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MDJuan Tubs

Rommel T. Juan said:
we need a sample for the world cab if we are to start with it
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Rommel,

As mentioned before, I have an original Postal top with all 3 doors and hardware that I would be willing to offer up as a sample. Please send me a pm regarding this if you are interested.

Brando
 
Just wanted to check/update. I placed my initial order back in april with everyone else, yet to recieve all of it after 10 months. Has anyone else had this problem?
thanks,
steven
 
Hi Donut. Sorry for the delay. But it took Bensinger awhile to fill up the container before shipping it to the US. That is why its only just arriving now.
 
Hi Rommel,

I will probably be placing and order for a new tub and fenders in the next few months. Does the tub come with the "Jeep" stamped on the side in front of the door?
 
rispony said:
Rommel,

As mentioned before, I have an original Postal top with all 3 doors and hardware that I would be willing to offer up as a sample. Please send me a pm regarding this if you are interested.

Brando
Click to expand...

Just trying to keep this at the top. Get it TOP. But on the serious side have we made any headroom on this about getting the top to them and getting these into production?
Rommel lets not let this one slide by. We need to get this done.
 
I spoke with Rommel and he said as though he doesn't feel many people are interested it in from what he gauged. I.e. There wouldn't be much return on investment. I totally disagreed but I can't prove that unless we make a poll or something showing just how much of a success it would be. Mods?
 
Anyone can post a poll at anytime, look for the option when you start a new thread.

I will say this now because I'd been holding my comments in order to let Rommel come to his own decision.

I don't think that there's a chance in all the world that there's even close to enough potential market to justify the incredible investment it would take to get the top over there, get the tooling set up to create the tops and rear door, to test them (very complex fitment if done the way the original cab was made or even if simplified to just the three main panels), to produce them and ship them back to the US. Keep in mind that figuring out the rear door is completely new fabrication/design, they'd have to source hinges and make them work as well as whatever is done for the latching setup. This isn't copy/paste or simple reverse engineering by a long shot. Heck even crating them for shipping is a nightmare compared to body tubs, which essentially just need a simple box built. You're looking at four major steel components of significant size that need to be protected from one another in transit.

All Rommel needs to do (and exactly what I imagine he's done) is look at the previous and existing Scrambler fiberglass full top makers. They're dropping like flies. GR8TOPS had been making them for years and when it came time to make a new mold (they have finite lives) for an existing top that required no additional R&D worka simple review of order flow showed there was no justification from an ROI perspective. What we'd be asking of Rommel is more complex by a number of orders of magnitude IMO, with international shipping thrown in.

Folks will have to believe me when I say that I'd LOVE to see it come to pass and I'm not just saying this to keep my top "special", but at the same time, I don't want to see anyone end up without their personal top for months and Rommel, who is making excellent products for us already, get into something over his head that ultimately won't pan out.

This would be a VERY premium priced product, so while it's one thing to throw up a poll saying "who wants a World Cab offered" it's a COMPLETELY different thing when it comes time for people to pony up the $4-6k I'm betting this comes in at (on the low end).

I've been around enough to see that scenario happen more than once.

The simple math on potential market sizing works against you. 28k Scramblers with what percentage on the road still? What percentage of those would be looking for ANY new full top option? What percentage of those would pony up for a top that will cost more than a new tub (and I will guarantee that's the case right now, just a question of how much more)?

I'm not saying Rommel couldn't pull it off, not saying that at all, just that it's a question of ROI and break-even, just like any business venture.
 
Extremely well said. And saves me alot of words. :) I think you are dead on, 5k plus. And, that probably doesn't include the complexity of side windows , rear vent windows , and all the little extra bits on the Overlander top. Even if you made a straight plain non opening window like some postal tops have been modded too, it's still a project.
 
jerseyjeeps said:
Extremely well said. And saves me alot of words. :) I think you are dead on, 5k plus. And, that probably doesn't include the complexity of side windows , rear vent windows , and all the little extra bits on the Overlander top. Even if you made a straight plain non opening window like some postal tops have been modded too, it's still a project.
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Oh lord, I was assuming a straight van side with no opening at all. Start adding glass and things skyrocket from there.
 
Hi Guys,

That is a good idea! Hook us up with top makers who stopped doing it.

Specially the Fiberglas people. IF it's no longer viable for them to make it, maybe we can still find it viable with our lower overhead costs. We can ship their molds to us and make it from the Philippines. That would save a lot of r and d. And the old vendor may even guide us on how to do it correctly.

We can make a deal with these vendors on royalties and such.

I heard that there is a demand for fiberglass tubs now, but less people are making them. We can do fiberglass tubs too.

Rommel
 
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