Vinyl Roof

[Funkycoldribena]

Back in the eighties I had a couple of Escort Ghias with a vinyl roof,remember some Granadas(?)had them as well,what was the point in them? What was the last car to get one?

[tbc]

Cadillac Coupe de Ville from 1987 had one

[ChasW]

Not sure what the point was other than styling feature. When I first started work I was present when a number of new Cortina estates were being delivered for the sales reps. The only choice they were allowed was colour. One of the cars had a vinyl roof. It was a mistake by the supplying dealer who realised the error but did not charge us the extra. Taking the car back was impractical. It caused a real problem among the reps that someone was benefitting from a vinyl roof that they were not entitled to. Clearly a valued extra at the time, 1980.

[droopsnoot]

Talking to a chap who worked in the rectification section at Vauxhall in the 1970s in Ellesmere Port. His job was to go around the car looking for small dents and to rectify them, along with paint problems and the like. His comment was "too many dents in the roof to rectify, customer gets a free vinyl roof".

I wonder whether it was because the black top perhaps made the car look like a cabriolet and therefore more special?

[ChasW]

That figures. Vinyl could cover a multitude of imperfections.