Who made this (factory style) soft top? (1 Viewer)

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I bought this factory style soft top off facebook marketplace and put it on a Real Steal bow set.
It is a plain canvas material (feels kinda thin TBH). The sides completely zip off to make a "bikini" top. Based on the bikini top and trail cover I have from Julie I don't think it is a Trollhole/Julie/Dirt Road top.

soft top.jpg


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The makings of that look an awful lot like a Travis top … he had made several tops

It could also be a one off… not all that hard just time consuming process
Who is Travis? Haven't heard of anyone making factory style tops "recently" besides Ehsan (Pakistan tops) & Julie and more recently SOR. But I wasn't that active around here from ~2010 to 2019
 
He made quite a few one off and custom tops

Link:
 
Bad ass 40! Looks great with that FST on it.
 
I bought this factory style soft top off facebook marketplace and put it on a Real Steal bow set.
It is a plain canvas material (feels kinda thin TBH). The sides completely zip off to make a "bikini" top. Based on the bikini top and trail cover I have from Julie I don't think it is a Trollhole/Julie/Dirt Road top.

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View attachment 3214911
Good looking top!
 
I like it! Good find!
 
Travis passed away some time around 11’ he was a mud member (softtopguy)

I am pretty sure that was one of his
Thanks for the info @JohnnyC now that you mention it I vaguely remember some of these one-off reproductions from the time I started doing less "cruisers" for a few years.
Bad ass 40! Looks great with that FST on it.
Thanks! I used to do a lot of crawling (have a set of Irocks on beadlocks), but now I mostly drive my kids around

Good looking top!
It's a little loose but for a few hundred $ on FB marketplace can't complain
Neat design with the bikini top option. Also the windows seems a little oversize, which seems like a plus.
I got lucky, I wanted the full bikini option to get more coverage for the kids in the back.

I like it! Good find!
Thanks!
 
Pretty sure this is "regular" canvas, if it gets wet and dries will it shrink? The top is pretty loose on top but otherwise fits surprisingly well
I was thinking i'd waterproof with the 303 fabric guard- anything better?
 
I’ll disagree, that top looks terrible on there. Wheeling, you’ll just make it look worse. Let me know a good PayPal and I’ll send you some funds and my address and I’ll dispose of it for you.


That’s sarcasm by the way. Good looking top with the ability to convert to bikini/safari top. I’m starting to want similar for summertime in my 1970. Great find!
 
@JohnnyC you've had a few factory soft top cruisers. Is the B pillar and piece that goes to windshield painted the body color? What about the tube bows?
 
Thanks. I've got a couple body color (cygnus white) spray cans for the B pillars. Might go black on the bows to minimize appearance, can't really see them anyway.
Now to modify the B pillar to have taper in so my doors close better. Really seems like Real Steel should make these that way since almost everyone is using "regular" doors with these.
 
Pretty sure this is "regular" canvas, if it gets wet and dries will it shrink? The top is pretty loose on top but otherwise fits surprisingly well
I was thinking i'd waterproof with the 303 fabric guard- anything better?

If it is truly canvas then you need canvak for it:

It does look more like polyester canvas imho, especially if it is a light weight. It is hard to tell regular canvas from a large weave polycanvas. It does look and touch like cotton canvas. heavy s&*t is usually cotton canvas. Putting canvak on polyester would be very bad. 303 fabric guard IS what I would recommend. You will need to do it once a year at least.

Travis was against canvas and always used the better polyester stuff (however it is lighter weight) ... sunbrella and german canvas i would even recommend the 303.
 
Thanks @JohnnyC
Here's a closeup picture where a hole has worn through. It is definitely lightweight and definitely not waxed. Is there a way to tell for sure if it is the polyester canvas?

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poly will melt.... cotton will burn

I do not think that is a Travis top now that I see the stitching... the maker ran with the tension too loose. He was a bit of a perfectionist as was Jim Reed. But you never know.... do all the stiches look like that? It could very well been a home made top not too hard to do really:
 
I was thinking Eshan but the color is not what his were and I do not think his had the loop rings.
 

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