These Are The Coolest Cars With Vinyl Roofs

Vinyl car roofs have no function. Well, obviously the roof bit keeps those in the car dry, but the vinyl covering itself is superfluous to requirements. The idea was conceived only for style reasons, originally making regular sedans look a bit like convertibles and eventually becoming a must-have feature to offer car buyers as a luxurious touch. Whatever the reason for it, following on from early attempts in the 1950s, the vinyl roof look really hit it big in the 1960s and the style thrived until the end of the ’70s, although Cadillac kept it going into the late 1990s. 

Given the vinyl roof’s origins in the U.S., and its association around the world with cars from North America, it’s only fair that we include such icons as the Lincoln Continental and Ford Thunderbird in our list of the coolest cars with vinyl roofs. However, the style was popular in Europe, too, on blue-collar sports cars such as the Ford Capri to exclusive Jaguar coupés and wannabe BMWs from the ill-fated Triumph brand. Even sensible ol’ Volvo got in on the trend. Countless cars featured vinyl roofs, with almost as many marketing names for the look, but only 11 made it into our list of the coolest.

Although the first Thunderbird was a two-seat rival to the original C1 Corvette, Ford unlocked its true sales potential as a four-seat luxury car in its second generation in 1958. This was redesigned for 1961 by Bill Boyer with much smoother styling and, in time for the 1963 model year, Ford revealed the Landau model.

Named after a city in Germany, landau carriages –- specifically, the type pulled by horses –- were those with soft fabric roofs that could be lowered. These are the inspiration for our beloved vinyl car roofs, while the visible metal mechanisms and hinges needed for them to operate have even been rethought as stylish flourishes known as landau bars.

Now look at the 1963 Thunderbird Landau again and the detailing in the rear side pillars makes more sense. Its introduction from Ford was perfectly timed to ride the wave of interest in the style, and the Landau model was popular, outselling the Thunderbird Convertible and Sports Roadster body styles that year. Our favorite feature was the “Swing-Away Wheel” you pushed out of the way to make getting in and out of the driver’s seat easier.

Before this model was replaced with the next-generation Thunderbird in 1964 –- still available with a landau roof of course –- there was a highly exclusive special edition called the Principality of Monaco. It looked distinctive with its white paint and contrasting maroon vinyl roof, while the cabin got red carpets and white leather upholstery. Ford gave one to Prince Rainier of Monaco.

The iconic Toyota Century sedan from Japan (and only sold in Japan) was first introduced in 1967 to celebrate a century since the birth of the company’s founder, Sakichi Toyoda — and yes, that spelling is correct, we checked it a hundred times. It was designed to be fit for a king, or rather, an emperor as is the case in Japanese society. In fact, the Century, along with a little added armor, served as the official car of the Japanese Prime Minister for some four decades.

Remarkably, that first-generation Century was made for 30 of those years, more or less unchanged, handmade, and always with a V8 engine under its regal bonnet between its distinctive fender-mounted mirrors. The Century, then as now, stood for an unpretentious show of wealth or standing in Japanese society, with almost all cars painted black. 

The excesses of what became known as Japan’s Bubble Economy through the 1980s resulted in a doubling of sales of the Century between 1985 and 1989, leading Toyota to create an even more luxurious and exclusive model, the Century Limousine. Now, we’re finally getting to the vinyl roof we promised you, as this 26-inch-longer take on the big sedan — with longer rear doors to ease access and massage egos — came with a vinyl roof as standard and an opera window between the doors on each side.

It’s not easy to keep up with the use of the words Lincoln, Continental, and Mark through their long history, but the 1968 Lincoln Continental Mark III is one cool, vinyl-roofed cat of the era we’d like to single out. Its start in life was no more auspicious than the underpinnings of the mass-market Ford Thunderbird, but Lincoln managed to associate the two-door personal luxury car with the heyday of the Continental nameplate of more than a decade before – when the smooth Mark II was the most expensive car sold by an American manufacturer at the time.

The Mark III shared its rear-end style with its predecessor, looking like someone warmed up the trunk lid and slammed it down on top of the spare wheel. But the rest of the car was more straight-edged, befitting the era. One of the most distinctive features was the Mark III’s hidden headlights, shared with the regular Lincoln Continental of the same year, while the vinyl roof could initially be had in black, white or “Dark Ivy Gold”. 

A year later, dark blue, dark green, and dark brown were added to the palette, alongside a slew of disco-inspired paint colors to give the Mark III –- according to a brochure shard on the Ford Heritage Vault – “a star-dusty glow”. Inside, some will coo and wonder at Cartier clock and soft glove leather, but we’re fascinated by the “Sure-Track” lettering on the brake pedal, indicating the presence of an early attempt at anti-lock braking. Reassuring given the 4,866-lb weight of the thing.

There are any number of cool Dodges from the 1960s and 1970s with vinyl roofs that could have made this list, and we were strongly veering towards the 1970 Charger when we happened upon the Super Bee of the same year and thought –- now that is definitely cool. Thankfully, it too could be had with a vinyl roof.

The Super Bee story started in 1968. Dodge had identified a niche in the market for a lower-priced muscle car than its R/T models, one that the Plymouth Road Runner made its own. Using the same ‘B body’ underpinnings from the Chrysler Group -– from which the Super Bee got its name –- Dodge created the Coronet-based Super Bee. 

The most affordable version used a 335-horsepower 383-cubic-inch V8 sharing components with the more sophisticated muscle cars in the Dodge range, though elsewhere in the chassis it was obvious where the dollars were being saved, as many desirable features were optional. And then Dodge went and offered a 426 Hemi V8 making 425 hp – that’s right folks, a 7.0-liter V8 in a “budget” muscle car –- but it wasn’t very popular.

Indeed, the Road Runner continued to outsell the Super Bee, but that makes the latter all the cooler today, not to mention the gorgeous die-cast chrome Super Bee logo that adorns the car, along with its stripes. For 1970, the Super Bee was restyled and Dodge even referred to the new grille as Bumble Bee Wings. It certainly had a sting in the tail.

Strong American influence can be found in this most stylish of British Jaguars, though the company had a hard job bringing it from an idea in the 1960s –- by one Sir William Lyons no less -– to fruition in 1973. That was when Jaguar revealed the elegant XJ-C coupé to the public, but it took it another two years to iron out production and quality issues, mostly relating to sealing the side glass of the car. Even then, woeful labor relations within Jaguar’s parent company, Leyland, resulted in notoriously poor build quality.

However, with rose-tinted, classic-car-loving glasses on, the XJ-C is now a delight. Its two-door layout was based on a short-wheelbase version of the Jaguar XJ Series II sedan, giving it the personal luxury car vibe that was so popular in the States. All the side glass could retract for full effect, and the final touch was a black vinyl roof as standard. Reports suggest that only a few special-order cars did without the vinyl roof, though some owners have since removed them.

The front and back of the XJ-C were identical in style to the sedan -– even the windscreens –- though longer doors were created to ease access into the cabin. Both Jaguar and upmarket Daimler variants were offered and the highlight of the lineup was a 5.3-liter V12 engine option, shared with the Jaguar E-Type. It allowed the XJ-C a top speed exceeding 140 mph and while the quality was poor, the car did at least have a great reputation for its sophisticated chassis.

The back story to the Triumph Dolomite Sprint features Italian car designer Michelotti, an attempt to replace the British firm’s Herald model with a compact, well-appointed front-wheel-drive sedan, a special engine developed for Saab, success in the British Touring Car Championship, the expected delays and quality issues surrounding most British Leyland marques of the day, and yes, the fitment of a vinyl roof.

Though the Dolomite Sprint was never sold in North America, car nuts will know it was the Brits’ answer to BMW’s exalted 2002 tii. From relatively humble, front-drive roots the rear-driven Dolomite Sprint grew. Given the cost-cutting measures across the British Leyland Group, it was only made possible by the existence of a suitable engine, an unusual inline-4 Triumph had developed for Saab. This was designed to sit at a 45-degree angle to allow for a low bonnet line.

For the Sprint, Triumph redeveloped the engine as 2.0-liter motor with the help of Coventry Climax engineers, featuring what is believed to be the first mass-produced 16-valve cylinder head. It used just a single camshaft, however, the packaging of which -– along with penny-pinching in the production –- caused reliability issues in the long run. Nonetheless, it made a useful 127 horsepower for a heady top speed of 117 mph. 

Firm suspension and a limited slip differential also made it a favorite with motoring writers of the day. It’s easy to spot by its black vinyl roof and black rear valence today, especially if it’s painted in the alluring Mimosa yellow launch color.

The fact that every Chrysler Turbine Car made had a vinyl roof is probably the least interesting thing about this off-the-scale-cool car. The black finish contrasted with an eye-catching bronze paint color on every one of the 55 handmade examples and the exterior hue was repeated on the interior upholstery. It was a radically styled cabin featuring a center console designed to look like a jet engine and a set of unique instruments with some curious readouts.

All this alluded to what was under the bonnet -– a gas turbine no less. The Chrysler Turbine Car was the manifestation of the company’s decades-long research into using a gas turbine for propulsion. In an unprecedented move, Chrysler hand-built a short production run of this prototype and invited members of the public to apply for short-term loans of the car, in the process gathering a wealth of information on the fledgling technology. Adding to the car’s mystique, Chrysler then destroyed almost every one of the prototypes.

It didn’t give up on gas turbines right away, but the challenges –- including high fuel consumption and reliance on expensive materials for the turbine’s construction -– were eventually deemed insurmountable, and the research eventually petered out. Today, you’ll find a few in museums around the country, while Jay Leno has one of the only privately owned examples in existence.

The 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix was late to the start line, thanks in no small part to the massive nationwide strike of General Motors workers in fall of 1970. What’s more, Pontiac’s usual flair was dialed down a notch because while the Grand Prix was built on GM’s original A platform and included brand’s distinctive two-part radiator grille, it also featured bulky new federal-mandated bumpers in the front and rear.

Also driven by the government’s obsession with safety -– in this case incoming legislation on roll-over protection –- was a change in the side-glass and roof design from the open sides of such coupés up to this year. Nonetheless, this brought with it an interesting Colonnade hardtop design with small windows aft of the rear doors (monogrammed with GP, incidentally), available with a vinyl covering of course. 

In fact, the period brochure reveals that full or part-vinyl roofs were available, and some models featured it as standard. It was referred to as the Cordova top, though our attention was taken by the optional T-top, featuring removable roof panels, all mixed with the vinyl covering.

Pontiac celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1976 with a special gold-painted edition of the Grand Prix, but the writing was already on the wall for big, heavy, and thirsty coupés such as this and it would be the final Grand Prix to come with a V8 as standard.

The history of the first-ever Ford Mustang is well documented, but its influence on the development of affordable European coupés is perhaps more nuanced. The same year the Mustang went on sale -– 1964 -– Ford of Europe began work on its own take on the concept. It even called it the “Colt” project, referencing the pony car segment the Mustang kickstarted, and there appears to be a link between the Mustang logo’s designer and the final production model.

The result was the Ford Capri, launched in the UK as “The car you always promised yourself” and marketed to family men on the up. The Capri traded on its pricing as much as its style, but it was quite a practical car despite the sporting image. There were many underwhelming engines available at the bottom of the lineup, but those are all forgiven for the V6s sitting atop the range, not to mention the RS models with their bulging wheelarches and on-track success.

Vinyl roofs were offered on the factory-fitted options list from the start, while the first special edition model, the Capri Special of 1971, featured it as standard, along with “Lamborghini-like” rear window slats and “vista orange” paintwork.

While the Capri was designed for Europe, it also made it across the Atlantic to North America, to be sold via Mercury dealerships. It was referred to as the “sexy European car” in official brochures, which also showed the vinyl roof option used in conjunction with a sunroof. Best not to ask what the modern-day Ford Capri looks like.

The internet seems divided on how the Volvo 262C came about, but unanimously united in its appreciation for this Swedish oddball. Legend has it that the Lincoln Continental Mark IV inspired the 262C’s creation, and the concept was proven by modifying the older Volvo 164, turning it into Volvo’s first personal luxury car. It never went into production in that guise, but the template was set and the 164’s successor, the 260 series, was taken as the basis for the new 262C, revealed in 1977.

Mechanically identical to the plain Volvo sedans, the 262C featured a shorter roof, just two doors and, of course, a vinyl roof. Bizarrely, the 262C was only offered in silver to begin with, though eventually the range of options broadened – and from 1979 it was possible to do without the vinyl roof as well.

Bertone, the storied Italian car design house, is often assumed to be responsible for the design of the 262C, but in fact it just manufactured the car for Volvo, as the small production run wasn’t feasible in its own factories. Saying that, some 6,622 examples were made over nearly four years so it’s not as rare a car as you might expect. Other cool details? It shared its V6 engine with the DeLorean of “Back To The Future” fame, and the king-of-cool himself, David Bowie even owned one.