Anyone have the same top?

nsjuice

nsjuice

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Like I stated in another Topic, my father traded his Mark with me. He purchased it off the lot with the landau top, or phantom top (whatever you wana call it) straight from the showroom floor.

To tell you the truth, I never liked it- although It's one of the better tops that i've seen. Ive seen at least one other Mark with a cloth top, but it looked very badly done. It bulked out too much, giving a sort of "mullet" effect on the car.

Nonetheless, it's starting to come apart at the seams and soon, she'll be back to her true form.. and I can't wait.


Excuse the poor pictures. It's the only ones i have so far.

0606081729.jpg


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one more thing before i get flamed:

the dunce heads who put the directional tires on the rims weren't paying attention to the wheel design..

so there was no use to switch the wheels around... that would have been spending money to take the tires off.

but since the new shoes last month, she's rolling correctly now. :)
 
lunchmeat said:
I havnt seen to many with the rag top. Was that a special model or what??
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i dont think so, it prbly was something the dealership decided to put on? heck i dont know.

At one time i was actually thinking of restoring the top.. but the fiberglass mold under the cloth needs to be replaced- it's starting to wrinkle, loosening the cloth when wet.

So, i dont know if I'll be able to afford it... or even find the same makers to get the exact look/color.

the Name tag for the makers of the top has faded out so I don't know how else to look them up.
 
lunchmeat said:
I havnt seen to many with the rag top. Was that a special model or what??
Click to expand...


That reminds me, I always get questions from "Donk" kids asking me if it's a convertible.

This one time I actually overheard a couple ask each other "what kind of car is that?", looking for badges to identify it - while stopped at a red light.

the only bad thing is, the cloth top makes it easy to spot. Since i'm a superhero by night, it's hard to perform good deeds without being unnoticed.
 
Another bad thing:

I had this happen to me in Feb. All they stole was my Dickies Jacket.

Anyway, since the top overlaps the window and frame, the top had to be raised up to get to it. basically, this has to be done to replace the Quarter windows and rear.

it was a bitch cuz I had to take it to a Top specialist.. and that was not a fun experience. Ever since then, the top hasn't sat the same.

owell. either that or garbage bag the broken window. lol

(the door window wasn't broken, i just rolled it down)


this is where i'm greatful for insurance.



I should also mention that I didn't notice until 2 months later that the Tint on the replaced glass didn't match the blue factory tint... even though the replacement was Oem Spec.


dumbasses.

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All I know about Mark's and "fake rag" tops is that they are easier to set afire :)
 
kustomizingkid said:
If you remove the top you can look forward to having a nearly perfect rear window seal!
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yes indeed. not to mention drill holes in the body! I spotted small ones when they partially removed the top, behind the glass. maybe 2 per side.

DOH!
 
"If you remove the top you can look forward to having a nearly perfect rear window seal!"
__________________



you are way wrong about that!! not only will the roof be destroyed from the screws and urethane used to hold the top on, but in order for the top to not interfere with the trunk closing, all those fake tops required cutting off the senction of gasket along the bottom edge of the rear window, there is no gasket along the bottom edge. the pieces on the top of the doors are screwed to the doors, so there are 3 holes on the top of each door. people dont realize that under that fabric is a fiberglass mold, the mold is held in place by blobs of windshield urethane and sheet metal screws. once thos tops are put on any car, its there for life, you cannot take it off and hope everything under it is good, the only way to get rid of it and make it stock again would be to weld on a new roof and replace the rear window and weld the holes on the top of the doors. you are screwed now, find a shop who can redo the top and keep it that way now, if you pull it off, you are in for one huge disappointment when you see whats under it.
 
What I dont get is why the tops are so thick. I know there is that mold underneath, but why?

My 73 Mark VIII had a vinyl top. It looked good and was also only a few mm thick as the material sat right on the roof and C pillars. It was simply glued on so it could be pealed off without any damage to the body work. Maybe thats also why it looked good, it was part of the car's lines and did not look like a hat.
 
jamie97lsc said:
"If you remove the top you can look forward to having a nearly perfect rear window seal!"
__________________



you are way wrong about that!! not only will the roof be destroyed from the screws and urethane used to hold the top on, but in order for the top to not interfere with the trunk closing, all those fake tops required cutting off the senction of gasket along the bottom edge of the rear window, there is no gasket along the bottom edge. the pieces on the top of the doors are screwed to the doors, so there are 3 holes on the top of each door. people dont realize that under that fabric is a fiberglass mold, the mold is held in place by blobs of windshield urethane and sheet metal screws. once thos tops are put on any car, its there for life, you cannot take it off and hope everything under it is good, the only way to get rid of it and make it stock again would be to weld on a new roof and replace the rear window and weld the holes on the top of the doors. you are screwed now, find a shop who can redo the top and keep it that way now, if you pull it off, you are in for one huge disappointment when you see whats under it.
Click to expand...


That's the least I expect.
I remember when I restored my 67 camaro, i first pulled off the vinyl top on it... Man... I wondered what I got myself into. After some serious DA work, cutting trim studs, welding in holes, and last and worst of all.. ridding/welding/patching rust.. it came out decent.

I'm just not up to the task with the Mark. As good as a bodyman i think i am, i just don't think it's worth it.

new top sounds good at this point.
 
unity said:
What I dont get is why the tops are so thick. I know there is that mold underneath, but why?

My 73 Mark VIII had a vinyl top. It looked good and was also only a few mm thick as the material sat right on the roof and C pillars. It was simply glued on so it could be pealed off without any damage to the body work. Maybe thats also why it looked good, it was part of the car's lines and did not look like a hat.
Click to expand...


From the little that i know, Vinyl tops and Cloth tops are different. The old days they foam below the vinyl itself. all glued to the roof. My 67camaro didn't even have foam, it was just the vinyl itself. ?? on that one.

This Mark top has a molded fiberglass lay that contour with the car. I assume, just like the old styles, moisture trapped beneath it is causing the fiberglass to wrinkle before the cloth itself.
 
yeah the fiberglass mold is there to shape the roof for the canvas cover, they squared off the mold a little around the edges to give it the sharper lines, plus it gave them something to wrap the fabric around, its kind of hard to wrap the fabric around the roof itself. so they wrap it around the mold nice and tight, then make an abortion on how they put it on the car!
 
I have never been a fan of those tops, After hearing how they install them now I really wouldn't want one. Too bad they were not installed in a more user friendly way for window repair, etc. Then again, The punk should have never smashed your window in the first place!
 
there is a coachworks in clearwater fl too thats where the very rare and seldom seen convertable mark VIII's were done. i think there were only about 12 done, the conversion was way to expensive.
 
thats what id do, id cut the whole damn roof off and make it a vert. First do subframes connecters first, cutting off the roof might make the mark fall in 2 lol
 
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