A friend is having his original vinyl roof 69 Dart repainted. He sent me some progress pictures that he took at the paint shop yesterday. When I saw them, I noticed that the painter had left the roof area just in primer figuring that the area will not need painting because it will be later covered with a vinyl top.
I called him today and told him that it would be a mistake not putting color on the roof.
Any opinions on this issue?

From the factory,if a car is optioned with a vinyl top as per broadcast sheet,the roof does NOT get painted.
One of the ways the factory kept costs down.
As we already know,many a Mopar had suffered roof rot from that executive decision.
You can either paint it or not but the surface still has to be scuffed for the glue required for the top.
My car had a dealer installed top over factory paint.
During my restoration,I chose to use a high quality epoxy primer on the roof and not paint the roof when I replaced my top.
Hope this helps.

I've never removed a top and saw just primer... not fully painted to be nice like the rest of the car, but definitely has over spray. Some heavier than others like the interior area.

I always just paint them like the rest of the car when restoring one. Maybe not multiple coats, but til covered then cleared with the rest of the car.

Both of mine the roof was painted...not cleared....

Tell them to paint the roof, I just primed the roof of my Charger and I got rust bubbles unded the vynal top. I will paint the roof of every vynal top car I ever do from here on out. I don't care about how they came from the factory. I also have another 73 Charger that I got from California, and the roof was wasted under the vynal top. I had to change the roof skin,the car had no rust anywhere else.

I agree - primer is Not a Sealer - water will bleed thru.
At the least a quality sealer should be used. Does not take much more paint or time to spray the top with base color, then to top coat with clear.
If you don't use clear, the paint could pull/separate from the primer.

I always paint the roof fully and with the same coverage/technique used on the body when doing a vinyl top vehicle, it's not worth the risk to have it develop rust years down the road by being cheap, and no need to "scuff" the paint either as long as no polish/wax has been applied to it, otherwise I'd just lacquer thin the area where the vinyl top is going to be applied

Also not a good idea to drill for molding top clips/studs/etc after paint, that should have been done long before paint... and don't use any silicone sealer products on clips/studs/moldings/etc when installing a top, it will only promote rust by retaining moisture/water, use body caulk or urethane type sealer for holes/screws/clips/etc

I would think the clear could cause adhesion problems... dont know.. but Charger resto is 20 years old... still looks great...

If you scuff the roof with a Scotch bright pad the glue will adhere fine.

When we pulled the original factory vinyl top off our 69 RR the top was fully painted (A14) car. When we repainted the car we fully prepped and painted the top the same as the rest of the car and put the vinyl top back on. Excellent rust protection and worth the extra money for paint.

Thanks everyone here for the replies. I getting the answers that I pretty much expected. "Paint it"....
We all know primer alone does not protect against rust and the vinyl top material is not water proof.

I've painted vehicles in single stage as well as BC/CC, painted the roofs just like the body, never scuffed/sanded the gloss finish of either paint prior to installing a vinyl top, I have 3 cars that wear vinyl top, one in single stage the others in BC/CC, the oldest top is about 30 yrs old, the newest top is about 14 yrs old, no lifting, no bubbles, zero issues, it's all in a quality application and products

AGREE I tried to install my first one on the 68... what a disaster... I will leave that to the pros....

The ones like legendary sell are very easy to install. They don't have much stress and you can basically install it like a vinyl graphic. The cheaper ones that stretch, I won't even try anymore. If you try to do it like the legendary tops, they look terrible! It maybe a make thing too. I only use legendary tops, but was asked to do one on a gm and used their top, no idea on bramd, that's the one I couldn't get right.

Mine was Legendary...but it was Dec... bad idea...

I made that mistake once also and it shrunk after trimming... but did it with the glass in. Otherwise it would have had the revel trim clip screws through it to help out that part.

Had that experience too - bad idea.

Took it to an expert that had a UV lamp set up

I painted mine with single stage prior to the vinyl top.