[Ben M.]

I've tried most of the usual suspects, but getting someone who is willing to cut and ship (or have me pick up) is only half the battle. I'll also need to find someone local to install it and let us just say that's not proving to be an easy task...

[Ben M.]

...and! 0 for 3 on vinyl tops!







Oh well...

[Greg Reid]

Oh well....
Frankly, you can expect that on any 40+ year old metal that never had paint on it covered by rotten cloth for at least 30 of those years. Actually that one doesn't look as bad as most will.
As you probably know, I had to replace most of the metal on mine but I went back with the top anyway. I'll be long gone before it ever rots again like that.

[Ben M.]

Yeah, this was a southern California car for 43 of its 45 years and it's been garage kept the last 2 that I've owned it, so it goes to show that vinyl tops can rot underneath in the best of environments. The rear damage was done by someone resealing the rear glass with urethane & covering the vinyl & glass at the same time preventing water drainage or runoff. The front channels are in great shape. I'm debating doing an entire roof skin vs patching pieces, there are some weak spots but nothing too terrible (yet). And also debating doing it myself vs farming it out. If it wasn't so nice & done in the interior & needed paint or other body work the decision to fix & learn myself would be much easier.

Do you have pictures of your work Greg? I remember them over the years but most of the old threads are broken image links now. I need some inspiration ;-)

[Greg Reid]

Yeah, I have a lot of photos of it. I'll dig them out and post them here tonight.

[Greg Reid]

This is how I got the car. I had no idea that it had ever even been equipped with a vinyl top until I read the Data Plate...
Looks pretty straight huh?



First clue of what I was in for under the pretty primer- You can see that the rest of the car was much too nice to scrap. Just a rusty roof...





After primer while I decided what I was going to do.

[Greg Reid]

Repairs started... Got lucky and found a donor roof-

[Greg Reid]

Moving along...You get the idea....

[Greg Reid]

More...

[Greg Reid]

Here is about the only shot I have of it in paint before the vinyl was put back on.

[Greg Reid]

In hindsight it would have been easier and better to replace th entire roof in one piece but it did turn out pretty good.

[Ben M.]

Very nice work. Thanks for the pictures. Yours looks to actually be worse than mine is, and yeah my car other than the roof is perfect body wise - perfect quarters, trunk, & floors. As I said I'm debating just replacing the roof skin entirely as it will be easier not to go back with a vinyl top. Finding a donor roof without rust issues will be tricky and the reproductions are made for Chevelles and likely require some work to fit right. Same with the trunk to rear glass filler panel. At least it's dry & in my garage now so I don't have to worry about it getting worse or looking at it and it making me mad...

Thanks for the photos again. Looks like work but not completely impossible or overly difficult!

[Greg Reid]

Mine was definitely worse than yours. Short of getting a good donor roof, I'd say get yourself some rust dissolver of some sort, put it on and cover it with saran wrap. Let it work overnight, wire brush it and do it again. Rinse, repeat...until satisfied.
Most of what you've got there will dissolve and leave clean metal after a few applications. What you actually have to replace on yours can be fabricated and in the case of the rear filler panel, bought.
If you can find a roof, sure, that's the way to go but outside of that, fix it.
That's much too nice of a car to scrap over a roof.

[cuz68]

This is a sad thread, Ben you can find the parts for your 69, Good luck. Great job Greg.

[Greg Reid]

Thanks cuz...Sad stories are ok when they have a happy ending....
One thing I forgot to mention...What made me decide to patch instead of replace was the fact that a roof skin alone wouldn't have solved my problem. The sail panels would have required quarters. So, both quarters and a roof skin was more than I was ready to tackle at the time.
In hindsight it would have been the 'right' way to do it but, as my welding clearly shows, I'd never done anything like that before. A donor leaves you more options. My donor was actually a '71 Luxury LeMans...so there are options from '68 through '72. There seems to be a slight difference in the shape where the sail panel meets the lower quarter and filler panel....that 'wraparound' area near the bottom of the glass... but you can use donor metal from any of those years with some slight adjustment.

[Alvin]

Perfect timing for me in reading this thread for the 1st time; as I was just considering reinstall of "correct" vinyl tops on our '67 & '69 GTo's

[Greg Reid]

Alvin, I know Ben and I will probably agree to disagree here, but I don't have any problem with putting a vinyl top on a car. These cars that we all love today won't be treated anywhere near the way they were treated over their first 25 years or so.
1. The factory didn't even paint the metal under the vinyl tops. No way you are going to do that.
2. Most people in the '60s and '70s left these cars outside in all weather for decades and barely gave the condition of the vinyl a thought. Water got through the rotting fabric, which held the moisture almost permanently against unpainted metal. Even in a relatively dry climate, you're not going to preserve the metal that way.

They are not a lot different than convertibles....poorly maintained vinyl top cars rot the roof and convertibles rot the floors and trunk....but nobody knocks convertibles. A vinyl top is cheap enough that it probably should just be replaced every 6 or 7 years...Just to make sure.
Now, if you just don't like the look, that's a different story and by all means, skip it!

[67Twistytee]

Guys

If there's rust under the vinyl, will it bubble as a tell tale sign? My Cordova top is still original and these photos now have me concerned of what may lie beneath. No rot elsewhere on the car and it still has all its original sheet metal. The top still looks relatively decent except for sun fading.

[Greg Reid]

It will likely bubble eventually but as you can probably guess, if it's bubbling, you're probably already into some rust through.
My position is, if it's 48 years old, why not have it replaced? I think you've gotten your money's worth out of it!
Rust is like cancer and pulling the top is kind of like getting a colonoscopy...Not a pleasant experience and we are always afraid of possible bad news but not looking doesn't solve anything...catching it early is your best defense.

[67Twistytee]

True. No bubbling yet and I treat it with spf protectant to delay the inevitable. I have it on my to do list but it was relatively far down in priority until I saw this thread.