What is the purpose of vinyl tops

[Sublime/Sixpack]

They also were not expected to last 40 years.

Shoot, they did not last 5 years.

I have two  69 Chargers in my garage and they both have nice original tops on them. One is better than the other ,but they are both good. No rust under them either. Not the norm,but I thought worth mentioning.

Same here, the vinyl top on my '70 Charger is original and in very good condition. Not all of these cars were ran into the ground, some were cared for through the years.

And yes, they were something different and added a bit of class to cars back then. Although not everyone liked them, many people did.

[Mike DC]

   
Vinyl tops were installed to create a market for replacement roof skins 45 years later.

 

[don duick]

It was probably cheaper than preparing the roof for painting.

[69white hat]

I LOVE my vinyl top. I looked on line for months trying to find the charger for me. When I finally found it, I triumphantly showed my wife a pic of this 69 White hat special. She took one look and said, "That's the car your gonna buy? It is sooo not you!That roof is sooo ugly!! It's a grandpa car!!"  Well I knew it was the right car, That vinyl roof and the white interior and white R/T stripe jsut made that car pop for me. And when I got it home, She took one look at it and Just said "WOW. That is BEAUTIFUL." It was a righteuos feeling and I'm really happy I stuck to my guns and followed my instincts. Now when we roll through town she says she feels like a rockstar. The Vinyl adds a defintite touch of class.

[68X426]

The vinyl top is the toupee of the car world.  Like we don't know what's going on.

They serve no purpose, everybody snickers, no one wants to be around one.

[bill440rt]

Like anything else, an automotive trend. Like vinyl woodgrain sticker overlays. WTF is up with that? 

I'm one of those that prefer vinyl tops also, but it depends on the car. Like Brian, my cars didn't suffer any severe roof rot either. Maybe I just got lucky.

[Ghoste]

I like them too and the Charger lends itself well to them.  I have two now with it. 

[Aero426]

Oh I never knew that, I'd always heard the story as vinyl.

Here's a photo of Richard's car.   As you can see, there is no trim at the A-pillar, or on the rear quarter panels.    There are no seams in the roof and no chrome drip rails.    Those little Road Runner decals on the quarters would blow right off if they were attached to vinyl.

[Ghoste]

Did he intend it as a red herring or was it just done to look cool and turned into something else?

[Aero426]

They definitely worked over the windshield area of that car.   For several reasons, including a sort of belly pan, Richard's Plymouth qualified 3 to 5 mph faster than all the other Chrysler cars, including the Chargers.  The roof skin began to separate during the race.   That is the photo where Richard is out of the car banging the roof down with a hammer.   They duct taped over where the skin had separated.    

[Aero426]

Kinda sorta cheated up.

[Silver R/T]

I do NOT like them, keep them on New Yorkers and other grandma cars. If not for vinyl top I probably wouldn't have rust in corners on my Charger.

[Ghoste]

Oh I bet you would, there are plenty of rust prone areas on these cars that have nothing to do with vinyl tops.

[Silver R/T]

Surprisingly my Charger was fairly rust free, except for corners where vinyl top sits and lower quarter panels, some surface rust on trunk floor. Maybe it has to do with fairly dry climate we have here in eastern WA.

[Tilar]

They also were not expected to last 40 years.

Shoot, they did not last 5 years.

When I sold my 73 Duster probably 10 years ago it had it's original snake skin looking top on it, and it still looked pretty good even for being in the Texas sun all its life.

[6pkrtse]

I do not like them. I prefer a Charger without them but have owned many of them both ways. If the deal is right such as my red car was I have learned to live with it.

[Cooter]

It was a fad nothing more, nothing less. Just like those stupid padded tops everybody wanted 15 years ago.
some will try just about anything for the "look at me" or "its something different". Thing without giving one minutes thought to practicality.

[jaak]

From day 1 of starting my 69 Charger, my intention was NOT to have a vinyl top. But after years of looking at photos of different Chargers I started liking them. So when I decided to paint my car FJ6, I new with it being a bright color, it needed something to break it up, so I decided I wanted to put black vinyl to match the stripe. If it was painted a darker color, I might have skipped putting a top on it, but I love it with the black on bright green.

Jason

[ACUDANUT]

 Yea, I must agree. It breaks up the solid color and does look better.  It's just odd, to put cloth on the exterior of a car.
BTW, for you 2nd Gen Charger owners, always blow that water out of the rear glass trim. That is what causes your rust in that area. It holds lots of water.

[Aero426]

It's just odd, to put cloth on the exterior of a car.

OK, how about leather then?

[ACUDANUT]

For that car, Leather would help with the sharp and uncomfortable shaped edges of a door frame.  Much like old WWI aircraft.  It protected you.

[timmycharger]

I know my upholsterer wasn't too fond of them, he said if he knew what a pain it was to work with the C pillars, he would have changed his estimate!  oh well.. I know what he means, I did one about 10 years ago on another Charger and nearly broke my wrists from stretching it... 

[Ghoste]

When the miracle product vinyl was invented more than a couple of very high end cars were covered in the amazing stuff.

[Chargen69]

I always thought it was to cover the hack job between the roof and the quarters

[Ghoste]

Only on Superbirds.