1972 vinyl hardtop stainless steel end tips

[Martin Z.]

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 vinyl hardtop stainless steel end tips

I have a 1972 convertible with a vinyl hardtop that I’ve never installed. It doesn’t have the stainless steel tips. Should the vinyl top have those end tips?

Martin------


Typically, yes.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 vinyl hardtop stainless steel end tips

I have a 1972 convertible with a vinyl hardtop that I’ve never installed. It doesn’t have the stainless steel tips. Should the vinyl top have those end tips?

Joe L is right. 1968 did not have those tips. Check the date on the glass on the hardtop. I believe there are differences in the mounting hardware for the early hardtops than the later, but you will need someone more knowledgeable than I, or a TIM&JG, for those details.

[Mike E.]

Re: 1972 vinyl hardtop stainless steel end tips

What is the date in the back window? 68 and early 69 did not have the tips. That same vintage had rear mounting pins like the soft top. Later had studs with plastic washers at the top and a threaded end at the bottom. That end accepted a nut that held a special bracket against the underside of the decklid. The later ones also had a bracket with a smaller in the center of the rear bow that extended through the deck lid.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 vinyl hardtop stainless steel end tips

What is the date in the back window? 68 and early 69 did not have the tips. That same vintage had rear mounting pins like the soft top. Later had studs with plastic washers at the top and a threaded end at the bottom. That end accepted a nut that held a special bracket against the underside of the decklid. The later ones also had a bracket with a smaller in the center of the rear bow that extended through the deck lid.

Mike------

There were late 1969's that used the "second design" rear hold-down components but did not have the center bracket. My original owner, mid-September, 1969 built car was one of them.

[Reba W.]

Re: 1972 vinyl hardtop stainless steel end tips

The JG describes differences in the designs and states that the change began about July 1968.