[Guest]

I recently bought a '66 Coupe with a vinyl top, so I am just getting into the restoration hobby. I realize it may be blasphemous but I am considering removing the vinyl so I can have a standard hardtop. Is this possible? And how easy is it to do?

 

[Opentracker]

Hey Elvis, glad your alive! And have a Mustang.
Some Mustangs got vinyl tops becouse the body work
on the roof was so poor it had to be hid with a vinyl top.
The only real issue is the chrome strip at the bottom was
put on by drilling holes. They will have to be filled.
Personaly I think the cars look better without a vinyl top.

 

[SHELBY]

Depending on the colour, vinyl tops look very nice on a Mustang. Red, White and dark green look very nice done that way. If you do want to remove it, there will be holes to fill from the lower moulding, as well as removing the glue and preping the roof for paint.

68 GT500
68 1/2 CJ Coupe

MCA# 18519

 

[Guest]

No, vinyl tops were not put on to hide bad bodywork. If that was the case, Ford would have covered the whole car with vinyl!

One other thing:

Cars that came from the factory with a vinyl top had recessed areas where the chrome trim sat. Cars that had the vinyl tops added later did not. If your car is a factory vinyl top, I suspect it would be a little more work to fill in properly.

Cecil Bozarth

1966 GT Coupe (Tahoe Turquoise with black pony interior)

1994 GT Convertible

 

[Guest]

Just to add to what the others have already mentioned; if you're car was a factory vinyl top (like mine), and you want to get rid of the vinyl, you can always remove it and paint the roof, but leave the chrome lower moulding on. My car no longer has the vinyl top, but still has the chrome, and most people would never notice the difference unless you pointed it out to them. IMHO, it's not worth the effort to fill the cavity where the moulding sits.

-Brian