I have a 1968 Cougar that’s been my project for almost 8 years now. I finally have the means to get the car painted, and have a few questions for you guys. The car is factory Polar White, which is what I am going back with. I am considering putting a vinyl top on the car. It did not come factory with one, so I don’t have the trim. So here’s my questions:
If I do go with a vinyl top, is there any special preparations that need to be made to the roof by the body man/painter?
What trim do I need? Just the Vinyl top trim and the special drip rail moldings?
What are the thoughts on vinyl tops as a whole? Are they a pain to care for?
My advice would be, if your Cougar didn’t come originally with a vinyl top then maybe don’t put one on.
It’s going to be more expensive with the cost of the vinyl and the trim pieces you don’t have, you’d need to drill holes in your Cougar and lastly the vinyl tops can cause rust issues by trapping moisture.
If the rest of the car is as it left the factory, I would stick with the painted roof too. Similar dilemma on my 70 - would like to add the right hand racing mirror, but can’t bring myself to drill holes and then end up with a different configuration than how it left the factory. If other things on the car have been modified already, then I wouldn’t think twice about adding mirror or vinyl top.
I have got two cents worth, my 68 was an original hard top but the previous owner put the economy vinyl top on it with auto parts store chrome molding for the trim. It was defiantly an afterthought on his part and not a great job. When I striped the car down, I was happy to find a rust free top, fixed the holes the P.O. put in and found a set of trim on ebay for 100.00 it did take some doing to get the holes located for the factory trim. I went to all the trouble because I personally love the look of a vinyl top on the 68.
My advice would be to do what you like and if you do go vinyl be sure to paint the roof top before the install and go with the premium vinyl top.
Your car looks great! I love the way the top looks on that color. I really think a quality vinyl top would make my car “pop” as well.
I am not too concerned with rust/moisture issues, as the car will be in a garage most of the time, and will not be driven much during the rain.
BigCat, did you buy the drip rail moldings as well for your car? Right now, without a ton of research, it looks like the trim and drip rail molding is going to cost me about ~$600. That’s a small fortune for such small parts, but I think it may be worth it for the improved aesthetic.
BigCat, did you buy the drip rail moldings as well for your car? Right now, without a ton of research, it looks like the trim and drip rail molding is going to cost me about ~$600. That’s a small fortune for such small parts, but I think it may be worth it for the improved aesthetic.
mrawesome1968,Thank you! I did buy restored drip rail molding, but I did not go with the vinyl top retainer strip.
I know very little about how the vinyl top is installed… Can you explain what the vinyl top retainer strip you are referring to is?
If you don’t use this retainer you will need to work with the vinyl top installer to make sure you don’t mess up the drip rail molding when you install them. Don explains this in the part description.
The Cougar is now at the paint shop preparing for its new paint! Unfortunately I had a little bit of a surprise hiding under the paint on the passenger quarter panel. It’s amazing what bondo can hide, isn’t it?
Just dropped a new quarter panel and hood off at the shop, and saw the car for myself. The quarter panel was in even worse condition than the picture above shows! The hood was also extremely rusty under the front lip, so we agreed to just replace it. Here’s some more pictures of the quarter panel.
While it may be considered blasphemy, smooth vinyl wrap is very popular these days. You could have the car painted but achieve a two tone look with a black wrapped roof and pillars. You get a totally reversible modification but at the expense of period correctness, texture etc… I can’t say I’ve seen one like this or that it would look good but figured I’d throw it out there.
