Ailing roof on a `67 Mustang...

[MoreBugs]

I took my `67 `Stang with a vinyl roof (cracked, but all intact) to someone who replaces Landau tops. He took a look at it, poked it a bit, rubbed his chin...

"Well, you MAY be okay by your windows. Doesn't look so bad. But there's definately some soft spots here...maybe here...I can't do anything until you take it to a body shop and have the metal repaired. But first, you gotta strip the vinyl off."

Okay, so...I'm ready to tackle this. But I have questions:

*What should I use to get it off? I'm thinking utility knife, flat-blade scraper, heavy scissors, maybe a dust mask so I don't inhale anything nasty...

*Should I be able to pull what I can't cut out away and out of the mouldings without removing them? (mouldings are all still intact).

*I can hit the roof without putting my hand through, but there's still some bubbling. Once I get this top off, won't it immediately start rusting all to hell? I can't seem to get an estimate unless it's torn off...

*Last but not least, anyone have experiences with vinyl-topped Mustangs who can give me some pointers? Should I expect to replace the vinyl top if the roof is repaired (to hide the repairs), or is there a way I could get out of this with a painted roof, even if there are repairs? How much did it cost you to fix? And so forth.

I love this car; it's my daily driver.