That would be awesome and hope it gets picked up by a company. That rear window is my only real peeve I have with the soft top but mainly when raining or cold out. You are the man!

 

I've been researching various earth tone colors for the hardtop, and I'm thinking Spice would be a good choice, for a bunch of reasons:

- It's a factory color and was used for many years on hard tops, soft tops, interiors and accessories, so it will have a factory look.

- Spice soft top fabric is available by the yard, which I need for the roll-up soft sides and the soft barn door.

- Accessories are available in Spice, at least some of which would be useful on a JK, like a spare tire cover.

- Being a factory color, my local auto paint supplier can mix it for me.

- Touch-up paint is available.

I'll order a rattle can of touch-up paint to do some tests before making a final decision, because using photos it's impossible to see what the actual color will look like. I've done some new digital painting in Spice (below), but it's impossible to really know what the actual color will look like until I have a sample to photograph in the same light as the Jeep.

I added a Spice tire cover to this one:





Some photos I've found of factory spice hard tops and soft tops. Hard to tell exactly what the color is in these too. The body color on this first one isn't too far from the body color on the JK:



Impossible to really tell from photos though.

 

We may be the only 2, but I LOVE the spice tops.

 

Spice goes with all colors, I think it's perfect.

 

A concept drawing in Spice over Silver. It's got roll-up side panels in Spice and color-matched jerry cans. Also in the upper corner is a first draft of the graphic I'll probably get made in vinyl to put on the lower rear corner of the side panels and embroider in the same place on the soft sides.

 

Oh yeah that looks sweet for sure.

Edit

I actually would not mind not having that window in the back. 2 real reasons why. 1. when you roll it down as you have it shown I have found you will eventually get a nice mark across the window there. 2. With the trail rack and the spare tire I do not have great visibility anyways. I would love a soft rear window that I could pull out and leave in back of Jeep and put on if need be with my Hardtop but it doesnt bother me too much to just open the rear window as I do most times. When I had a soft top I actually had a second set of windows. I had another soft top and used that material and had it sewn where the windows were so I could use them full time with the Jeep. I could take off stuff under seat and when needed quickly pull out and put on. I cannot seem to find a picture of the rear window but here is the side windows. I was planning to run a full time camera back there so I could have extra visibility but since I switched to a hard top I have not messed with that yet.

 

Spice is better than nice. Again, out of curiosity, what would it look like with white photoshopped painted white wheels? When I bought my hardtop in '07 I really should have picked tan. Everybody and their dog has black, far too common: I agree that matching paint top is just too much and looks like a H3.

 

Another concept image - Spice over Flame Red. I think the actual Spice paint will be a bit darker than this, I've found photos of Spice ranging from a light color like this to almost brown. Photos on computer monitors aren't to be trusted for color, but for now this will do.

 

Still playing with my drawings and paint programs, here's a 2dr concept in Spice...

 

I've ordered a rattle can of Spice touch-up paint to do some color testing.

I also spent about 45 minutes yesterday with the guys at Elmira Auto Paint, the local auto paint supplier. They're a great bunch of guys, they always spend whatever time necessary to advise me on my projects and find the right materials for me. They came up with several Spice options:

1. They can mix the original formula, which was a single-stage (no clearcoat) matte finish with an activator. It's pretty expensive ($200+/quart).

2. They can match the original color with a single-stage industrial paint, typically used for things like dump trucks and other industrial equipment. It's a gloss paint, so a flattening agent would have to be added. It also has an activator. Probably 60% of the price of the first option.

3. Once I get the rattle can I ordered, I can spray a sample for them to scan, and then they'd make up a base coat to that scanned color. A matte clear top coat would be required. Base + clear would probably run $150 per quart.

Of the 3 options, I like #3 best - base + matte clear, I think it would probably give me the most control over the end result, the best UV protection, and the best look.

The next step is t go back and see them after I spray a test panel and we'll see what their scanner comes up with for a base coat.

Also, once I get the test panel sprayed, if I still like the color and decide to go ahead with it, I'll order enough yardage of Spice soft top fabric to make the roll-up soft sides and the soft barn door. I'd like to have the fabric on hand to compare to the color sample before I get them to mix the paint; if the paint sample and the fabric are a ways apart I might decide to alter the paint formula to better match the fabric.