Seems to be a even split between cars that have the sail vinyl & those that have had it removed. Mine's all warped & peeling so don't see any reason not to simply remove it & see whats there.

So before i pretend to do the redneck thang & rip it apart. What am i likely to find? Big holes, Rust, Bare metal?

Probably a primed and painted surface.. that's coated with glue and baked for years under black vinyl.

The ones I've seen weren't exactly pretty. Morphenspectra sells a vinyl replacement set that's very reasonable in cost, IMO.

-Rusty

Any and all of the above. I don't think you're likely to find bare metal though. Just be ready to deal with whatever you find.

I am a redneck and I have no vinyl on mine.

You should find the same color the color was originally painted as....more than likely it will be darker than the original paint...if the car is still original.

Rust is not usually there....but the rust can sneak in and will bubble the vinyl.

Recently pulled mine off. Painted metal underneath (same as original body color) and no rust.

This is what I found.

Pull it off, sand the metal and paint it.

You can't tell the difference ar 25'

Cars that came from the factory with sail panel vinyl do not have full coverage of paint under the vinyl. It's mostly primer. If it's a solid color under the vinyl, it was repainted.

I'm not speaking pro or con of morphenspectra's vinyl kit, but it's not a match for the stock pattern on the vinyl. Stock has a pebble look, morphenspectra's vinyl has a leather look. Again, I'm not judging this good or bad, just information.

I disagree. My 73, which I purchased new, had sail vinyl. I removed the vinyl in 1995. It was full painted underneath. I cleaned the contact cement off with lacquer thinner (won't do squat to enamel when applied with a soft cloth) and it looked great for many years after.

VSG,,,,,,what do you know about this subject??!!
just kidding,,i believe you're right,,,,,mine was bright orange.
just had to give you crap!

The orange paint on the blue car above has what I describe and others I've pulled off looked just the same. I guess it's just one of those inconsistencies. Probably depends on who was wielding the spray gun at Karmann.

The blue paint wasnt factory. It was a cheap (repeat cheap) repaint that Im having to redo. Notice my interior is stripped and will be ready for seal grey metallic.

It's your own rendition of a GULF paint job. Take a wider angle shot and post it with the GULF repaint thread.

It wasnt my choice

someone decided in order to change color from orange to blue, all ya need to do is mask off (some of) the chrome and paint. Its quite possibly the quickest respray ever done. Where the paint is flaking off you can see layers of orange and primer. They didnt do any body work! Oh well, I guess that means i have no bondo!