Hard top Price?

[NDT]

For me it is about noise dampening and the fact that fabric rots away and eventually soft tops will not be available at a reasonable price. Once the surplus supply runs out everybody with rag tops will have to have them custom made every few years as they rip up or dry rot... hard top can last forever if maintained.

???? There are at least 3 vendors that make soft tops all day long (Beachwood Canvas, New Life Canvas and Weebee Webbing), they run about $300. Also, the hard top is MUCH louder than the soft top in my opinion. If you keep your truck under cover the soft tops will last for many years.

 

[4x4 Forever]

Dont know if the big boys bid on all these or not. The ones I was going for went for 1100 to 1200 and all but 2 were won by different customer numbers. The customer numbers also varied widely...

Thats not to say the big boys probably have several customer numbers available to them.

 

[m16ty]

What is the big deal about a hardtop anyway. I have a soft top and I love it. I don't exactly live in the warmest climate either. My truck has a heater and a winter front and is quite comfortable at 20 degrees . Any colder than that, I wouldn't be driving it anyway. I guess for the guys that live in extreme cold climates it probably would help keep in the heat better. Not worth the money to me. Unless it is brand new, they are mostly dented anyway.

If I buy a truck to sell I want a hard top (because that's what everybody seems to want) but if I buy a truck to keep I want a soft top.

I bought a truck to resell a few months ago that had a brand new soft top on it. I had a hard top laying around off of a parts truck so I swapped the tops so I'd have a spare soft top to use on one of my keepers.

 

[NDT]

The ones I was going for went for 1100 to 1200 .

Do you have a 900 series 5 ton?

I think plenty of bidders may have thought these would fit a deuce based on the "Landmark Manufacturing" data plate incorrect information. If so they will be plenty annoyed.

 

[4x4 Forever]

NDT,

Nope, no 5Ton, although I want one...

Yes, I thought it would fit my deuce...

Yes, I asked someone in the know, AFTER I placed the bid

Yes, I am glad I lost all that I had bid on

Only reason I bid on several is that the transport costs would have eaten me alive for just one. Thought I'd get several and sell the others and pay for the transport costs and possibly the one I put on my deuce....

Boy, I'm glad I didnt win!!! I was sitting on pins and needles for a while!!

 

[Capt Pat]

I bought a used hardtop out of Wisconsin to swap over onto the wrecker, its top is pretty bad, too many extra holes drilled and rusty, paid 375. for it plus shipping. Found a deal on OD canvas, fire proof and all at a canvas company going out of business, got the whole bolt for 85.00. You bet my M-46 is staying under a 'ragtop' for the rest of my life.

 

[greenjeepster]

???? There are at least 3 vendors that make soft tops all day long (Beachwood Canvas, New Life Canvas and Weebee Webbing), they run about $300. Also, the hard top is MUCH louder than the soft top in my opinion. If you keep your truck under cover the soft tops will last for many years.

My point exactly... right now you can buy surplus tops for under 100.00 each so that is no big deal, but I really doubt that 300.00 top will stay at 300.00 once the cheap ones are gone.

Also I doubt many of us keep these under cover. They take up too much room in the shop. Anytime I want to work out there I would have to pull it out into the yard, so it might as well just stay in the yard. If you live in a northern climate The heat/cold, rain and snow load will distroy a soft top in a hurry.

For me I rather have a top that I only have to throw some paint on once in a while rather than one I will end up having to replace at 300.00 every few years.

But that is just me. I have my truck to actually drive... it isn't going to be a barn find in 50 years.

 

[badgmc56]

greenjeepster, If a hardtop works for you thats fine. You are incorrect about the lifespan of a softop. The softop I have on my truck is rubberized and will last many years without having to replace it. Even the canvas softops last along time if you treat them. I had a canvas top om my M-37 and it was going on 5 years with no sign of wear or tearing. I also DRIVE my truck and it stays outside year round. My point to to this thread is !000.00 for a hardtop is ridiculous. Money can be better spent else where.

 

[rchalmers3]

This discussion can be made over any single truck component: engines, axles, cabs and so on.

A $1500 truck would cost $30,000 or more if you bought it in used pieces from the classifieds.

It is a true miracle these trucks sell so cheap from auction. Wish it would never end......

(insert dead horse beating icon here)

Rick

 

[jimm1009]

Here it is for you rchalmers3!

What we have to remember is geographical location for each of us and our condition of our beloved toys.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and age of the owner / operator has a lot to do with it.
I'm only 29 1/2 although I've been ther3 for over 21 years now, L.O.L..

There are a lot of variables placed on value of parts. 20 years or 30 years ago I would have thought that $1200 for a top was grounds for being institutionalized but as I get older it has slightly less impact.

Using the hard top as an example an owner in Arizona could take it or leave it for $200 but in Alaska (I've never lived there) $200 or $500 or possibly $900 would be a steal, or so it would seem (to me).
What we have to remember is the tremendous diversity of us as owners and which include age, physical shape / inclination, and geographical location including country of residence. In South America a top is worth a little more to someone restoring their M35 to museum specs than here in Louisiana where they are much easier to find.
Food for thought from my 1.7 cents worth.
Think O.D. Green fellow MV brothers and sisters!!!!

jimm1009

 

[halftrack]

Dont forget, these tops were for 900 series trucks. not M35s. Also, the gov only pays 800 for new ones.

 

[doghead]

I just noticed one person on eBay with NOS 900 series hardtops with a BIN price of $2450.

 

[TeufelHunden]

All but one lot went for $1221.00 the other went for $1291.00. I dropped out at $1010.00. I bid up to that, on all but the one that sold for $1291.00. On items like the hardtops that we all want they should limit one to a customer.

 

[greenjeepster]

What did you want it for that made it worth so much to you?

 

[fuzzytoaster]

Must be lead lined to protect you from those nasty "radioactive" gauges

 

[TeufelHunden]

I Didn't want them that badly, I noticed That one buyer number was out biding on all hard tops, so individually I bd them up to a point where they wouldn't get them for a song. I took the risk of bidding too much on any one, (I bid them up one at a time) but knew they had much more money than I did!

 

[markmontana]

I Didn't want them that badly, I noticed That one buyer number was out biding on all hard tops, so individually I bd them up to a point where they wouldn't get them for a song. I took the risk of bidding too much on any one, (I bid them up one at a time) but knew they had much more money than I did!

Dude- don't bid on stuff if you dont' want it...

 

[TeufelHunden]

I did want one but everyone I bid on was outbid by the same bidder so I took my revenge!

 

[DUG]

I did want one but everyone I bid on was outbid by the same bidder so I took my revenge!

The day that backfires you'll be on here posting a sob story. I hate people who run up bids just to be a di...........

Actually, that sounds like shill bidding or collusion. Do you work for GL? Why are you driving prices up? This whole thing wreaks.............................

 

[KsM715]

When you do that, all it does is drive up the resale price. Way to help out your fellow SS members.

Obviously they were going to either a surplus dealer or to someone that has export trucks under contract. Its not like one guy was buying them up to hoard them.