1975 Ford Mustang Ghia Ad, Vinyl Roofs
1975 Ford Mustang Ghia

I came of age as a car guy under the tutelage of Car and Driver magazine during the Eighties. As such, I was very much an automotive minimalist. Groomed by auto editors with a love of spartan German performance cars, there was little room in my heart for the likes of whitewall tires, fake aero tack-on bits, or trucks of any stripe.

Another automotive movement that I flatly rejected was the vinyl roof craze. Seemingly born anew in the late Sixties, the vinyl roof came to symbolize everything that was going wrong with cars in the Seventies.

 

Indeed, as seen on the Ford Mustang—especially the Mustang II—Vinyl tops came to indicate that the model was not intended to be sporty, but luxury oriented—a thing that struck me as criminal when applied to the Mustang.

I’ve softened a bit on the vinyl-top thing since my formative years. In fact, I find a few of the cars seen here relatively attractive, even with their extra adornment.

To celebrate one of the stranger automotive styling movements of the past 50 years, we have amassed for you ten classic prints, and one TV spot, featuring vinyl-clad cars.

If you have a favorite landau’d car, please tell us what it is. The place for comments is below the last ad.

More classic car ads

 

 

1969 Lincoln Continental

1969 Lincoln Continental
1969 Lincoln Continental Ad

 

1969 Plymouth Fury

1969 Plymouth Fury Ad
1969 Plymouth Fury Ad

 

1970 Dodge Challenger

1970 Dodge Challenger Ad
1970 Dodge Challenger Ad

Spring-Special Madness! 10 Classic Limited-Edition Ads

 

1970 Opel Manta

1970 Opel Manta Ad
1970 Opel Manta Ad

 

1972 Ford Mustang

1972 Ford Mustang Ad
1972 Ford Mustang Ad

Badge-Engineering Madness! 10 Classic X-Car Ads

 

1975 Ford Mustang

1975 Ford Mustang Ad
1975 Ford Mustang Ad

 

1976 Dodge Aspen

1976 Dodge Aspen Ad
1976 Dodge Aspen Ad

 

1979 AMC Concord

1979 AMC Concord
1979 AMC Concord Ad

 

1980 Ford Thunderbird

1980 Ford Thunderbird, 25th Anniversary Edition
1980 Ford Thunderbird Ad

 

1983 Oldsmobile Omega

1983 Oldsmobile Omega Ad
1983 Oldsmobile Omega Ad

Pony-Car Madness! 10 Classic Mustang Ads

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