The headliner, in order to sit properly must have all the bows installed, they keep equal tension on the whole headliner, if you were to leave out one or more bows it would have a wave pattern at the end ( correct ) and be flat in the center ( incorrect ). As an owner of an origional 69 that had the origional headliner, I personnally wouldn't even consider not installing all of them. As for the clips, they all break due to age the plastic gets brittle, I have not personally seached for them but I imagine there must be at least one or two vendors that sell them, try CI or Year One, the wrapped in paper part by the way is a loop in the back of the headliner that holds it up to the roof and off your head, there is one for every bow down the full length of the bow. The results are well worth installing it properly. Good luck.