73 charger se (some advice)

[cowboy90]

i am lookin at buyin a 73 charger se from a friend of mine and it has a ton of potential but has some issues. one of the main things is the roof has like rusted out and there are a few small holes in the metal and it is extremely rough, the guy took the vinyl top off, how would i fix it? would be better off puttin the vinyl back on it or just turnin it into a hard top?

[Charger1973]

Im not sure where you are located but I have a roof for a 73 SE I would sell you in Iowa. 

[Nacho-RT74]

WELCOME!!!

SEs without vinyl top are IMHO a no go... Of course you could say I'm byassed since my car is hardtop is vinyl top and I love vinyl tops, but is true that SE with louvers insert and everything is a NO GO without vinyl top.

Get it in to Hardtop will be lot of job, not hard but takes job searching the parts from regulator to glass, and even interior trim parts ( upper and sail panel ) weatherstrips, moldings etc... Also get enlarged the drip rail and cut the B pillar.

Is my opinion that if you want a hardtop, search for the right hardtop.

[konigcharger]

73 SE - vinyl top = + 


its simple mathematics

[Judhudson]

I have an SE that doesn't have a vinyl top.  Of course, it is a General Lee clone though so I couldn't have a vinyl top in the first place.  I do agree with the above, a regular SE Charger looks a lot better with a vinyl top.  I'd love to have another SE that has a vinyl top. 

If you are interested in seeing what a non-vinyl SE looks like, I have a lot of pictures here:  http://simprograms.com/images/general_lee/73%20charger/ 
They have the chrome-edge strips at every local auto-store that I used on the louvers.  Makes it look a little better.  I also used the drip rails from a non-SE charger.  Please keep in mind that if you do want to leave the vinyl off, you'll have some work to do.

[bordin34]

First you should get rid off all the glue that held the vinyl top on. It looks like rust so it may be better than it is. Next take a wire wheel on a drill to the entire roof and get off all the rust you can. Then take a grill scraper and scrape the roof to free all the rust flakes, this will reveal more holes. Next, buy some Naval Jelly and put it on and do it at least 4-5 times between each application take the wire wheel to it. This should get rid of most of the rust but there will still be some left. It got rid of 75% of the rust on my 74 SE. And keep the vinyl.

[cowboy90]

Thanks for the help, im pritty new to the car restoration thing so dont judge me for my stupid questions, would there be any way to get rid of the rust holes without having to buy a new roof? and does anybody know of a link or a place in colorado or the surrounding area that would replace the vinyl or at least that would sell it so i could have a couple of buddys help me out and put it back on?