mention to 70-80s Lincoln Ford mercury half tops. I also like fake convertible tops, but extra stupid points if you have so its extending into the roof or a sunroof to go with the convertible top. T birds with landau bars look good, I like the fifth ave tops on the m body. Some cars look.better with them. The 80s full sized Ford products look good with the half top. While they are impractical and high maintenance, I think they should make a come back. I saw a Hyundai sonatas with one and it looked good. I bet the new generic continental would look good with a brouugham package and a final top.
The “halo” vinyl roof treatments looked like bad toupees. The Matador two door treatment was one of the absolute worst. And the Hornet hatch. the Cordoba with the half vinyl and odd window also ranks as one of the worst. Special edition of it and can’t remember the name. It was no beauty treatment.
Yes, the Cordoba Crown Coupe. The whole treatment looked like they’d just pumped air into a standard vinyl half top, and the blocky edging trim around the top and the weird, almost trapazoidally shaped opera window ruined shape lines that actually looked good on the standard Cordoba with vinyl roof treatment. The “draw” to that package was the light bar treatment, which made the trim piece that wrapped over the top and down the B pillar light up at night. Why have just a coach lamp when you can have the effect of a bizarre wraparound florescent tube over the middle of your car? Why not? Because it looks ridiculous, that’s why not.
Well, one of the worst IMHO is the one on my very own Fairmont… which is why it will be coming off (and not going back on) when I start doing bodywork to her sometime next year.
And yes, that is indeed a pic of my ‘Mont, taken a couple of days after I bought her 🙂 .
What year Fairmont is that?
My dad bought two of the Fairmont’s slightly upgraded ‘brother’ cars — the Mercury Zephyr — in the early ’80s. I remember them from my youth as being pleasant mid-size cars.
She’s a ’78, 302, C4, a/c, and the pimpest red velour interior I’ve ever seen in a Fairmont 🙂 !
I don’t think of a 1978 automobile as being an ‘old car’, but it’s 38 years old now so I reckon it would qualify for an antique license plate in all 50 states of the union. Are you thinking of getting an antique plate for your Fairmont?
I remember when I lived in FL the antique plates were free. I liked that deal. Then I moved to GA in 2008 and here an antique license plate cost more than a standard Georgia plate. A ‘specialty plate’ was about double the cost of the standard-issue GA plate and so I bought 1 antique plate and then went back to the standard license plate to save money when I needed a new one. I couldn’t justify paying the higher price again.
My mother’s Futura had the absolute cheapest-quality vinyl top (and paint) imaginable; if they cared to ask me, I would’ve recommended the far more handsome & spacious 2-door sedan instead, like you have (minus vinyl of course). At least they got the 302, now that was fun, if thirsty.
We laugh at factory broughams, but I despair of the aftermarket Liberace stuff middle-class Americans have added if the factory wasn’t in bad enough taste for them, like gold lettering & trim, full carriage roof, Conti kit, etc. So I take it easy on the donk & low-rider crowd, for they’re maybe less odious.
Actually, it was cool looking on my ’79 Futura Coupe. Since there was that whole T-Bird Basket Handle thing going on with those cars back then, the vinyl roof was split. I wish I had a picture of that car handy to share, but mine was Midnight Blue Metallic, and had a Midnight Blue Metallic Vinyl Roof as well. When the paint was waxed, and the vinyl roof nicely Armor-All’d, the look was stunning. It called attention to the basket handle, yet because the vinyl was the same color as the paint, the look was understated at the same time. I had the “Exterior Accent Group” on mine, which added chrome strips in all the right places for just a touch of broughaminess to the (then) new Fox-Body car.
Make mine midnight blue with white vinyl! The execution looks a little crude to my eyes now, but yes, the Futura factory vinyl did play well with the car’s lines…………
Have you noticed the “UFO” in the background of the above photos??
Maybe the Aliens are intrigued by the vinyl trim!!
A possible reason for the UFOs: Ford’s TV ads used Richard Strauss’s theme “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” popularized by “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
If any car deserved such sci-fi allusions, it was the Citroën CX.
Hi Dave. I thought about posting that picture which shows the split vinyl top well (thanks for posting), but my Futura looked like the one on the cover of the ’79 Brochure (which I still have somewhere in this house ;o). I found that cover online to show the color of my car. I had the same color cloth interior too, but my brushed aluminum moldings over the wheel wells were wider than the one pictured and only up and over the top of the wheels halfway. The moldings fit seemlesly into the color keyed body side moldings between the wheels and to the front and back, again, wider than that which is pictured. I swear even though that was a ’79 brochure, the car that’s pictured is a ’78. The rectangles in my grill were silver, the ’78’s were blacked out (like the photo). And although I wanted the pictured rims, at 19, I could only afford so much and got one with the standard (but nice looking) wheel covers.
Wow! I love Midnight Metallic Blue on just about any car, and had the privilege of owning a ’65 Riviera in that color for a short while.
That was a somewhat rare color in the late ’70s when bolder and less traditional hues were more common. I’m actually sort of surprised that color made the brochure cover.
Your Futura would have been one of my favorites of the Fairmont / Zephyr twins.
Dunno, IMHO without the vinyl it would look like some Audi 80 / 100 Zweitürer, that is, a very very budget-minded version of a Euro car.
Chrysler had a penchant for partial vinyl roofs, covering the front of the roof, or the back, or just the C-Pillar. Ford gave us the opera window, GM, the padded vinyl top.
It always truck me as weird when Ford started using those partial Vinyl roofs when GM’s Bunkie Knudsen was briefly President, it was pretty common on 71-73 Mustangs and Cougars
Yes, the 3/4 front vinyl roof was actually standard on ’71-’73 Cougar XR-7 hardtops — the full vinyl roof was a bit extra. I actually think it helped the style of the car.
In a rare instance of “more of a bad thing is better,” perhaps, I don’t mind a vinyl roof on the really big Lincolns & Cadillacs. Seems appropriate on a Mk. V, for instance. They only started to bother me on the early-80s downsized luxury cars, when the roof started to dominate the car. As off-putting as a giant novelty hat with a nice suit.
I’m OK with the original, tastefull, thinly-padded full vinyl roofs found on late ’60s – early ’70s luxury cars – Buick, Lincoln , etc… Often the cheaper cars – Ford, Chevy etc… got the vinyl without padding. Still looked OK, but was obviously ‘cheap’.
Hated all the ‘landau’ back-half vinyl roofs on most everything in the ’70s – ’80s
Puffy or not, those always screamed “You’re paying for a vinyl roof but only getting half!”
And so many of the mid ’70s coupes that had them were butt-ugly anyway!
Happy Motoring, Mark
I have to admit digging the St. Regis top! From my perspective, the key to a good Brougham is a certain kind of excess, like a massive butterfly collar on a double knit suit, of course in some highly unnatural color. One of many cars that would take up a space in my dream garage would be a 1974 or so Imperial coupe, green exterior, white top, and white leather pillow seats.
My favorite by far.
What? Why the boos? It’s vinyl; it’s a roof.
Best part is that it OPENS!
Actually, that’s the only GOOD vinyl roof ever made. May be looking for one if go for a Fiat 500 for my next car.
My stepson has the Abarth with that roof. When it’s rolled back, the governor limits you to 95 mph. When it’s closed, you can go faster, like that soft top is supposed to somehow save you in a triple digit crash. It’s a cool car. I think you’ll like it! It’s an absolute blast to drive. Make sure you get the stick though.
That’s likely in place so you don’t destroy the folded top with the draft at those speeds…
Makes sense. I didn’t think of that. Thanks.
I’d say the worst is the full vinyl roof treatment on the 1973-1976 Thunderbirds. That ugly opera window that does not mesh with the overall looks of the car in combination with vinyl that does not line up to the rear passenger window and all that contradicting detailing around that area…
Once you see that weird combination of the hard angle of the vinyl top edge and the curved arc of the window bottom you can’t unsee it. That’s horrible.
The short sightedness of praising the Thunderturd as the best luxury car in the world when your own brand is still producing Lincolns in the first place …
2nd generation GM F bodies. The absolute worst.
Best vinyl roof is a stretch for me, as I typically dislike them as a whole. I know this won’t be a popular opinion, but the kitsch factor of the 1969 Barracuda mod top somehow manages to win me over:
I’m not sure if this is a “best” or “worst,” but here you go…
Interesting. That’s what it is, interesting.
The obvious winner in “most complicated and bizarre shape” category. They should’ve used a lo-o-ot of glue on this one….
+1000. I’ve seen that GM wagon rear applied to Caddie sedans in a much more unified fashion.
I thought Cadillac Station Wagons only came in black.
The 1979-1981 Chrysler New Yorker is one of the worst, especially with the cheesy rear-door opera window.
I never knew quite what to think of this top. For all its oddity, it was actually fairly well executed.
No doubt, unusual and never really quite duplicated – it was not exactly a big seller for Chrysler! The late Brougham Caprice and the last boxy Fleetwood had sort of similar themes, but were not executed as well, and didn’t make the regular door window glass seem so small.
Don’t those also have frameless door windows? Open up those rear doors and you get this very odd stand-up vinyl-clad mini-window… blech!
The last photo in the article that roof reminds me of an old
pair of my PAJAMAS! lmao… Hard to believe it was once
a chick magnet.
I thought of another “No, thanks though” example. Although this never reached production, I think it is representative of how far bad taste was creeping into automotive design at the time:
Oh, my gosh – that’s even worse than the ’77 AMC Matador Barcelona II ! I love my AMC’s, but this…
No fastback should ever, ever have a vinyl roof with opera windows.
This is the exact car that came to mind when I saw that Mustang photo.
Poor li’l Matador…nothing, nothing could make it right.
See, I actually love the basic shape and style of these Matador coupes – preferably with the round turn signals up front (1974 – ’75). But I agree with you in so far as all of AMC’s later attempts to dress it up (save for the Cassini) made it look like it was playing dress-up.
Come to think of it, the non-Barcelona / II vinyl roof also looked pretty awful. There was no way to cleanly resolve where the trailing edge of the flag-shaped rear quarter window met the trunk area.
Had a ’77 Matador Barcelona as a first car many years ago… I can attest to the awfulness of the tacked on glitz (goofy looking padded top and leisure suit looking interior)… would’ve much rather had a slick top X with the cool stripes and bucket seats/console package. But I actually loved that ole car, despite the cheesy factor.
Nice car! I would have wanted this car, even with that roof.
Thanks! It looked like the photo at the top originally, Sand Tan & Golden Ginger. Painting part of it candy apple red drastically improved its looks.
The worst ones were the ones that were required. There’s no such thing as a FWD Olds Ninety-Eight coupe without the vinyl top. They had no outside treatment that didn’t involve the vinyl, even though the Cadillac did (Buick didn’t get the coupe). It doesn’t help that this quarter glass treatment is hideous and spoils the lines of the car, but peeling the top wouldn’t solve the problem as the body stamping underneath is the same shape and wasn’t designed to not have the top.
Buick did have a FWD Electra coupe from 1985 to 1987. The vinyl was an option.
Even worse, then. I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen one of those.
What a homely-looking car.
On landaus in general: Is the roof sheet metal
slightly recessed(2-4mm for example) to
accommodate some of the padding underneath
the actual trim?
Ford seems to be the industry leader in ugly vinyl roofs and the 1978 Ford Thunderbird and IMHO is a strong strong candidate for worst of all.
The best – other than the “de facto standard” full vinyl roof – perhaps the partial vinyl covering on ’63 – ’64 Chrysler products, because in this case it fits the styling of the car – these roofs were actually designed for this type of treatment.
The worst ? Any bizarre color / pattern, usually found on late 1960s muscle cars. Just like on the last picture in the article.
Another one of my all time least favorites: 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham.
First, it was the 1990s–vinyl roofs were waaaaay out of style by then.
Second, I despise how the vinyl is square cut around the wrap-over rear door, but the rear door window glass curves in the upper rear corner–the roof should track to that line, but can’t because of the door opening. Looks so tacked-on and cheesy.
Conversely, the Buick Roadmaster from the same era might have the best of the last factory vinyl tops.
I wanted so much to really like these cars, but there is not doubt about their oddities, and the vinyl top treatment was, as you note, out of style and awkwardly executed.
Still, I do have a sort of sick attraction to these cars.
From my personal COALs, Best, the brown top on my bronze 69 Dodge Coronet 500 coupe. Worst, the patch of white vinyl covering the center of the roof on my green 74 Toyota Celica. When I stripped the vinyl from the Celica for a repaint, I found that the vinyl was covering some factory damage from a welding robot arm that had skittered across the roof causing a hastily filled dent and a series of scorch marks in the metal. My vote for the worst of non COALs would be the various combinations applied to Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliants. Start with a cheeseball car and make it even cheesier.
Best: It really depends, some cars look alright with them. Most of the 70s Lincolns and Fords can get away with it, as can some of the more boxy stuff.
As for worst, I got two. One is the second gen Town Car. The vinyl roof was out of style then, and trying to go for the effect they went with on the new roofline really didn’t look right. It almost looked like the car that had the top part of it’s head completely bald save for the hair in the back, so it decided to finish it with a thin and cheap looking toupee
The second is the 1967 and final generation Eldorado’s. Both cars have roughly the same rooflines, and those roofs are not conducive to making the vinyl coverings look natural or seamless. They looked so out of place on both cars.
Here’s the 67-70 Eldorado’s hideous vinyl roof.
And finally, the Final Eldorado’s sickly and gross vinyl treatment.
Cadillac offered those from the factory? Talk about tone-deaf.
If I was in the market for a used one, that roof would be a deal-breaker for me.
Even a stupid vinyl roof can’t uncool the Eldo’s rear window.
The TC’s looks too poorly-integrated for a factory treatment, sure it isn’t a dealer or aftermarket botch?
It’s possible, but having seen a couple of TCs with vinyl roofs attached, I wonder if it could’ve been factory for some. If it’s not and it’s dealer installed or aftermarket, than I apologize for the mistake on my part.
I think the only factory vinyl jobs on Panthers when the Aero Town Car came out were for the final box Crown Vic/Grand Marquis. Any you see on an aero body (which also goes for Mark VII/VIII, Sables, Cougars, ect) are done by dealers after the fact, usually dubbed “______ Edition”
Worst: The Volvo 262C Bertone. Just because the Swedes like big American cars doesn’t mean they have to take their worst styling cues…
Wow; I’d forgotten about the Volvo. That’s … pretty bad.
But….. but, doesn’t vinyl add Horse Power?
Another Ford/Mercury nominee for worst…. Not to mention should have known better!
I’m sure though if this is a factory job or just an indication of a very sick individual
South Florida special right there…..
Ah, South Florida, home of the Lexus Palm Beach Edition…
That vinyl almost doesn’t look too bad – but then I saw the fake top snaps on the trim at the bottom of the roof. And the gold badges. And…..
Best treatment for the vinyl roof goes to GM’s C bodies from 1965 to 1984 (1992 for Cadillac) and GM’s upper B-bodies from 1965 to 1985 along with full sized Ford’s built from 1969 to 1978.
Worst treatment IMO for the vinyl roof goes to vehicles like the Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega/Monza, Chevy Citation, 1968-74 Chevy Nova.
The worst? Oh, definitely the ‘Continental’ vinyl roof fitted to Australian XA-XC Ford Falcon/Fairmont/Fairlanes. This style of roof varied wildly, but the gist of it is the vinyl sweeps a lot further down the C-pillar than expected and then expands forwards under(!) the side windows, or, more unexpectedly, along the rear wings to the tail-lights. As far as I know these continental vinyl roofs were all aftermarket installations and only fitted to Fords, but who knows!
My first introduction to the continental vinyl roof was here in New Zealand in the early 1980s when I was about 11 or 12. I saw a yellow ZF or ZG Fairlane with vinyl sweeping down the C-pillar in a crescenet shape towards the rear door where it stopped suddenly. It looked unspeakably bizarre – although I now realise the the trim on the rear door had fallen off.
For years I thought I must have imagined it, but then I stumbled across an excellent article on the Aus-Ford site which revealed the (hideous) truth… http://www.aus-ford-uk.co.uk/html/vinyl_roofs.html Here’s a ZF Fairlane with the Continental vinyl roof:
That would have been a natural if Australian television had done a locally produced version of Starsky and Hutch.
Wow. just wow.
Never knew of these. Thankfully.
I find that one cool as hell though, especially with the sunvisor further blending into the roof treatment.
Or how about a continental vinyl half-roof on your XB Falcon GT?
That is by far the worst yet…
A spoiler, rear window louvers, and landau irons? All bases are covered but not in a good way.
The Donald Trump edition.
The Hillary Clinton edition is ?
Please don’t drag politics into this place. It’s where I come to escape from them.
I’m pretty certain that was a combover joke.
Well, whether you look at the right side, or the left side, this vinyl top treatment is the landslide winner here for worst ever. I think both sides of the aisle can agree on THAT one.
What the heck were they thinking (or smoking)?
O. M. G.
I wasn’t prepared that. As they would say a in some neighborhoods, “That’s just [messed] up.”
Without landau bars and spoiler and with black pvc on whole roof I take it
And for those moments when a vinyl roof is just insufficient on one’s XA Falcon hardtop, well, one wouldn’t settle for anything less than a vinyl roofboot would one! And yes, there are several different roofboots pictured on the Aus-Ford website (which is where these pics all came from). I’m not sure if any of these three Aussie Fords win the Worst Vinyl Roof Treatment Award, but they must surely be finalists…!
Then I saw this… just wow!
And you thought you Americans had the Tasteless Vinyl Top award sewn up!
Fortunately these were very rarely seen back in the day.
Oh churr my memory had been wiped clean of those disasters now it all comes back, great now for some eye bleach, yep worst of the lot easily.
I’m not sure if this qualifies as vinyl or not, but I like the 1979 Lincoln Mark V Bill Blass Edition top:
+1! – As I said in a post above, a fake convertible top has NO PLACE on any car with a B-Pillar such as a 4 door sedan. Scroll back to CA Guy’s post of that ‘South Florida Lexus Palm Beach Edition’ thing for verification… absolutely hideous….
But the Bill Blass Mark V… Oh yeah, that’s the fake convertible top done right. My doctor when I was growing up had one of these, and that car was an absolute stunner.
Don’t know why it was removed, but my comment about the
last(yellow) car in the article stands: The roof treatment
looks like an old pair of my pajamas. lol!
I nominate the AMC Pacer with a vinyl roof because, well, it’s a Pacer with a vinyl roof.
This is the correct way to do a vinyl top.
Indeed!
What’s the worst thing you could do to a beautiful, space-age Citroen CX?
I remember being speechless when I saw that treatment in person at a Citroen meet. Revisiting it now, I still feel a bit shaken by the incongruity. I suppose we should be thankful they didn’t cover the rear sideglass and install fake landau bars there?
Could be worse…:
Actually, could be much much worse…:
Sheesh! What was the base car used for that…. thing…?
a Pinto?
The 1986 Pontiac Parisienne Brougham in black is a beautiful car with the vinyl roof option.
Mike’s Chrysler Fifth Avenue from Breaking Bad is an bad example of a vinyl roof treatment. What would have been the little triangular window is instead covered by more vinyl. That makes the rear window seem out of proportion (too small), and visibility is worse. And, in my opinion, it makes an awkward divide between the vinyl and non-vinyl parts of the roof, especially if viewed from the rear.
While not necessarily the best or worst, the ’67 LTD 2-door had these as standard for a good reason. In order to create a formal appearance on the cheap, they inserted a triangular piece of metal into the Galaxie 500’s window area, then used a convertible quarter window.
To cover up the welded-in piece, they simply covered it with vinyl, and it was padded also, unusual for a low-priced car. The ’67 and ’68 Merc Marquis, and the certain ’68 Meteors, also this very same setup.
Ha! They pulled a similar trick with the oz Landau
1977 to 1979 Mercury Cougar was available in a nice dark blue with a nauseating butterscotch vinyl roof and matching vinyl spare tire hump on the trunk. What’s worse was the factory alloy wheels were the same color. Often times seen with chrome fake luggage straps on the trunk on either side of that classy vinyl spare tire hump. The Lincoln Versailles had a similar vinyl tire hump but with a gas filler door right in the middle of it that didn’t like to stay closed after about 2 years.
I don’t know, I kinda liked the look of one of those back in my younger wilder days as a brougham fan. I do agree however that the fake luggage straps were a bit over the top, as were the matching tan colored rims. The car pictured below has neither of the latter, and still looks pretty nice to me….
That’s absolutely terrible. By the ’70s SOMEONE should’ve been able to figure out that half landau tops only belong on coupe de villes from 50 years earlier. Does the padded trunklid count as a crash safety feature?
That was just absolutely hideous. And those buckles on the T-Bird were beyond comical.
I’d veto any and all. I’ve spent most of my life in the west, where solar rays wreaked havoc on these treatments, which were better suited to the Missus’ parlors than the street. Of course, I’d applaud the steadfast applicators of ArmorAll, whose attempts to preserve appearances were notable but they seemed to be a minority.
I thought the Eldorado Biarritz was the best. I was in awe of that extra few inches covering the rear window as a kid.
For whatever reason a vinyl top with the chrome trim around the window (as in the subject photo) reeked of cheap to me.
The white vinyl half roof, cracked and yellowing on a maroon faded to chalky purple ’75 Mustang II Ghia, that was purchased as a cheap beater around 1986 was a very nasty looking thing.
As bad as it looked new, it turned into an unforgettable nightmare as it, along with the rest of the car, aged poorly.
The best was the ’68-’69 Lincoln Continental …no padding, sharp fit, we have quite a few in the LCOC that are still original and look good, no rust. The worst? The 1983ish Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue (insert zip code here), with the pretentious roof cap and diagonal rear door cut through the side, it’s still a cab!
The vinyl roof treatment on `75-78 Chrysler New Yorker coupes. My favorite from the malaise-brougham era. Just beautiful.
Maybe the smallest amount of vinyl ever applied to a roof of a car, but very elegant.
1965 Chrysler – my car shown, but also on 1966-68s
First gen Honda Civic
’92 Cadillac Deville Touring Sedan with…I just can’t.
Surely every dealer add-on was checked…the roof is bad enough on a Touring Sedan but then someone got crazy with the cheeze whiz and got fender skirts AND a continental kit.
But it doesn’t have the $399 Continental (peeling) chrome package so give them credit for that.
And no big plastic chrome strip along the bottom that reads “Just Coolin'” or something similarly stupid so +2 points.
The additional chrome would go beyond the limits of good taste.
Nevermind the GOLD trim packages. GM was offering 0% on remaining 2002 DTS’s. One dealer had two. One on lot had damage to the rear bumper, footprints on the headliner and obvious Pepsi spritzed all over it too. I was told “But the dealers wife drove this car” as if I was supposed to be impressed. I told him they should question what she was doing in it with shoe prints on the ceiling. Then took me inside to show me another one in the showroom. It had the GOLD emblems all over it and all the other tacky ornamentation. They said they could remove it and put the original emblems back on. Oh, sure!
I found exactly what I wanted at another dealer.
LOL @ the footprints comment. Toyota was another that offered factory gold badges on many of their cars in the 90s thru the early 2000s. I seem to remember it being a $200-300 option and about every other Camry and Avalon had them.
I wouldn’t be caught dead driving something that ugly. Utterly hideous.
It’s not so bad because Cadillacs are the cars on which you most expect these types of options anyway. It’s not like we’re looking at a Volvo here.
And red and caramel cream aren’t the worst match. I just hope the top fits the interior color.
Now these were horrifying and I remember reading that Ford/Lincoln dictated that dealers were NOT to offer those aftermarket fur/faux convertible tops (with a factory sunroof no less) for the Lincoln LS when it was introduced. And usually the body color and those tops did not match nor even compliment each other (greens were the worst in my memory).
I think they need to send another memo…
I think that LS was supposed to be the BMW/import competitor so they didn’t want it muddled up with dealers offering lime green faux convertible tops and mudflaps with your zodiac sign.
I understand alot of people, including myself, want something different than everyone else has but there are limits.
For me, the only way a vinyl top works is if 1- huge acreage- the car is large and the proportions are long and wide like full sized American cars of the 60’s and 70’s. The vinyl acts as a relief to the large painted surfaces,
2- Hardtop, no B pillar
3- delineated roof, as others here have pointed out.
Just my $2 (inflation and all that)
How about a vinyl top that tries to cover up a super-clumsy design (but doesn’t really succeed)? These 4-door Thunderbirds were never very numerous – but even as a little kid I’d do a double-take when I saw them: “Dayum!”
Reading through this thread and looking at the various piccies it seems to me for every vinyl or fabric roof that looked halfway decent on a car there were about 7 or 8 other vehicles where it didn’t do the car any justice from a looks perspective. And a few models were just visually repulsive and only served to make an ugly car look even uglier. Like that ‘South Florida Special’ white Mercury with the fabric (?) roof. Yucko!
Here’s one I think is terrifically awful… the Chrysler by Chrysler 2 door vinyl top… looks like that damn thing shrank and pulled away from the drip rails!
The stupidest use of vinyl was not on a roof, but on the headlight doors of the Brougham-overload 75 Mercury Grand Marquis.
If a vinyl roof was supposed to look (unconvincingly) like a convertible top, WTF were vinyl headlight doors supposed to resemble?
Those offered additional crash protection. They also shot road pebbles right back to where they came from.
My ’78 Mercury Grand Marquis coupe is currently being painted, and I’m getting rid of all that fake vinyl on he headlight covers, and painting them body color.
Inspector Morse’s Jag.
Here’s a photo of my Dad’s 1927 Hudson Super Six with the fabulous F-Head engine, which he owned during the 1970s. The body style is ‘Brougham”, denoted by the fat “C” pillar, faux landau iron and padded roof. My brother, parents grandmothers and our dog, Royce in 1976, in Hamptonburg, NY.
183 replies and nobody has mentioned this?
No problem. That’s ugly, too. To me the car looks even uglier than the vinyl roof. Looks like the body has been jacked ^up^ above the tyres. Weird.
Perhaps that’s an AMC car? Maybe a 1980 Concord?
It’s an AMC Eagle which is pretty much what you said… a jacked up Concord with 4WD.
Ford sort of tried it on trucks in 1971 with a textured painted roof. The paint was similar to a bedliner material like we would see today. From the 1971 Ford Pickup Brochure…
I always thought the houndstooth roof and interior in the ’70 XR-7 was kinda cool, Bob Tune, son of H.R. Tune on Pipers Lane drove one !