Did all Superbirds come with vinyl tops?

[bull]

A coworker told me he heard that all production Superbirds (customer cars from dealers) came from the factory with vinyl tops. I had to admit I didn't know but said it didn't sound right to me. Then, looking at a bunch of pictures it seems that at least most of them do have vinyl tops from the factory. I'm sure the experts at DC.com can clear this up for me.

[Charger_Fan]

The only ones I recall not having vinyl tops were the factory race cars.
They had too many cars to crank out in too short of a time frame & had to cut some corners. Smoothing out the seams in the rear window mod was one of those cuts...so they wrapped them all in vinyl.

[Chryco Psycho]

I agree , they used the vinyl top to cover poor fitting rear window body work
I have seen a few modified since then without the vinyl & prefer the look without though

[472 R/T SE]

Just like with the SE Challengers.  They used the small rear window plug and did such a crappy job they used vinyl on them.

[hemigeno]

Yep, not only did all the 'Birds have vinyl tops originally, but they only came in black. 

I'm with Chryco in that I like hardshell cars in general, but to me a Superbird looks odd without the top. 

[69_500]

All street versions of the Superbirds had vinyl tops as others have already answered. And yes it was due to the amount of time that it took to smooth out the seams of the window plug, so to save time they all got the vinyl top. I guess they saw how long it took to do the Daytona's and 500's without vinyl tops and figured it was an easy way to pick up assembly time.

Also I've only heard of 2 people claim they made a vinyl top in another color than black for a Superbird. In both cases they claimed it was a white top. One of those cars is a petty blue car, and the window sticker does show it as having a white top, but who knows.

[bull]

I think it's pretty lame that they cut corners that way myself. They obviously did the same thing with the regular cars too and it sure shows later with all the rust. Oh well, overall I still think the quality was better then than now. I don't think the metal was as good back then either.

[69_500]

The only vinyl top cars that I know of that were finished under neath of the vinyl are the sunroof cars. They had painted roofs under the vinyl.

[Chris G.]

Just to add, all Superbirds were done at the factory, and had no affiliation with Creative Industries. Like mentioned, Chrysler just wanted to move them quickly, so why not just add a vinyl roof to save time.

I always thought the white top was on a few that left the factory, but have never seen any real proof of that.

ps- Count me in as a big hardtop fan as well. 

[Brock Samson]

i dunno if any of you can post pics of a superbird rear window compared to a reg. rear window,.. was the rear window trim of the SB used ina more common model?.. or was it,"special"?..

[hemigeno]

I did find a Product Planning Tech Services (Fleet Engineering) Bulletin for the Superbird discussing the Vinyl Roof.

This is Sheet 54 of 115 from Group Release No. F-534 that specifically reference the special parts for the Superbird.  Here's what it says:

3571110 is a vinyl roof made to pattern supplied by
Creative Industries.  For details and source contact
Mr. Herb M. Daniels of the PP&D Procurement Staff. 
Phone:  876-3789.

Under the description, it says:

Assy. - Vinyl roof (Black Only)

In addition to that document, the first line of the title/master copy of Group Release F-534's restrictions says:

Mandatory Vinyl Roof (V19)  (Black Only)

I know there are always exceptions to "rules" like this, since the same stack of documents explicitly says that the 'Bird was only going to be available in the seven colors - but we all know that at least 3 cars were painted FK5 (which wasn't in that list of 7 colors).  Might be the same thing with the vinyl roofs too, who knows?

Strat - the rear window plug was modified from a standard RR, although not as drastically as a 500 or Daytona's backlight was.  The C-pillar profile was pretty much left alone, but the back glass frame was bumped out in the "lower middle" section a lot more than the stock Plymouths.  Hard to describe, but it is different.  I also suspect that SB rear window trim is more valuable per ounce than any known mineral on the planet.  It is definitely "special"...

[69_500]

Was the Petty Blue Superbird with the white vinyl top at Carlisle again this year? I think that his window sticker shows  an ordered white vinyl top with the white interior.

[Ghoste]

As for the quality part, you have to remember Bull that Chrysler didn't want to build them in the first place.  They were only done to homologate the car for NASCAR and NASCAR, for their part, had changed the rules dramatically.  Instead of the 500 they only needed for a one off car before, now they were looking at 4X that amount and a very short deadline to do it.  They were hurrying to beat the federal bumper regulations coming into effect.
More cars, less time, and it's only to make something that'll win races and get Petty back?  Slap 'em together and move 'em out.

[tan top]

not to hijack on this thread guys,  probably been said a million times before , look what Chrysler had to go through to get them cars allowed to  race  , now look at what they class as a nascar  stock car  today    . by rights all the manufactures who run the series . should be selling there road going cars with a space frame chassis /  V8 rear wheel drive , thin gauge body panels etc  .    ok rant over