Another first gen Canback top!!!?

[BIGEARL]

Anyone catch the latest issue of FOUR WHEELER magazine? The K5 on the cover has a black Canback top... what gives? I know this issue has been discussed a few times in the past but damn, it's like showing a fat kid a dozen Krispy Cremes and then telling him he can't have one.

I'd pony up a grand or more to land one of these one-offs, anyone have any ideas? Could the first genners on this site create enough demand for a production run?

thought? comments? ideas? beer?

Nate

 

[Burt4x4]

hahaha The Beer might work.
We tried to get them to makum before...I forget the guy who was talking with them but we had like 5-6 guys wanting the tops...they simply said they were not making them and had no plans to change that.....

Now I have a Black 'Denim' Fast-Track with dark tint windows...I was lucky at last years Nor-Cal BlazerFest and won a free top from STC my point is the denim looks very close to the material Canback uses.
I have yet to install the soft top as my rig has been sitting in the garage and my weekends/free time has been..... well I haven't had any. Now that the holidays are behind us I can start getting things done again
Have a good weekend
Burt

 

[OLD DAWG]

Wasn't that Blazer white in an earlier magazine?

 

[BIGEARL]

If it belonged to the owner of ORU than it probably was. I remember that earlier article in Petersen's... it had his K5 and his straight axle Duramax.

Nate

 

[BIGEARL]

So Burt- you're pretty happy with the quality of the STC top? I'm just about to piant my rig, then come comes Line-X, soft top, and then roll cage so I'm about 4-6 weeks away from needing the top. Are the sides removable to make that safari look or do they roll up?

Modesto huh? I'm up in Chico... I'll have to head to Hollister for the next Bash.


thanks, Nate

 

[Burt4x4]

Ya come on down..you'll love it

So far the top looks nice..I'm diggin the denim way better than traditional vynal or what ever that material is....
I have not completely unfolded the top yet nor have I looked at it in several months..but yes if memory serves me right I belive the windows zipp out. My old Kayline snap top the windows had to be rolled up then held by snapping straps...
My wife is leaving me & the kids home alone the first weekend in Feb so I hope to adjust my vavles & get the top installed...I will post up pics when I doit..hopefully sooner than later hahahha

 

[Greg72]

The answer that nobody wants to hear is that there really isn't enough demand (at the price point they'd have to charge)...for a 1st Gen softtop.

Somebody is going to have to find an original one and pay a shop to create patterns from it...and build ONE to showcase it. Then wait patiently for word to get out that they can be made to order for $1500 each (or whatever) and hope that a few people pony up the money to make the whole thing worthwhile...

These are the kinds of projects I'd like to build a business around.... I don't want to be another guy selling diff covers or rock rods (clearly, there are enough vendors already for those things!). I'd love to focus on the more obscure parts that fanatics really can't find anywhere....especially if they are 1st Gen specific.

The problem of course is that a niche-market like the 1st Gen K5 means that there are only ever a handful of folks who will want the products...so the development costs have to be ammortized over just a few units. So the stuff would all end up being quite expensive.

It's something I think about a lot, and I do have a bunch of ideas for products...but I'm just not convinced yet that it makes any financial sense to pursue it.

 

[Burt4x4]

With your fab skills Greg you could pull it off if you had the capital to doit.
Tell you what...I will win the lottery and then finance your First Gen fab shop and you can make whatever you want as long as I get one too
then we can sell to our brothers at a reasonable price.
OK First step:
1. Buy winning Lottery Ticket




I would love to be in a biz that is fun & pays the bills. Nitch market products are allways on my mind too....stupid money gets in the way everytime..

 

[Greg72]

With your fab skills Greg you could pull it off if you had the capital to doit.
Tell you what...I will win the lottery and then finance your First Gen fab shop and you can make whatever you want as long as I get one too
then we can sell to our brothers at a reasonable price.
OK First step:
1. Buy winning Lottery Ticket




I would love to be in a biz that is fun & pays the bills. Nitch market products are allways on my mind too....stupid money gets in the way everytime..

Burt,

It won't really take a winning lottery ticket....I already have most of the fabrication tools necessary, and these days I also have access to milling and CNC equipment. In the coming months, I will have a much more useable "man space" to set up in....and I suspect that will really make it tempting to play more with my ideas.

1st Gens deserve some special attention, and there are quite a few unique products that could be developed for them. Since all I do is think about 1st Gens and 4-wheeling anyway, I figure that makes me a pretty good advocate.

There is no doubt that you guys would have plenty of ideas for unique 1st Gen products too....either to fill a void in the market, or to solve a problem that nobody has even considered yet.

 

[mr_blasto]

The answer that nobody wants to hear is that there really isn't enough demand (at the price point they'd have to charge)...for a 1st Gen softtop.

Somebody is going to have to find an original one and pay a shop to create patterns from it...and build ONE to showcase it. Then wait patiently for word to get out that they can be made to order for $1500 each (or whatever) and hope that a few people pony up the money to make the whole thing worthwhile...

These are the kinds of projects I'd like to build a business around.... I don't want to be another guy selling diff covers or rock rods (clearly, there are enough vendors already for those things!). I'd love to focus on the more obscure parts that fanatics really can't find anywhere....especially if they are 1st Gen specific.

The problem of course is that a niche-market like the 1st Gen K5 means that there are only ever a handful of folks who will want the products...so the development costs have to be ammortized over just a few units. So the stuff would all end up being quite expensive.

It's something I think about a lot, and I do have a bunch of ideas for products...but I'm just not convinced yet that it makes any financial sense to pursue it.

Not to mention that the 1st gen K5 market is shrinking each year. Not that they are so rare or anything, but ideally you would want to put your $ into something with increasingly more potential.

As far as $ goes... if it is a good enough idea, with capable enough people, getting money really isn't that hard.

I am currently trying to figure out something that I can manufacture while being a student to help support myself - my mind is ALWAYS thinking about possibilities. I don't think that manufacturing these tops is the answer though.

 

[LVJimmy]

Put my name on the list

 

[jaros44]

Canback Top

Can't be that hard to replicate an exsisting product. All you have to do is take measurements to use as templates, buy the canvas and sew. I've never seen one of these tops, but they must be nice as someones always talking about it. I will look for my back issues to see if I can find what you're talking about. What month was it in?? Later J.

 

[BobK]

Boys,that was me heading up that group buy of a CanBac top.

My contact at CanBac strung me along for about 8 months saying "ya we have one in development" and near the 8th month mark it was "we're about to test fit our prototype here shortly".

I finally paid them a visit.Drove form Santa Barbara,Ca. to there assembly shop in N.E. LosAngles.
Took the K5 and had a nice drive.In hand was my list of roughly 100 potenial customers from CK5.

Got there and asked for the guy who I had been talking to.
"He doesn't work here anymore"


I then explained myself and they said"hold on,let me get the owner"

Owner comes out and I explain myself again.

He said that they do have a prototype 1st gen top but that it was a "one-off" and wasn't really a convertable design.

He took me in the shop and showed me it.

It was a one piece design that bolted to the front winshield and was a framework across the top windshield and over the window.kind-of looked like a truck door.
Anyhow,it was nothing we (1st gen.K5 owners) were looking for.

I asked the owner if he had plans on a convertable top for the 1st gen Blazer and he said "NOPE","We sell tops all over the world for 2nd gen Blazers,Pickups,Toyota's,etc.We wouldn't be interested in your market.Too much $ for the Productuct Developement and not enough potential return"

Not much else I could say at that point.
He did say that if someone was willing to come up with a quality design that CanBac could put there name,on he'd be willing to produce it.

I thanked him for his time and enjoyed a sunny Californian ride onlong the coast back to Santa Barbara.

And that's where we sit now.

 

[jaros44]

Ideas??

Well lets present him with a quality design!!! Maybe he'll sew it up for us. I think the bows present the most challenge. I had an early english sporsts car with a removeable top, and that system would be the easist to replicate. It could be bolted to the roll bar loop behind the front seats and hinged to fold out of the way, not sure about you guys with full cages??? the front of the convert. just stuck into a flange that went forward of the windshield and had a piece of sheetmetal sewn into the convert. top, seems like the pressure of the convert. top snugged it into place and mine never blew off under speed. The rear bows would be the simplist to make as they would be the same say two or three of them. Let me buy a tubing bender I'll see what I can bend up or I could make the prototype out of PVC to see how it machs up. BobK5 could you contact them to see if they will sew it up, templates for the matrl. should be easy. Any input would be helpful. Later J.

 

[BobK]

Can't assume the K5 owner will have a rollbar of anytype.

The design would have to one that is of a total convertable.
It would utilizing a framework that attaches to the windshield and has a removable frame over the door glass.

Then support bows,like you said,2-3 of them with some type of channeling along the bedrail to secure the side bows.

CanBac's standards are pretty high.They are not going to put their name on some backyard design.

It musy be well thought out and well designed for them to even consider a partnership.

You also must make sure your design is not infringing on current patent design's.

How serious the owner was when he told me he's produce a top for us, I don't know.
He might have just been pacifying me so I'd go away.

I have since erased all my contact info. and am now living in Eastern Canada(Ontario).
So...heading up another venture with CanBac would be somewhat tougher for me.But I'd still be willing to do it.
I do have a phone.

 

[jaros44]

Canback

Dude understand, I don't think the mechanical design is a patented item, but maybe someone else could check that out!!! Actually the system I was thinking about is over 50 years old so that might not be a problem at all. It also doesn't have to incorporate the roll bar, it was just a side thought that would have made the system easier to build. We also don't have to use them as any upholstery shop should be able to sew it up given the templates. Is there a way to send drawings back and forthon the site???

 

[gmcman7202]

anyone got pics of the canback top? i have 2 72 jimmys and i am gona make softies.... i have experience with making my own boat canopies, they looked better than anythign i could buy. Its not hard to make, once ya have the templates made, and all lines match up correctly. How ya thinking about attaching it on the sides? and the Front? ya lookin at like a jeep setup?? let me know...

 

[jaros44]

Canback

I don't know what one looks like either but as we get into this I'm sure someone has a picture.If you know the system of early Triumphs it was just a pc. of sheetmetal sewn into the leading edge of the top. The windshield had a plate screwed to the top of the windshield frame and the top just slide under it, as you tightened up on the bows it applied pressure to lock the top into the flange, pretty simple. I'll work on the bows , since I want a bimini top first, then the back section, behind the seats.
Do you have access to a heavy duty sewing machine???
I maybe tied up for a while,duty calls, lots of OT, but I'll moniter the site to see where your going with this. Later J.

 

[jaros44]

Canback

I'll look at my sons jeep to see what your talking about, mite be easier don't know. Later J.

 

[gmcman7202]

my uncle owns a upulstry... spelling.... shop and as far as i can see he wont have issues with me using the equipment... he never has so far that is.... and its a powerful machine, no gears, belt directly into the cam, with i think a 1/3 hp motor... will put the stich right in ur finger bone if u dont watch it....