New World Cabs?

[W.R.Buchanan]

Jeff: My compliments to you on a fine looking top. Your workmanship is very professional and it shows. The design is excellent and I really wish It was going into production too. Your modular design would cover all the CJ7's ,8's, YJ's, TJ's and LJ's.

I remember you said a while back, 'someone' was interested in 'maybe' producing the product, but nothing was definate. A word of caution,,, if you don't go into production and get a trademark established on the product, someone WILL copy it. A simple Copyright won't protectit it, and a design patent won't do it either, it needs a Trademark.

This would not be cool, but after having no less than 12 outfits knock off my paltry Seat Riser Kit over the years, which is nothing more than 8 aluminum blocks and 8 bolts, I assure you it will happen. The latest "knocker offer" of my product is Rough Country Suspension a multimillon dollar company, who's engineers "just came up with the idea for the product one day while sitting around at lunch". This is the reality of manufacturing in this country. Ideas don't stay secret very long, and if it is a good one, it will be stolen.

I would suggest talking to Best Top. They are big enough to really run with this product. Their Fiberglass tops are mostly built by Blackhawk MFG. in Rialto CA, and Blackhawk also has a facility in Tijuana Mex. which keeps the build costs to a minimum, because they don't have to deal with EPA BS. Most of the high volume fiberglass stuff is being produced there now for this exact reason.

If you like I can get you a contact name at Best Top or at Blackhawk. I'm sure they would be interested in talking to you, and that would also give you an in for any future products you might come up with.

It is going to take a large outfit with good manufacturing connections to really develop and produce this product right and not have it cost $too much for the end user and thus yeild a satisfactory sales volume.

It would be a shame to have such a cool product tied up by some "well meaning" outfit that does'nt have the resources to develop the product fully or bring the product to market in enough quantity to justify doing it in the first place.

It's too good a concept to just let flounder and die. There is a significant market for this product, and there are alot of TJ's out there. I have sold over 8,000 seat riser kits for TJ's and LJ's over the last 12 years, and my yearly sales volume is still increasing!

On a similar note, I have recently seen 2 new aftermarket tops for JK's, and they were totally boring! They were about as asthetic as drain oil !

Adapting your design concept to the new JK's would be worth doing, as there is a growing interest in "Expedition Type Vehicles" and Jeep already is considering an Expedition model on the JK Unlimited platform (they did a prototype that was in the magazine). Your product would certainly be a welcome addition to that vehicle, and would certainly be better looking than the crap they are selling now..

Let me know if I can be of service. Good luck

Randy

 

[jscherb]

Jeff: My compliments to you on a fine looking top. Your workmanship is very professional and it shows. The design is excellent and I really wish It was going into production too. Your modular design would cover all the CJ7's ,8's, YJ's, TJ's and LJ's. ... [lots of good advice omitted]...

Randy,
Thanks for the nice comments and the excellent advice, I really appreciate it.

I have designed the tops to fit any model open Jeep from the 1976 CJ-7 through the 2006 LJ. I made the masters with a few small swappable inserts to account for the differences between the models, so the same masters work for all. I've also designed "dams" for the molds so the molds can be used to make tops of any length, from short CJ half-cabs to CJ-8 full tops, and even custom "one-off" lengths in-between.

Personally, I'm not interested in being in business with these tops. I did the Safari Cab as a hobby project - it's fun for me to design things like this, and of course once it's designed I have to build it to prove out the design. Beyond that, I don't really have any interest in pursuing the business of manufacturing and selling tops. But there is a company that is interested in producing these tops commercially, and I've come to an arrangement with them and have already delivered my master parts to them.

They are in the process of making their own molds from my masters, and they expect to produce their own prototype top very shortly, followed by a run of a dozen or so tops for "early adopters" for test purposes. If there's as much market for these tops as you say, the company may be interested in Blackhawk for extra production capacity, so I'll pass along the information.

BTW I've done some design work on a modular JK top system along "expedition" lines, something with more room than the factory top and configurability for things like rooftop tents, etc. I haven't posted any of the concept drawings for the reasons you stated - I don't want anyone stealing the idea before I get around to building one. Someday if I ever end up owning a JK maybe I'll build one .

I also have several other fiberglass product ideas I've designed, and two of them are probably going to be incorporated into my next project, starting as soon as I clean up workshop and garage from the Safari Cab project.

You mentioned your Jeep being in a SEMA booth and a 4WD & Sport Utility article, I hope those plans are moving ahead for you, your project is looking good.

Thanks again,
Jeff

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Yes my project is moving along, but slowly. Life and Obama have gotten in the way to some degree, but it is still moving. The SEMA invitation was open ended so whenever it is done. Same with the mag article. Obviously is ain't gonna make this years show unless those guys that can take a Jeep apart and put it back together in 4 minutes show up at my house. I can't show up with a 1/2 assed vehicle, they'll laugh at me.

I've got a bunch of modification to do on my ACME doors to get them to integrate with my new top in an airtight manner, but I am going to shift my focus to finishing the rolling chassis before I go back on that part of the project. The body really needs to be mounted in it's final position before tackling the final fit up.


The magazine guys are painfully aware of how the economy has put the brakes on many projects. They can't get sponsors to contribute big ticket items to hardly any of their internal projects, so they are just doing little projects like simple vehicle mods and budget builds as the mainstay of the mag content for now.


Did you integrate a performance clause into your agreement with your manufacturer? Most times if you are turning over a product to an outfit you need to make sure they are not going to just sit on it until your licensing agreement wears out. Seen this many times with a variety of products, but usually it is a mid-sized company that will pull this type of shenanigan. Big companies don't have time to waste, if they are interested enough to sign something with you, they are probably going to run with it. This is why I suggested Best Top. They are a pretty decent outfit to deal with. I have been approached by them several times to quote on building various items, the most recent being the tubular doors for JK's they make . I sent them to an outfit that makes patio furniture, as their requirements were well beyond my capabilities.

I would suggest buying a JK asap, The window for that product is open right now, and all that can happen is your market for the product will get watered down with other products for other outfits.

Believe me: I understand your not wanting to be in the top business very well. I spent a full day with Jerry Mancini of Rally Tops in Gardena a week or so ago, and I heard and witnessed first hand a bunch of the problems that go with that business. Quality Control being the biggest and the most difficult to control. Having to eat a bunch of product because one of the worker bees no habla englise, is not my idea of fun. And the worker bees ALL "No habla Englise" cuz they are the only ones willing to do that work day in and day out.

Better to design thru prototype, sus out all hardware, and then license the product to someone who does that type of stuff daily. Once again, why I suggested Best Top and Blackhawk.

Hope you make a million on some of your stuff, you do nice work and you should be rewarded for it beyond just personal satisfaction. I've done alright on the seat risers, enough to say they are worth doing, and I'm always looking for new ideas to develop.

Randy

 

[jscherb]

A few more photos of the finished top, with the roof rack basket installed...

 

[bigwalton]

So did you come to a decision to keep the rack lights or you just left them there to keep pondering?

Looks fantastic. I'd drop the side steps personally, but that's just me. It seems to be begging for a nice set of rocker guards Also, given my propensity for reasonable lift and upsized tires, this just kind of looks "right" in all of the proportions. Excellent stuff

Also, are you planning on new tires now? I can't possibly recommend that more with winter coming on. MTRs suck donkey in the snow. I'm in the middle of trying to decide what's going on my LJ before the snow flies for that very reason.

 

[jscherb]

So did you come to a decision to keep the rack lights or you just left them there to keep pondering?

I'll probably offer up the rack for sale complete with lights. I had to try it to see how it looked, and to do some roof weight capacity testing, but I don't think I'd use the rack all that much, so maybe someone else could use it. I do think it looks really good on top of the Safari Cab, though. Fits perfectly on a factory XJ roof rack, so probably could find a buyer pretty easily through CL locally.

Looks fantastic. I'd drop the side steps personally, but that's just me. It seems to be begging for a nice set of rocker guards Also, given my propensity for reasonable lift and upsized tires, this just kind of looks "right" in all of the proportions. Excellent stuff

Thank you very much! My wife and kids still use the side steps, so I think they have to stay for now. Mostly they use the steps when they're getting out of the back seat, it provides a convenient transition as they unfold themselves out of the cramped passage from the back seat.

It's got a 2" BB lift, same as I did on the Retro, which I think is a perfect height for both vehicles. That lift allows me to go to 265/75-15's, which gets the highway revs down into a range I like but with the 6-speed and 3.73's still gives peppy performance off the line.

Also, are you planning on new tires now? I can't possibly recommend that more with winter coming on. MTRs suck donkey in the snow. I'm in the middle of trying to decide what's going on my LJ before the snow flies for that very reason.

I HATE the MTR's. Soooo noisy! I was going to get rid of them when I first got the LJ, even had several people wanting to buy them, but the tires I picked to replace them were not available until May (this was in January), so I just gave up. The MTR's probably still have 20,000 miles left on them. But now that this project is done maybe I'll get on that again. The Retro needs new tires as well, so maybe I'll be buying 9 265/75-16's to outfit both of them.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Jeff: I didn't ask, do you have a set of my seat risers in your LJ? You know you need them.

Send me a PM with your height and I'll fix you up.

Randy

 

[jscherb]

Jeff: I didn't ask, do you have a set of my seat risers in your LJ? You know you need them.

Send me a PM with your height and I'll fix you up.

Randy

Randy,
Thanks for the offer, that's very kind of you. And you're right about me needing risers, in fact I needed them so much I made my own and installed them the day after I got the LJ. Same thing with the LJ I turned into the Retro Wrangler pickup, installed my own one day 2 of that one too. It was quite a shock going from a 2000 TJ with a good seating position to a 2006 LJ with the "submarine" seating position, wow, I hated being so low. And I'm 6' 6", I can't imagine what it would be like if you're 5' 6".

Anyway, thanks so much for the offer, I really appreciate it, but that's a problem I HAD to solve as soon as I bought the LJ's.

Jeff

PS: Yes, I do have an appropriate performance agreement with the hardtop company.

 

[Randyzzz]

Wow, that looks nice, Jeff!

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

I had no idea you were that tall. For your height 2" riser lift would be the ticket and would take up the slack under your thighs so more of your body was supporting your body. Less lbs/sq in. resulting in more cofort.

I have confidence that you made the blocks out of some NON compressible material, blocks of fiberglass sheet would work. I use aluminum 1 1/2" sq stock for mine.

Randy

 

[jscherb]

Some shots of the Retro and the Safari together...

 

[mssldn]

Sure looks great, as always.

 

[Polarfire]

Amazing. Jeep couldn't have done it better themselves. Any word on how "the company" is coming with the production tops?

 

[jscherb]

Amazing. Jeep couldn't have done it better themselves. Any word on how "the company" is coming with the production tops?

Thanks! Last week someone from the company told me they had just finished making their molds, and they expected to be molding the parts for their first top this week! If they send me any "spy photos" I'll be sure to post them here.

 

[jscherb]

The company is moving right along making their first top out of the molds they just finished making, here are some spy photos of the parts. The parts are covered with PVA mold release and still from the molding process:

 

[jscherb]

An update on this project - lately I've been finishing up a few optional details for the Safari Cab, things I designed when I did the main hardtop design, but left for later when I did the main build.

When I was at SEMA a few weeks ago, I saw this new roof top tent (and tested it for size - I'm 6'6"):

That inspired me to get around to fabricating and installing the roll-bar roof rack supports I had designed for the hardtop. This is a set of brackets that support the rooftop rack directly on the factory roll bar. All weight on the roof rack is transferred to the roll bars, so the fiberglass roof doesn't bear any of the weight of the cargo on the roof. I got the brackets fabricated and installed, and then did some weight testing. With these brackets installed, the rack can easily support more weight than it would be safe to drive with. A roof top tent, for example, could easily be supported, which would have a safe "driving weight" but a much heavier "sleeping weight".

Here's a digital edit of the tent installed on the hardtop:

And a real photo of stuff in the rack basket:

And I've installed the rear wiper/washer in the barn door, here's a "caught in action shot":

 

[Randyzzz]

I love that rooftop tent, Jeff.

How long before the top is actually available?

 

[jscherb]

I love that rooftop tent, Jeff.

How long before the top is actually available?

The company that's working on bringing them to market has nearly completed building their first top from their own molds. I believe they're driving it around even though they've still got some details to finish up. I would guess they'd be shipping the first ones to end users in the first quarter, although nothing's definite yet. And those first ones would be the "early adopter test run" of maybe 10-12 tops, not the full production "anyone can order one" tops.

Here's another tent I saw at SEMA:

Just for fun I've digitally installed that one on the Safari Cab as well:

 

[jscherb]

Another type that would fit nicely on the Safari Cab...

 

[jscherb]

I decided it might be easier to use the roof rack basket if there was a ladder to get there: