ive started to take off my old top, ran into a problem. the pice that the top is stapled into that holds the top down in the rear above the trunk broke. any body know where i can order that strip from. its riveted into the frame. also should i go with a plastic window or glass
There are actually two tack strip units holding down the top in the rear, a right piece (GM part #12365696) and left (GM part #12365697).
The right can be ordered from any place that sells GM parts. The left unfortunately is out of production and increasingly hard to find; your best bet is contacting distributors to see if any can track down old new stock somewhere (that's how I found mine when I replaced my top; I will see if I can dig up the name of the firm I used that located it).
The reason the tack strip(s) are broken on your car is the fact the OEM vinyl top on it shrunk over time. As it did, it put more stress on on all the attachment points and eventually fractured the weakest ones, the plastic tack strip(s). They usually crack in the right and left rear corners, where the amount of top material is greatest and hence the most stress occurs when it shrinks. Even if you replace the strips, that fracturing will happen again 8-9 years down the road if you replace the old top with another vinyl one. Yeah, a cloth top is more expensive but IMHO over time the (ouch) $300-$400 premium is readily justified; cloth looks much better, doesn't shrink and because of that will last longer than vinyl if properly maintained (I know a few finicky people with 1970s-vintage Mercedes verts that still have relatively nice-looking original cloth tops).
As for glass vs. plastic rear window, let me put it this way: there's a reason plastic windows pretty much disappeared from new convertibles (including our Js) back in the mid 90s. No matter how diligent you are, they do wear and will inevitably scratch and yellow over time. Also , if you live in a northern climate and use the car year round, you really need a defroster window which only comes in glass.
