Vinyl tops suck

[ACUDANUT]

Vinyl tops suck. All they do is hold water and are pointless.  I should have saved my money on the 4 tops I had paid to be done and just painted them flat black. My 
However I respected the look at one time and redid them the Factory way. Now I am thinking differently. Thoughts ?

[Kern Dog]

I think that they look best on C body cars. To me, a vinyl top is for a luxury cruiser, not a performance car.

[ACUDANUT]

 Do you think they were made to help a car look like a convertible ?  I have seen plenty of 20 year old Ford/Lincoln/Mercury 4 door sedan's with a thick padded vinyl roof and is was actually made to look like it might be a convertible.

[moparstuart]

I love them  both these are over 50 years old and still look great  

[birdsandbees]

Top on my Bird is original and 50 years old next week. That said, I prefer the "bald" look of my Coupe Bee! 

[VegasCharger]

No vinyl tops for me. If it comes with a vinyl then it's getting removed, trim holes filled and smoothed over.

[JB400]

Personally, I think it sets off the body lines of our cars more so than without.

[Nacho-RT74]

[alfaitalia]

I tend to think the opposite of that. On a vinyl top it detracts from the lines of the C pillar where it joins the rear fender and from the sail panels which are what makes a Charger, a Charger to me. I just see them as a moisture trap that's difficult to keep looking nice. I was not just a US thing....many UK cars of the 70s had them...I owned a few. 76 Ford Mk2 Escort, 74 Ford Mk2 Capri. 71 Ford Mk3 Cortina (really wish I still had that one!!).

[odcics2]

No tops for me. Detracts from aerodynamics...   

[AKcharger]

I love vinyl tops!

[alfaitalia]

Nope!....other way around....the grain of the vinyl roof helps the airflow at the boundary layer.....much like the dimples on a gold ball.

Richard Pettys  68 Plymouth used thick textured black paint on the roof for the same reason (not a vinyl roof as often wrongly said!) http://richardpettyfans.proboards.com/thread/840

[ACUDANUT]

Might be true, but how many of us are racing these for money ?

[lloyd3]

In a perfect world, I'd prefer not to have a vinyl roof but...that's what came on the car I now own. They haven't been used for a very long time now and are starting to become a 60s and 70s period thing. Quirky but...correct.

[69bronzeT5]

If one of my cars came with a vinyl top (and I like it) as such is the case with my Citron Yella '71 R/T, I'd put it back on. I don't mind them... 

[odcics2]

Nope!....other way around....the grain of the vinyl roof helps the airflow at the boundary layer.....much like the dimples on a gold ball.

Richard Pettys  68 Plymouth used thick textured black paint on the roof for the same reason (not a vinyl roof as often wrongly said!) http://richardpettyfans.proboards.com/thread/840

LOL!   So, why didn't either of the  Cotton Owens Daytonas get near the 200 mph mark??   They both had the textured paint.  The Show Car Daytona also had it!   Of course, on a car that never raced as a Daytona, guess it didn't matter!       Facts are facts.     

[VegasCharger]

Might be true, but how many of us are racing these for money ?

Works for me. 

How fast would one have to go to make that irrelevant?? 140 mph??

I'm not going near that fast on the city streets, driving like a Jack A$$!!

I'll be doing 5-10 mph over posted speed limits with a trounce added here-n-there and maybe 20 over on back open roads.

But hey that's me.

[Nacho-RT74]

I know they can become on a troublemaker ( moisture, mantenience etc...) but still I like them!

[DownZero]

I like them. Gives a touch of nostalgia.

[ACUDANUT]

So does a 8 track players and bumper stickers. Remember those ? 

[DownZero]

I wish my charger had the 8 track player in it.

[moparstuart]

So does a 8 track players and bumper stickers. Remember those ? 

mines got that too

[odcics2]

Might be true, but how many of us are racing these for money ?

Works for me.  

How fast would one have to go to make that irrelevant?? 140 mph??

I'm not going near that fast on the city streets, driving like a Jack A$$!!

I'll be doing 5-10 mph over posted speed limits with a trounce added here-n-there and maybe 20 over on back open roads.

But hey that's me.

If painting the roof with textured paint worked, everybody would do it.
In fact, they'd paint the entire car like that!

A car is not a golf ball.  

[alfaitalia]

Might be more of a case of marketing the look to the public, Various Formula 1  teams have used the technology successfully recently on the leading and trailing edges of cars and this study recons a 1.9% reduction on drag.....of no consequence on the road but could make a difference on the track where we are now measuring in 1000ths of a second!!

https://www.theborneopost.com/2014/04/08/vehicle-aerodynamics-drag-reduction-through-surface-dimples/

https://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/22/mythbusters-golf-ball-like-dimpling-mpg/

Now Im not saying that a vinyl roof on an old car will really make any worthwhile difference.....but I bet it would not cause any measurable extra drag either.

[Birdflu]

No tops for me. Detracts from aerodynamics...   

That's why the Superbirds were so much slower than the Daytonas! 

[odcics2]

No tops for me. Detracts from aerodynamics...   

That's why the Superbirds were so much slower than the Daytonas! 

Just one of the reasons!   

[F8-4life]

I don't care for them.

[Ghoste]

I love they way they look on the 2nd gen Chargers but the moisture part is awful.  My car came with it originally but Im honestly not sure about leaving it on.

[kent]

I'm with you on that one Ghoste. I love the look of them but they tend to cause damage down the road. But in this day and age, and the way we baby these cars now.  Would it really be a issue?

[73chgrSE]

I don't hate mine but I saw a white hard top for sale down the road a few years back and it just looked weird and plain to me.

[odcics2]

I don't hate mine but I saw a white hard top for sale down the road a few years back and it just looked weird and plain to me.

IMO, what looks goofy is the excessive offset  wheels and 4X4 look.

[billssuperbird]

Vinyl top and has a 8 track tape player

[Nacho-RT74]

Some ppl never consider that most of the problems of vinyl roof cars rusting badly the roof is because they were glued over primer and not over paint to save money. Still with paint is a moisture trap, but maybe 70% of the rusted roofs could survived or get a better life if they got painted from factory and not just primered

[b5blue]

Back in the early 70's a friend had some kinda painted on vinyl top on his 68 Coronet. Bits would come off like Corn Flakes. 

[6pkrtse]

I prefer cars without vinyl tops but it seems most of the 68-70 Chargers I have owned had them but one. Both of my current 70's have them.

[Todd Wilson]

My 71 had a white vinyl top originally. I replaced it when I painted the car years ago...........

[ACUDANUT]

Like I said, I put them back on to make it "original on 4 cars".  IMO 72 Chargers SE' had to have them to cover up all the mud from the plug they made in these cars.

[Mike DC]

 
I like the way it creates a 2-tone look in some instances.  Depends on the car. 

But I don't like the actual vinyl idea itself.  I'd be fine with covering the roof with low-gloss paint. 

[odcics2]

I prefer cars without vinyl tops but it seems most of the 68-70 Chargers I have owned had them but one. Both of my current 70's have them.

  Supposedly, 3/4 of 68-70 Chargers had vinyl tops.     Always appeared like that number was light.   

[b5blue]

Agreed seems like more it was so common depending on the car. Darts many Nova not so much and so on. It was a style cue that's faded away like white wall tires.

[dual fours]

I like my Vinyl top, it came with the Charger, black top, FK5 body paint, black interior and chrome trim. And I can use it for a storage self and get no scratches on it. After 50 years, it looks great.

[Back N Black]

My Charger is triple black, I think the vinyl roof is killer. Its like a charger wearing a tuxedo.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Much like green was the "in" color back then, so were vinyl tops.

[odcics2]

Much like green was the "in" color back then, so were vinyl tops.

Agreed.

Just like turbines were out, now are back in!     

[krops cars]

Either way. It breaks the body color up. Some cars are big and if you are painting it not original it is hard to pick a color that looks good. So I feel that the vinyl top breaks it up nicely. I do not care for how some hold water and ruin roofs.