Help me decide, please!
 

I’ve posted about this situation before many months ago and I thought I had made up my mind but I have not.
According to PHS my car vin 242378R152946 color A1 starlight black with white vinyl top and Trim 225 red vinyl seats; 400 H.O. Code WS with 4 speed.
Ok Not planning to do a white top I purchased a black top about 4-6 months ago. It’s still packaged. I really thought I’d be further ahead than I am.
What are your opinions of this combo? I can’t find one online anywhere and rarely even see a 68/69 at shows let alone this combo.
My vision was black on black with red interior but part of me says because it came that way I should do white on black.

original motor and tranny ??
white top
making/restoring it correct visually .... with date correct parts .. white top

not original motor and trans.... build it any way you wish ...

cooooooool color combo ...........

if you want to be the chat of the car show ..... those colors together will get the chatter going...

I wish you a good nites sleep ......soooon........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzz

Scott

I think your car would look tremendous with a black vinyl top. You'll be rolling the dice with a white top, but you could always change it if it looks awful.

Keep the car original and correct with the white vinyl top.

Very unique and desirable color combination.

Or put another way, Red, White & Black have always been top selling colors.
A flippin' trifecta !!

Drivetrain is all original. Motor has not been rebuilt. It came with non posi 3.55,

The only non original parts appear to be the distributor and water pump. The distributor was dated later in 68 and shows for a 69 auto.

If you are going to restore the drive train to matching numbers original I would do the whole thing original. If you are not going to go the extra mile and redo the motor and will use something else then do what ever you like. I did a frame off resto on a 69 conv and at the last second changed the body color from original only because the motor wasn't original. Never any regrets because it was the color I wanted and liked. Besides it's not to big of a deal to change the top later.

I won’t be rebuilding the motor as it runs great . Trans shifts smoothly. It has 66k on it because it was off the road from 1972-2017.
All I did was put new valve covers, air cleaner, vacuum hoses and engine harness. Oh and had the carb rebuilt.

I'd be proudly displaying my white top if I were you.

No vinyl .......all black with red guts is sweeeet. Keep the roof moldings in a box for the next guy

Are you planning to repaint the lower dash? I need to repaint mine and will be looking for the right shade of red.

Yes on the dash. I have two shades and I’m guessing the darker is not right if I’m going off my column and steering wheel.

When I bought it the pad wasn’t fully attached, Cluster lenses scuffed and cluster harness unplugged. I think they started to change the color and stopped for some reason.

Original am was still plugged in and the behemoth 8 track was sitting on the floorboard. I’m planning to put it back in but it’s missing the sleeve that goes around it.

Is the sleeve required to mount it to underside of dash or is that just a cover? I saw it in black on eBay new for about $90.

Man, I would be in the same situation as you. I think the white/black/red combo would be awesome but so would black/black/red. Also, whether to go back with the vinyl or not in either of those combos. In other words, I might even consider a painted white top...or black top. Tough decision. The good news is, it will look terrific in any of those combos.

leave it alone and drive it and enjoy it..make it safe and road worthy...youll get more action on it unrestored ....people want to see them original..and day dream about the one they owned...

i get more compliments on my old turds than my shiny cars...unrestorthed the car is more approachable

on the other hand..if its a numbers car, do it right or pass it on to someone that will..but personally...no one could change my mind on my car..i do what i want with them...just like you should...numbers cars are rare...they deserve a little more attention and detail work..

Its your car. Do it up as it appeals to you. You are the one that has to look at it, you are the one that has to maintain it and you are the one spending your money on it. Don't worry about the "numbers" people. They are not the ones that are going to live with it.

With that said, black on black with red is sexy.

My 68 is Black Top Starlight, and was a Parchment interior...i changed to 1970 Tan with Gold seal belts and carpet.

Red interior would be tops.

Marxjunk is right; unrestored, but mechnanically sound is the most approachable, and for me enjoyable.

Great original colors. I vote X2 w Sid, black & red w no vinyl top

Not putting on the white top changes your car from "cool!" to "just another GTO."

Not vinyl, but...
 

http://ultimategto.com/1968/68c_00030_4.jpg
http://ultimategto.com/1968/68c_00030_4.jpg

http://ultimategto.com/1969/69c_00045_1.jpg
http://ultimategto.com/1969/69c_00045_1.jpg

^^^^THIS. Let the next owner worry about the white top. If I were in the market for your car, I'd much rather have it with no vinyl top at all. Second choice would be a black vinyl top. I saw a Starlight Black '65 GTO with a white top (factory finish) and it looked like a CHP cruiser. Not a cool look for a muscle car. Just because your car was ordered with a white top doesn't mean it's desirable to most people. I feel a white top would break up the flow of the car.

Indeed, this is not a good look for a muscle car....

https://2img.net/h/i18.photobucket.c...opie-Copie.jpg

https://cdn.barrett-jackson.com/stag...rofile_Web.jpg

http://www.2040-cars.com/_content/ca...569807/005.jpg

^X2 :)

(My '68 according to PHS came with a vinyl top. PO had it re-done with no vinyl top. I wouldn't change it for the world. Had some vinyl top new cars in the '70's, didn't like them much and had roofs repainted when they started peeling off.)

Some cars look good with Cordova tops, the 68-72 A body isn’t one of them. That being said I’d lean to keeping it original.

Firmly sided with those opinions.

White tops on Black cars have always looked "cheap"/"wrong" to me.
Vinyl top deletion is always a bonus to any car's appearance in my eyes. jmo

It’s your car build it the way you want. Don’t worry about the resale deleting the vinyl top or changing it to black won’t affect the value. The 68 I sold a few years ago was originally Solar red I painted it Burgundy. It sold at a good price and no one cared about the color change. My 67 came new with a black convertible top and interior I changed it to white top and parchment. I looks great and if anything I increased it’s value.

I'm a fan of keeping the OEM arrangement ... however, unless it's some rare model it's not going to make a bit of difference in the price in most cases. I'll keep my vinyl because it came with vinyl ... however if I was buying a plain jane like mine, I might lean towards one that had already had the vinyl removed .... long as it was done RIGHT, trim studs taken care of properly, absolutely no visible line where the original trim was etc.

I would tend to agree with many of the others... All original drive train = keep it per the PHS. Non-original drive train = change/add any options you want but keep them year correct. But, I am a pure stock all original guy.

Probably a lot depends on your first exposure ... when I bought my first GTO in 1976 it had a vinyl top ... so that's the norm for me. I have fond memories of Armor-all-ing that top. Now that I have to paint my GTO ... I'm glad I don't have to paint the top :)

In my opinion, vinyl top cars look better when the top color is different than the paint color. White tops
look best on black cars, and black tops look best on white cars. The black, red interior and white top is a killer combination that looks fantastic.....keep it stock!

He is absolutely correct. A white top will work very well on this car.