Jeep Beach 2011 event coverage and Rugged Ridge power top prototype
Posted by Admin in Events, Industry News, Jeep Beach 2011, Videos
Check out our youtube channel for even more Jeep Beach video coverage
Jeep Beach is brought to you by The Mid Florida Jeep Club and 2011 marked the 8th anniversary for the event. Jeep Beach is one of the largest JEEP ONLY events in the Southeast and is hosted in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida. Spread out over 5 days beginning on May 11th, this year’s event had a little bit of something for everyone including: 3 levels of obstacle courses ranging from easy to difficult, raffles with more than $40k in prizes, and some of the best Jeep vendors out there!
The numbers for this years event haven’t been released yet, but it is rumored that this years event was the largest ever. Last years event boasted of 737 Jeeps and over 50 vendors, and I am in agreement that this years event far surpassed those numbers based on the fact that I handed out nearly 500 flyers on the obstacle course alone.
Speaking of, if you got one of those handy dandy flyers from the obstacle course that I was handing out and are looking for those high rez photos of your Jeep to download, we have uploaded them in a variety of places for your pleasure. We also took some vids from the obstacle course that we posted on our YouTube channel.
- Tag your friends on FaceBook
- Download hi rez photos on Flickr
- Add your pics to our Flickr photo group for Jeep Beach
- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
- Follow us on Twitter and use the hastag #JeepBeach to discuss the event
- First of it’s kind for the JK
- Push button power top
- Uses factory header clips, no need to get our of your vehicle to raise or lower top
- Uses factory belt rail
- Once installed it is not “removable”, but maintains the stock configuration so you can go back to your stock top if you choose
- Rear zipping window
- No side windows at the moment, but they are looking into it and are encouraging feedback on this aspect
- Patent pending
- No price point being discussed publicly right now, as they do not have a full grasp on what manufacturing costs will be
- Projected release date is not firm, but they expect some time in the 4th quarter
Matt also let me know that although this is the first ever power top for the JK, it is not an entirely new idea for Jeeps in general. There was a company that made power tops for the TJ, but for whatever reason, they were unsuccessful. Matt and his team made sure that they took into consideration all possible aspects of why that product didn’t make it when they decided to embark on this project. He also interjected that this Jeep power top is completely original and was designed from the ground up, beginning about a year ago when owner of Omix-ADA, parent company for Rugged Ridge, came up with the idea to develop the product.
I asked Matt for a quote and this is what he said, “I am really excited about this product. Being that I have been a JK owner for the past 3 years, I fully understand as well as any other 4 door Jeep owner that removing and replacing the top is a big pain. I have often found myself saying that it shouldn’t be this hard!”
Well it looks like Rugged Ridge just might have found a way to make it easy. Since Rugged Ridge expressed an interest in feedback, feel free to add yours in the comments section of this post and we will make sure we get them to Matt.
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[...] « Jeep Beach 2011 event coverage and Rugged Ridge power top prototype May 18 2011 [...]
Yes, yes,yes. I want ,need and have to have this. I own a 09 4 door jk with a soft top . I was looking into getting a hard top , but I will hold off and purchase this instead . I don’t care about the zip out side windows but a working rear window is a must. I’m also wondering about how well it seals up for wind and road noise compared to a standard soft top. I’m of course wondering what the price point will be. If it hits these points well I will definitely buy this instead of a hard top. Hurry up !
Can’t wait . Jeff
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