I know a guy who just had to replace the roof on a GTO with a new AMD roof because the guy who installed it many years ago trimmed the edges of the top with a utility knife and cut into the new paint job underneath. Water held in place by the top crept inside the cut and the rust quietly took over.

Many cars rust out because the factory didn't put much, if any, paint on the roofs of cars destined for a vinyl top. My Dart had super thin primer dusting on the roof only. I was tickled to death it wasn't rusty as it sure could have been.

If you have the roof painted with a nice epoxy primer and paint then a new top is nothing to worry about. They also made these cars with two-tone painted roofs so you could paint the roof white or black and put the vinyl top moldings back on and still call it "factory".

Make sure to protect the glass from any grinding sparks if you do the work yourself.