Fake stuff

[Richard Bartrop]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

Oh my, I would LOVE to have a model of that to lay some Good Old American Rod-Fu on! 

I could certainly go for a stock version of that Peugeot.  Maybe if enough people ask the good folks at Heller?

 

[Can-Con]

14 hours ago, Russell C said:

Call me an idiot, but from the '70s on up to somewhere in the late '80s, it never dawned on me that vinyl roofs with the little circles around the back lower edges were fake convertible tops.

In the industry, those are called sim-cons , as in "simulated convertible" top.  Note the addition of the fake roof ribs. 

 

[MrObsessive]

59 minutes ago, Jon Cole said:

You spared me from hunting for a similar photo. These fake ragtops are the bane of post war rolling living rooms, and my #1 automotive peeve.

You ain't kiddin' Jon! The stylists went through the trouble of making a clean roofline and someone comes along and mucks it up with that terrifically ugly vinyl monstrosity!

[Tom Geiger]

17 hours ago, Russell C said:

Call me an idiot, but from the '70s on up to somewhere in the late '80s, it never dawned on me that vinyl roofs with the little circles around the back lower edges were fake convertible tops.

I"ve seen a few of these fake coach roofs on recent luxury cars and recently on a new Toyota Camry.... should've left these back in the 1970s and 1980s!

[Jon Haigwood]

Is it me or are there snaps along the back chrome strip ? Are they for the "fake cover" that goes there when to top is down ?

 

[Can-Con]

7 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

Is it me or are there snaps along the back chrome strip ? Are they for the "fake cover" that goes there when to top is down ?

 

Yes, but, seeing as the top doesn't go down, you have to fake it. 

[Can-Con]

OK, this has me thinking. 

Wouldn't a Carson top be basically a "fake convertible top" since it doesn't actually fold down? 

Then there were a couple examples of then as factory options. 

A local doctor had a Caddy just like this one back when they were new,

 

 

But I think it works best on this Lincoln without a pillar between the side windows.

 

[PierreR89]

This is a Jeep cherokee Orvis edition from the UK

Look close at the hood of it and you can see 2 vents and at the tailgate there is a spoiler.
Those parts do absolutley nothing, the vents are fake and taped on with 3M tape or something similar, the rear spolier is useless on something that is not a sportvehicle.
There is a brakelight in it tho so its used for something.

Left vents are for the orvis, right are for the 5.9.
Bottom pic left for orvis, right for 5.9 notice that the orvis are missing the mounts for the screws to the driptray?

[Bucky]

Vinyl top info:

 

History[edit]

The first use of this technique goes back to the 1920s, when leather, canvas and vinyl were sometimes used along with landau bars, to give a fairly accurate reproduction of a horse-drawn carriage's movable top. An early example of this was the 1928 - 1929 Ford Model "A" Special Coupe, that featured a roof completely covered with a vinyl-like material. This Model "A" Special Coupe's vinyl roof had two exposed seams on the back corners, with a lateral seam on the top covered with a narrow trim strip; landau bars were not provided on this model. The technique fell out of favor in the 1930s and 1940s, when smoother, "envelope" bodies began to be fashionable; for these designs, the look of the modern, integrated metal roof was important.

 

Taken from this article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_roof

 

Looks they've been "Faking it" from the beginning!! LOL

[Mark]

3 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

I"ve seen a few of these fake coach roofs on recent luxury cars and recently on a new Toyota Camry.... should've left these back in the 1970s and 1980s!

I've seen a few of them with sunroofs...

[ChrisBcritter]

22 hours ago, Russell C said:

Call me an idiot, but from the '70s on up to somewhere in the late '80s, it never dawned on me that vinyl roofs with the little circles around the back lower edges were fake convertible tops.

I'll see you and raise you one:

My boss's '98 Town Car and a Caddy we spotted on a road trip. Note how the deVille's canvas carriage top AND the fake top boot snap rail extend into the gas cap lid. Classy with a capital K! 

[ChrisBcritter]

And of course:

[Snake45]

8 minutes ago, ChrisBcritter said:

And of course:

Cruiserline Ventiports! 

[Bucky]

A Buick trademark!!

[Russell C]

15 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

...  Fake convertibles ....  That's basically what a hardtop is,

Eek. I had never thought of that either, up 'til today. I just always thought they were nicer looking roofs. Never even gave much thought to landau bars, they just said "pointless decoration" to me without ever implying what they were supposed to be in real life. But the more one thinks about it, the more fake stuff there is on cars. E.g. vinyl woodgrain, wire spoke wheel covers with spinners, functionless taillight extensions, etc, etc.

[Richard Bartrop]

Whitewall tires were as early casualty of the US entry into WW2, so fake whitewalls were offered which were painted metal.   Here's a 1942 Chrysler Town and Country with a set, and the painted trim that was used as chromium was rationed

For some reason, people will stick a set of these fake whitewalls over a set of real whitewalls.

[Greg Myers]

Yeah ! Like to see some fire belchin from these.

[espo]

My father bought a new '49 Ford four door and it had the plastic "white walls" on it. I remember the Pep Boys Auto Parts chain selling what used to be called porta walls. This is before tubeless tires were standard and everything had tubes in the tire. Yes this was some time ago. What you would do is let the air out of the tire and mount the porta wall white walls between the rim and the tire. Air up the tire and the porta walls were held in place. I remember seeing cars that people had gotten to close to the curb while parking and tear these things. The would be going down the road with part of the porta wall flapping the fender. 

[espo]

5 minutes ago, Greg Myers said:

Yeah ! Like to see some fire belchin from these.

There used to be a kit to put lights in the port holes. Some were even connected to the distributor in such a way that the lights would flash depending on which cylinder was firing. 

[Jon Haigwood]

When did they go from real wood on a Woodie to metal painted to look like wood? Fake wood  

[Greg Myers]

and if the fake hood thingies aren't enough, fake wire wheels.

[Greg Myers]

and a story unto itself 

[Greg Myers]

7 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

When did they go from real wood on a Woodie to metal painted to look like wood? Fake wood  

just a guess

[Snake45]

10 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

Whitewall tires were as early casualty of the US entry into WW2, so fake whitewalls were offered which were painted metal.   Here's a 1942 Chrysler Town and Country with a set, and the painted trim that was used as chromium was rationed

For some reason, people will stick a set of these fake whitewalls over a set of real whitewalls.

And, going the other way, about a year ago I saw an ad for some sort of modern 18-20" wheels with a twist: They were made so you could paint fake blackwalls on them, and the centers looked like traditional 14-15" wheels. So you could have all the benefits (whatever they might be) of modern rubber band tires, AND traditional looks for your classic ride. I thought that was a pretty slick idea, but I haven't seen them again since. 

[Spex84]

20 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

And, going the other way, about a year ago I saw an ad for some sort of modern 18-20" wheels with a twist: They were made so you could paint fake blackwalls on them, and the centers looked like traditional 14-15" wheels. So you could have all the benefits (whatever they might be) of modern rubber band tires, AND traditional looks for your classic ride. I thought that was a pretty slick idea, but I haven't seen them again since. 

I had that idea in 2002 and I'm still sorta jealous that someone else actually made it.  Good thing I didn't spend much time on the idea, because it seems to have gone over like a lead balloon. Too bad--I think it's really neat!! 

I was aware of porta-walls, but hadn't seen the metal versions before. Cool!