Vinyl Roof - when and why?

[ChasW]

Rapierdave said:

wildcat45 said:

Do you know what that colour is called? As a kid I had a relative with a Manta SR which we called Lillac. Body coloured roof I recall.

O/T. What was the difference between the SR and the Berlinetta?

The colour is polar white.

Originally the difference in SR & Berlinetta models was essentially the SR had a sports steering wheel, 6 clock dash & suspension tweeks where as the Berlinetta was the luxury model with velour door cards & seats, thicker carpet etc.

In around 1977 the SR & Berlinetta models were combined to become the Manta SR Berlinetta.

Here is a picture of a 1976 Manta Berlinetta interior that i used to own with 3 clock dash & "normal" steering wheel



Here is a picture of my present Manta SR Berlinetta with 6 clock dash & SR wheel.

I'm pretty certain our Manta SR had a patterned cloth upholstery. It was 1977 S reg. I must look up old photos.

[Rapierdave]

ChasW said:

I'm pretty certain our Manta SR had a patterned cloth upholstery. It was 1977 S reg. I must look up old photos.

If it was an SR model (not Berlinetta) then it probably had upholstery like this.

[ChasW]

Rapierdave said:

ChasW said:

I'm pretty certain our Manta SR had a patterned cloth upholstery. It was 1977 S reg. I must look up old photos.

If it was an SR model (not Berlinetta) then it probably had upholstery like this.

That could be the material. From memory it was unlike velour but very much a hard wearing cloth fabric, slightly patterned. Looked like new when I sold it 5 years later.

[LDM]

I can't think of last time I saw a Manta, which is a real shame (depite being a ford person). Always liked the Manta especially the earlier ones which still had the chrome bumpers.

[cardigankid]

Obviously, the vinyl roof was to give the look of an old style convertible. The vinyl roof was a stylistic gambit which came across the Atlantic - think of all the 60's American saloons and coupes which not only had the vinyl roof in detailed efforts to make the cars look like old coach built convertibles - think Cadillac Eldorado de Ville - often with the mock hinges on each of the C pillars. A lot of things were copied from American cars in the late 60's and early 70's as they were seen as the future and vinyl roofs were one of them. The deluxe material as called Everflex, and a lot of Shadow II's had Everflex roofs though I think most of them have been taken off. What it did do was absorb heat faster than a painted roof.

[ChasW]

I was living in the US in the mid-late 70s when those mock convertible roofs were popular. They were vile.

[underwhelmist]

Breadvan72 said:

Breadvan72 said:

Just spotted this morning, an early Inca Sprint with no radio and no door mirrors. Vinyl roof in good nick.

I have since found out that this car is a 1500 faked up to look like a Sprint. Tsk!

Looks odd without the door/wing mirror, and why only one windscreen wiper?

As an impoverished student in the late 80s I ran a white Lada Riva which had a tan vinyl roof. It was obviously incredibly classy and I was the envy of everybody.

[Fastpedeller]

underwhelmist said:

As an impoverished student in the late 80s I ran a white Lada Riva which had a tan vinyl roof. It was obviously incredibly classy and I was the envy of everybody.

Well - That is to say everyone kept looking in your direction

[anonymous-user]

underwhelmist said:

Breadvan72 said:

Breadvan72 said:

Just spotted this morning, an early Inca Sprint with no radio and no door mirrors. Vinyl roof in good nick.

I have since found out that this car is a 1500 faked up to look like a Sprint. Tsk!

Looks odd without the door/wing mirror, and why only one windscreen wiper?

As an impoverished student in the late 80s I ran a white Lada Riva which had a tan vinyl roof. It was obviously incredibly classy and I was the envy of everybody.

The missing wiper just seems to be a missing wiper. One has broken. This not being a real Sprint, but a car based on a cheaper model, the absence of no external mirrors is not that surprising, as they were a paid option on cheaper cars back in the day. I cannot recall without checking whether Sprints would come with external mirrors as standard, but if they did not, I suspect that anyone with the cash to buy a Sprint new would have ordered mirrors. You will recall that back then little things like inertia reel seat belts and adjustable steering columns and hazard lights and so on were luxury items and even status symbols (Sprints had two of those things, but no hazard lights).