is this a vinly top or is it just painted? i can't tell.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2488350252&category=6187

Hard to tell from the pix but since the hatch is the same color I'd say that it's just painted. On the cars I've seen that did have the vinyl tops it was only the roof and pillars, not the hatch. I have seen another Z or two with a paint job like this (different color though).

Here's a pic I took of a 280Z with a vinyl top. I came across this car while searching for Z parts in a local salvage yard. While there were several Z's there, they were pretty well picked over....

Kenny P.

My '73 had a vinyl top and it stopped just forward of the hatch about 3'' .

Many of the US model 240Z's w/ vinyl tops were "decorated" by local trim shops, not delivered by Nissan with that "stuff" on them. They will vary greatly in quality and design.

(But they're all fugley)

Check out the S30 Options thread from a few days ago. Nissan sold a vinyl top option. It is pretty well considered these things were "dealer installed add-ons", but were they really? Where did the dealer come up with the idea to cover the top?

Inquiring minds want to know!!!!

When I think of a vinyl top, I pictue the 1977 Ford T-Bird. A Z with a vinyl top, half or whole, is like a Z with power windows............It just ain't right!

Vicky

Maybe a little off-topic but does any manufacturer currently offer vinyl tops? I don't recall seeing any car built in recent years with one. Maybe my mind just blocks them out. Never did like them on anything, Z or otherwise.

Check out the S30 Options thread from a few days ago. Nissan sold a vinyl top option. It is pretty well considered these things were "dealer installed add-ons", but were they really? Where did the dealer come up with the idea to cover the top?

Inquiring minds want to know!!!!

Well, in my area of the country (SF Bay area) the Nissan dealers sent the cars to local trim shops. I worked next door to one that had a steady parade of 240Z's through the shop from many dealers for at least several years (71-73) The story told by the New Car Service guy at the Nissan dealer was that Nissan shipped as many cars as the could to America in one standard specification and dealers added aluminium wheels, vinyl tops, stripes, and interior goodies as they saw fit to "pad the price" due to limited availability of such a popular car that they could have sold more of, if the factory could have supplied them, and to enable Nissan to concentrate on pumping out maximum cars.

Where did Nissan get the idea? I suspect from T-Birds, Lincolns, Caddys and the other cars that used vinyl tops in previous eras.

Carl,

I wondered if maybe the vinyl tops were arriving in seperate bags from Japan to be installed by the dealer or something, but your recollection is what I hear about the subject. Do you think the stripe kits came from Nissan / dealer installed? They were a home market option also.

Carl,

.... Do you think the stripe kits came from Nissan / dealer installed? They were a home market option also.

Hi Chris:

Regarding the vinyl kits perhaps arriving in bags, I have no reccollection of seeing or hearing that. I do not recollect seeing any bags of vinyl kits in the cars that I drooled over as they arrived from the dealer. I do vaguely recall seeing some sewing being done while b.s.ing and drinking beers with the trim/upholstery shop guys after hours, but I'm not 100% sure (after all these years) if I saw this specifically done for a 240Z.

I don't know much about the stripe kits.................except that the stripe kit sold by MSA as "a reproduction of the original dealer option" is NOT identical to the stripes on my car (see my gallery) which according to the original owner were added to the car, along with the metal strips, and door ding strips when he bought it new.

I have not paid any attention to the pictures of the factory options so I have no idea if MSA's version (or the version on my car) are similar to the factory option design, but it looks like there are at least two versions on N.A. 240Z's