WW2 Jeep canvas top

[Mike K]

hi Ian

Yes the binding tape on this example has a strange coating over the cotton weave , the coating is breaking off with age . The faded white lettering reads: CAUTION LEFT HAND DRIVE

It's a sad story , I loaned one of my tops to somebody ( a club member ) and the top came back to me unpicked and in pieces The guy was a hot rod builder who owned a Jeep and a Dodge weapons carrier - he left the club many years ago.

We were using these old tops on our Jeeps for a while , looked funny with the moth eaten holes . One of my tops had a short tear in it but I still used it ( the top the canvas people threw out ) . With various house moves I lost most of the other bits , I gave the rear panel to another club member.

I often see people spend a small fortune on a nut and bolt restoration of a Jeep, only to see them fit a top with a plastic window in the rear panel. I see this mistake often . It's like the canvas guy cannot resist the temptation to sew in a plastic window

Don't know if the other guy still has all of the tops he bought , it was over 40 years ago and only the two of us were shown the back rooms of Hudsons stores . There were quite a few of the tops stored on dusty old shelves , they must have been sitting there for many years.