1970 Sports Roof with vinly??

rtaoufan · Mar 9, 2009

Good afternoon...Just checking to see if anyone has ever seen a sports roof with a vinyl roof??? I just picked up a 1970 that had, at one time, a vinyl roof (to include all the trim). The vinyl obviously went bad and now the roof has several rusted (through the sheet metal) spots on the roof.

Thanks,
Todd

zookeeper · Mar 9, 2009

I remember a local guy who had a green '67 fastback with a green paisley-patterned vinyl top. It looked truly horrifying and not surprisingly it is the only car I've ever sene equipped with one. I've seen pics of other vinyl topped fastbacks, but very few.

StangDreamin' · Mar 10, 2009

I saw a "Mach 1" with vinyl this weekend at our annual Car Show - "Midnight at the Oasis". Didn't get to see a VIN/buck tag; but I'm pretty sure either the vinyl or the Mach 1 stickers weren't original.

Interestingly enough, it had a Ram Air hood as well; but it was down and nobody around, so I couldn't tell what engine it had - or if the rest of the Ram Air plumbing was even there....

rtaoufan · Mar 10, 2009

Thanks fellas...mine is a 70 Sportsroof with a 351 C. It's that golden/yellow color with black interior. I have never seen a 69 or 70 (with the exception of the coupe or grande) with vinyl. I tell you though, the vinly did a number on the sheetmetal once it started to rot. Now I'm in the position of finding a junked donor car with a decent roof to salvage and weld onto mine.

Calponycarsmike · Mar 10, 2009

Many aftermarket shops would install a vinyl roof in the 70's as it was in style, I have never seen anything from the factory with a vinyl roof on a fastback/sportsroof. I did see a 1970 at the Pomona swapmeet it had a 1/2 vinyl that was from the front A Pillars to just the rear glass with chrome strips connecting the qrt window trim and rear window trim. Odd looking.

bnickel · Mar 16, 2009

i have not been able to prove it but i believe that you could order a vinyl top kit from Ford and have it installed at the dealer, in other words a dealer option and i also believe that many 69/70 fastbacks were sold new off the lot with vinyl tops, though they did not come that way from the factory but rather the dealer installed them when they received the car but beforeputing the car out on the lot. there used to be 2 70 fastbacks here in town that were owned by the same guy, one was indian fire with a black top and IIRC the other was grabber blue with a black top. there was also a 69 fastback in town that was white with a black vinyl top. all 3 of these cars had identical vinyl tops with matching trim work. i have also seen picture on the web of 69/70 fastbacks that the exact same style of top that these 3 cars had, also many that had different styles, it appears that the cars with this same style of full vinyl top with factory looking trim work are the most common and i believe all have dealer installed tops using a factory Ford kit.

as i said i have not been able to prove this theory and may never be able to either for that matter.

Calponycarsmike · Mar 16, 2009

Ok there were a ton of aftermarket companies that offered these kits. However, in one of my old refereance books there was a referance to a 1970 Mustang Sportsroof vinyl roof molding and hardware from the factory as a special order.

It was a 3/4 vinyl roof that came up from "A" pillers to the end of the qrt windows. It had a four part chrome strip trim set #517B59 & #517B58 & #517A62 (2). The roof vinyl itself was #A53700. It was held in place with 6 clips #C7SZ-6540248-B, and screws #52413-S

I show it as a 1970 option only, however, it could be that it was offered by Ford as a dealer installed option earlier, but I cannot find any notes regarding that.

This is the drawing from the book:

View attachment 266152

bnickel · Mar 17, 2009

Calponycarsmike said:
Ok there were a ton of aftermarket companies that offered these kits. However, in one of my old refereance books there was a referance to a 1970 Mustang Sportsroof vinyl roof molding and hardware from the factory as a special order.

It was a 3/4 vinyl roof that came up from "A" pillers to the end of the qrt windows. It had a four part chrome strip trim set #517B59 & #517B58 & #517A62 (2). The roof vinyl itself was #A53700. It was held in place with 6 clips #C7SZ-6540248-B, and screws #52413-S

I show it as a 1970 option only, however, it could be that it was offered by Ford as a dealer installed option earlier, but I cannot find any notes regarding that.

This is the drawing from the book:

View attachment 266075

hmmmm, that's very interesting. what is odd to me though is that both of the 70's had full vinyl tops not that the 3/4 tops. i have seen 70 fastbacks with the 3/4 top treatment as well and they don't actually look too bad if done right and the paint and vinyl combo works well, like acapulco blue with either a black or white top or wimbledon white with a black top, etc.

i would be willing to bet that if Ford offerred the 3/4 top kit they probably also had a full top kit as well.

Calponycarsmike · Mar 17, 2009

Ford did offer the coupe in both a full and 3/4 style according to a few books I have. But there is no evidence to suggest that they offered a full kit for the sportsroof. Again many aftermarket companies were visiting dealers back in the day and offering all kinds of kits, and add on's just like today. It's like saying if you went to a dealer today that had three Foose Mustangs it must be a factory option because there are three of them. I sold new Fords for four years we would often build 3-5 Mustangs with "special edition" packages from outside companies like 3d Carbon or Foose. Just because something was common does not mean it was offered by the factory. Are these options factory correct no, but they are period correct

There are countless examples of this in the 60's and 70's through today.

Non-Manufacture Dealer Installed Accessories

Ford
1966 Pony Hood Ornament
1966 Back-Lighted Grille Ornament (adopted by Ford later in 1966 as a factory dealer installed option due to popularity)
1966-1968 Cloth Folding Sunroof for coupe and fastback
1965-1968 Pony Horseshoe Bumperette
1965-1973 Trailer hitches
1965-1966 Convertible fiberglass 1pc removable hardtop (very rare)
1967-1968 Dealer installed under dash A/C
1965-1968 Mustang Dealer installed Paxton Superchargers
1967-1968 Shelby Stripes were all Dealer Installed and many varied in size and colors

Other Makes: (Cars I have owned with one of more of these dealer installed options)
1963-1970 Triumph All Radios were aftermarket dealer installed (mostly Bendix)
1958-1972 Austin, Morris, etc... MINI's All Radios aftermarket dealer installed (countless radios were installed, the factory did not even provide a mounting provision on the dash)
1960-Current Dealer installed sunroofs from ASC, Weathershields Ltd, Britax, to Hollandia, and Webasto
1968-1985 Fiat 124 Spyder Luggage rack was supplied to dealers from Amco and it is estimated that over 70% of Fiats 124 sold in the US had this rack installed
1960's-current Camper Shells and Truck Covers
1960's-current Woodgrain dash kits (I had a 1962 Austin Healey with a dealer installed aftermarket Walnut Dash never offered by BLM)

The list can go on and on. I think that the book I had would have listed the part numbers for a factory Sportsroof full kit if it were offered because it listed the others for coupe 3/4 and full, and just 3/4 for sportsroof.

bnickel · Mar 17, 2009

Calponycarsmike said:
Ford did offer the coupe in both a full and 3/4 style according to a few books I have. But there is no evidence to suggest that they offered a full kit for the sportsroof. Again many aftermarket companies were visiting dealers back in the day and offering all kinds of kits, and add on's just like today. It's like saying if you went to a dealer today that had three Foose Mustangs it must be a factory option because there are three of them. I sold new Fords for four years we would often build 3-5 Mustangs with "special edition" packages from outside companies like 3d Carbon or Foose. Just because something was common does not mean it was offered by the factory. Are these options factory correct no, but they are period correct

There are countless examples of this in the 60's and 70's through today.

Non-Manufacture Dealer Installed Accessories

Ford
1966 Pony Hood Ornament
1966 Back-Lighted Grille Ornament (adopted by Ford later in 1966 as a factory dealer installed option due to popularity)
1966-1968 Cloth Folding Sunroof for coupe and fastback
1965-1968 Pony Horseshoe Bumperette
1965-1973 Trailer hitches
1965-1966 Convertible fiberglass 1pc removable hardtop (very rare)
1967-1968 Dealer installed under dash A/C
1965-1968 Mustang Dealer installed Paxton Superchargers
1967-1968 Shelby Stripes were all Dealer Installed and many varied in size and colors

Other Makes: (Cars I have owned with one of more of these dealer installed options)
1963-1970 Triumph All Radios were aftermarket dealer installed (mostly Bendix)
1958-1972 Austin, Morris, etc... MINI's All Radios aftermarket dealer installed (countless radios were installed, the factory did not even provide a mounting provision on the dash)
1960-Current Dealer installed sunroofs from ASC, Weathershields Ltd, Britax, to Hollandia, and Webasto
1968-1985 Fiat 124 Spyder Luggage rack was supplied to dealers from Amco and it is estimated that over 70% of Fiats 124 sold in the US had this rack installed
1960's-current Camper Shells and Truck Covers
1960's-current Woodgrain dash kits (I had a 1962 Austin Healey with a dealer installed aftermarket Walnut Dash never offered by BLM)

The list can go on and on. I think that the book I had would have listed the part numbers for a factory Sportsroof full kit if it were offered because it listed the others for coupe 3/4 and full, and just 3/4 for sportsroof.

well actually ford did offer trailer hitches for the mustang, at least 67-73 anyway, not sure about 65-66. if your book doesn't show hitches for 67-73 then it may not show full tops for fastbacks either

Calponycarsmike · Mar 17, 2009

Ford did offer a trailer hitch, however, many that were installed by the dealers were less expensive (more profitable) aftermaket hitches. I will try to find a picture of the two differnt styles. There is no evidance to suggest that there ever was a full vinyl roof on a 1970 Mustang Sportsroof from the factory. I made a call over to TMI who manufactures the reproduction vinly and has a number of original photos, and they had never seen a full roof from the factory. The 3/4 roof they know of, but they said it was very common for dealers to just hire local trim shops to build "custom" or "special edition" value added packages. They were 99.9% sure the factory did not offer it in production, they did not rule out that demos may have been made for regional promotions. Or for high profile customers, but those would be farmed out to 3rd party trim shops and then sent back to the factory for shipping.

I guess we may never know...

"Sportsroof vinyl roof became available for the first time (from the factory) in 1971. The partial vinyl covering extends from the windsheld to a point three quarters of the way back on the roof. A chrome trim boarders the back edge. The only color is black."

From the Mustang Recogintion Guide

More info:

I was digging through some boxes of old Mustang stuff I have collected over the years, and I found an original dealer order guide for 1969. I am going to see if I can find my order guide for 1970.

Vinyl Roof was shown as a Regular Production Option and as a Dealer Installed Accessorie on Coupe only, in Black or White. No provision for ordering a Sportsroof under RPO or DIA with factory parts.

Even More Info:

I contacted one of the guys I know in the industry that has written several books on the subject and this is what he had to say.

"It was a dealer installed item - but not a Ford backed option. I've seen a couple of 1967-68 fastback vinyl roofs like you speak of as well as 1969-70 too. At best, I think they were a regional promotional item centered mostly around San Francisco and Los Angeles."

StangDreamin' · Mar 17, 2009

Calponycarsmike said:
Ok there were a ton of aftermarket companies that offered these kits. However, in one of my old refereance books there was a referance to a 1970 Mustang Sportsroof vinyl roof molding and hardware from the factory as a special order.

It was a 3/4 vinyl roof that came up from "A" pillers to the end of the qrt windows. It had a four part chrome strip trim set #517B59 & #517B58 & #517A62 (2). The roof vinyl itself was #A53700. It was held in place with 6 clips #C7SZ-6540248-B, and screws #52413-S

I show it as a 1970 option only, however, it could be that it was offered by Ford as a dealer installed option earlier, but I cannot find any notes regarding that.

This is the drawing from the book:

View attachment 266025

Looks pretty much like the factory vinyl roof on the 71-2-3 Cougars. "Practically Standard" on the XR-7 in those years.
And there never was a "Sportsroof" Cougar..... the 71-2-3 resembled the "Coupe" Mustangs of the same era, just longer and with different detail lines on the side sheetmetal.

jjrdoc · Mar 29, 2020

rtaoufan said:
Good afternoon...Just checking to see if anyone has ever seen a sports roof with a vinyl roof??? I just picked up a 1970 that had, at one time, a vinyl roof (to include all the trim). The vinyl obviously went bad and now the roof has several rusted (through the sheet metal) spots on the roof.

Thanks,
Todd

I owned one in 1987-1988. Here is a pic.

jjrdoc · Jun 19, 2020

jjrdoc said:
I owned one in 1987-1988. Here is a pic.

A better view?

1970 Sports Roof with vinly??

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