[BADRAT]

I'm repairing some minor rust below the rear window on my 69 bonney,, so I had to remove the vinyl below the window,, and thought about removing the vinyl completely and painting the top,, question is ,,,, will the window trim fit corectly with the vinyl gone,, I did this to a 68 Caddy,, and the trim did not fit well at all, it left a gap between the body and trim,, where the vinyl was tucked under the trim,, I sealed it with black sealent [ the car was black] so it didn't show too bad,, but looked rather bad up close,, seems like the trim on the pontiac fits tighter than the caddy, you guys think they look better with the vinyl top or without??? OPINIONS PLEASE Thanks Bill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijg2VXB25Lw my 33 coupe

[68Prix]

I plan on painting my roof on my 68 Grand Prix. Over all the trim fits fine at most points. To me it is a matter of it is your car do what you feel like with it. Pat

[michaeld]

Badrat,

Overall, I don't care for vinyl tops - but that is ONLY because I know that they don't have the longevity of hardtops. When they look good, they look good.

I had a Caddilac Brougham w/ the vinyl top (I don't think they even made 'em any other way in 1990). It had some separations at the rear window, and I took it to a fabic place that did autos. They did a great job on the repair and the price was a LOT lower than I thought it would be. As I recall, they wet the vinyl, made the repairs, and caulked it for about $60. It went from looking pretty bad to pretty good, and the repair lasted. I don't know what they would have charged to recover the whole top, but I would check it out.

It would be interesting to see if anyone has a pic of a vinyl-topped car that has been "de-vinyled" into a hardtop. I can see that job looking pretty good, and I can see it looking REALLY bad.

[BADRAT]

I removed the vinyl top on a 68 Caddy, and painted it,, it turned out pretty good,except that the vinyl top was the padded kind and was kinda thick where it went into the windows,, so when I put the trim back on it lefta small gap between the trim and body,, but the trim on the pontiac fits much tighter than that caddy did, since its not a padded top,,
I also like the vinyl tops, they look much more origional,, but for a nice mild custom,, I think a painted roof looks much better and cleaner,, I think I will probably paint the top. shave the door handles and put it on air gotta finish the nose job first tho,

Here is a picture of the caddy, and the bonne.. which do you think looks better, vinyl or paint>>>

I am also looking for the passenger side quarter panel trim, that runs from the door to the rear bumper,
mine has been spliced about 8" from the rear..