Cabriolet Top Material

Thank you to all that have helped me over the past 4 years. The restoration intent was to bring the car back to being period authentic but still drivable. I feel this has been achieved.....a few more finishing touches and I will consider the job complete......I keep saying I won't go through this again, but then as I look around I really like 31 roadster pick-ups.....but for now this is it. Maybe:) Thanks again to all......for anybody restoring a 68c cabriolet I have some left over parts......my email mpetro1@comcast.net
 
Thank you all !

I am convinced now to go for the T14 Olive Drab Material. Not only because it is authentic, but also because it looks good on the nice photos that you have shared.

Now here is one additional question on the T14 material. Le Baron Bonney delivers the material in two variants, one with green backing and the other with tan backing. They claim that the former is correct for the Dlx. Roadster and Phaeton, and the latter for the Cabriolet and Convertible Sedan.

Now, this is a bit difficult to verify, as the terminology in the JS (page 9-4) is different from that of Le Baron Bonney. Can anyone confirm or comment if the statement of Le Baron Bonney on the backing colour is correct.
 
Le Baron Bonney at this stage is too far removed from it's own history to really know what is what. They never even believed the drab on drab fabric was ever used (or existed) until I sent an original sample as well as some Ford engineering info to Lee Atherton (LB founder) almost 30 years ago.

I know for a fact that the 400-A and 68-C both used Ford's M-5072 "Drab Top Material" along with the 180-A and 40-B Deluxe. M-5072 is comprised of two layers of M-5074 cloth laminated over a rubber center. This means the original fabric was identical inside and out as you will find in my Roadster pics.

At this time I'm 98% certain that the same holds true for previous Cabriolets beginning with the new top assembly in mid-1929. I will get the necessary documentation from the archives over the next year or so to finalize the info for the next revision of Area-9.

The biggest problem that has led to years of confusion on this and other similar issues is that there are many instances of Ford's engineering department improperly titling some drawings at the early stages. Some such errors make it all the way through the system (including parts books) while other are caught and revised early. For example I have Ford's "Material Specifications" on a few items. The first release of the Material Specification on M-5074 drab cloth was written 4/15/29 and was titled "Cabriolet Bow Cover Material". In some other documents it's referred to as "Teal cloth". For the record, when bow covering was needed for use with M-5072, the single layer version M-5074 was used for bow covering.
 
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