Vinyl roof

A vinyl roof was in the 1960s, a time, a distinguishing feature of propagated as superior automobiles. It was offered on the German market as an option from Ford and Opel; individual models (such as the Opel Diplomat ) had in certain years, a vinyl roof as standard.

The vinyl roof consists of a normal painted metal roof that is covered with a textured plastic film ( vinyl ). The most common color is black. However, often roofs were produced in white, red and green. Also conceivable are all the other colors as polyvinyl chloride can be colored with any relevant industrial pigments.

This was followed by the previously purchasable two-color paint that disappeared because of their technical production expense in the mid -1960s from the market.

However, the vinyl roof made ​​in later years due to peeling at the edges very often for the chagrin of the owners. These vehicles could then look very unsightly. One annoyance was the strong heating of the vinyl roof in summer weather. The effects of temperature changes made ​​especially for roofs, which had additional edges with sunroof - outs, several problems.

So the vinyl covering in Europe from the mid- 1970s was rarely offered. One of the last cars in Europe with vinyl roof option was the Ford Granada, you could order up to 1980. Until 1984 it was still possible for the Audi 80. In USA vinyl roofs were still available until the end of the 80s. Lincoln put his vinyl roofs only one with the appearance of the Mark VII in 1984. Cadillac ended his vinyl roof option only with the deVille in 1993.

Today, the restoration of a car with vinyl roof is not an easy task. Firstly, the nubby fabric is not very easy to obtain, on the other hand there are still processing problems, in addition, a number of adhesive chemicals with which earlier vinyl has been processed, due to the solvent components nowadays only difficult to acquire. Moreover, the old vinyl roof to hide rusting because gaping column of the old roof can be a moisture trap.

Landau Roof

The Landau roof is a special form of the vinyl roof of automobiles. In this form, only the rear part of the roof area is covered by a vinyl edition.

This form was found in some U.S. vehicles out of the market segment of the upper class from the late 1960s until the early 1980s. The effect of a " classic " shared roof should the vehicles visually enhance. The idea associated leaned on as a retro element to historic vehicles with separate roof structures for the driver and passengers. This could be either a mint outdoor seated driver and using soft top or solid roof structure protected passengers ( Phaeton ), or as a solid top for the driver combined with a folding roof for passengers ( Landaulet ). The name for this roof shape is originally derived from the Landauer -drawn carriage from which is closed by a centrally divisible roof or let go open.