Toprella: The 30-Second Rain Savior for Your Jeep Wrangler – Inventor Mark Roman’s Story!
Join us on the Jeep Talk Show for an exclusive interview with Mark Roman, the inventor of Toprella – the ultimate quick rain solution for your Jeep Wrangler! 🚙💦 If you’ve ever been caught in a sudden Florida downpour with your soft top in safari mode, you know the struggle. Mark shares his hilarious origin story of a soaked suit and sloshing interior that sparked this innovative Jeep accessory. In this episode: – Discover how Toprella was born from a real-life Jeep mishap in 2021. – Learn about its lightning-fast 30-second installation – way easier than wrestling with side windows! – Compatible with JL and JK Wranglers (2-door & 4-door), now including a streamlined Version 2. – Made from marine-grade, waterproof, windproof, UV-resistant material with a 3-year warranty. – Priced at just $169 (down from $249!) – folds to football size for easy storage. – Available in black or beige to match your Jeep’s top. – Not for driving, but perfect as an emergency rain cover, dew protector, or even a theft deterrent. Mark, a marketing pro who’s worked with the PGA Tour, MLB, and NFL, launched Toprella at Jeep Beach 2024 and has been refining it based on real Jeepers’ feedback – like making a JK version after overwhelming demand! Catch Mark at upcoming events: – Tampa Jeep Takeover: September 21st – Jeeptoberfest in Ocala: October 11-13th Whether you’re daily driving your JLU or hitting the trails, Toprella lets you enjoy top-off life without the wet worries. Head to thetopbrella.com to grab yours – 30-day money-back guarantee! Follow Toprella: – Instagram: @TopBrella – Facebook: @TopBrella – YouTube: Search “TopBrella” for install videos 👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more Jeep interviews, tips, and gear reviews! #JeepWrangler #Toprella #JeepAccessories #RainCover #JLWrangler #JKWrangler #JeepLife #OffRoad #JeepTalkShow #WranglerMods #SoftTop #JeepBeach #Jeeptoberfest Rev up your engines, Jeep lovers— the Jeep Talk Show is here to take you on a wild ride! For 15 years, we’ve been the ultimate pit stop for Jeep enthusiasts, delivering off-road thrills, insider tips, and a whole lotta Jeep passion. With a powerhouse crew of hosts and team members, we’re dropping five action-packed episodes every week to fuel your Jeep obsession! Buckle up for our fan-favorite Chic Chat, a women-centric, women hosted episode that’s all about empowering female Jeepers. It’s the perfect space for women to dive into the world of Jeeps and off-roading, hosted by fearless ladies who live for the trail. But that’s just the start—we’ve got over 1,200 episodes waiting to rev up your day, whether you’re tearing down the highway, mowing the lawn, or pumping iron at the gym. Watch us on video or listen audio-only—your call, your adventure! Join the Jeep Talk Show family and become part of the ultimate Jeep community! Jump into our Discord chat at jeeptalkshow.com/discord, support us on Patreon for ad-free episodes at www.patreon.com/jeeptalkshow, or catch our live Round Table every Tuesday at 7:30 PM CT via Zoom (https://jeeptalkshow.com/roundtable, password: jeep). Stay in the loop with our newsletter at https://jeeptalkshow.com/newsletter and follow the action on Instagram @jeeptalkshow (instagram.com/jeeptalkshow). Head to https://jeeptalkshow.com to explore our world of Jeep madness, subscribe, and let us make your day a little more rugged and a lot more fun. Ready to roll with us? Let’s hit the trails together!#JeepTalkShow #JeepLife #OffRoad
Audio boys and girls, it’s time for another Jeep Talk Show interview. We’re going to be talking with Mark. Mark Roman has been wheeling since 2015. I guess he never got home, but he made time for us today. His first Jeep being a 2011 JK soft top and now a 2018 JLU soft top. Mark is a career marketing guy having worked for or with such companies as the PGA Tour,(…) Major League Baseball, the NFL, and for the last 15 years has led his own marketing consulting company. It was by owning a Jeep soft top that he came across the need for a simple and quickly applied range solution. And since no one else was inventing it, he said, “I’m going to do it.” There’s been a lot of companies, big companies started that way, Mark. They just, they don’t see anybody doing it and they do it themselves. And then suddenly everybody wants one. “Hey, can you make one for me?” So this is how Toprella was born.(…) Mark launched Toprella at Jeep Beach 2024 and has been at it ever since. So this is really just a brand new thing. I mean, this year.
(…)
Yeah, just this March. It took me three years to make it. So nothing’s ever brand new, right? It was always hard to work behind the scenes,
(…)
but we launched it at Jeep Beach in April and here we are.
(…)
What were some of the comments that you got out there at Jeep Beach?(…) So we made it strictly for the JL because I’m a JL guy and I couldn’t see the need for it with a JK. And the biggest feedback we got was, “Please make this for a JK.” Of course. So we got back on Monday and we immediately went back to work and went into the lab and made one for a JK. So now we’ve got the JL, the JK, and we’re about to launch version two, which is kind of a streamlined view, which we’ll take a look at at some point if you want to do that. But yeah, we got a lot of good feedback. Most of it positive, the funniest feedback. And if you, when you look at the pictures of this thing, someone said, “Well, it looks like my Jeep is pregnant.”
(…)
(Laughing) Which then led to the streamlined version. So you learn from everything, right? Good and bad.
(…)
So, and you mentioned some good and bad. The bad stuff is actually good. You like hearing the bad stuff because you think the way you think, you put it together the way you would like it, but you’re not just trying to appeal to yourself. You’re already sold, you’re a customer. Oh, that’s right. So you need to know from other people. So like here, we always encourage people, if you got a bad review, give it to us. We’ll play it on the show. And I’m sure that’s one of the things as a creator, you really like knowing.(…) Yeah, you can. I would say if you love it, tell everybody. If you don’t like it, tell me.
(…)
But you’re right, it’s the only way we can get better. And it’s the only way I can craft this thing. And it’s the only way. And it’s true in any part of life, right? You mentioned I’m a career marketing guy. And the first thing I do for my clients is I go talk to their clients and figure out what they don’t like about their businesses.
(…)
So yeah, you gotta get better. And the only way to do that is to know it wrong.
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So,(…) yeah, this is gonna be hateful, but as a marketing guy, did it bother you actually dealing with something that’s tangible?
(…)
(Laughing)
(…)
That’s funny.
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It’s kind of weird marketing my own stuff, right? Like I’m used to other people’s things(…) and being the expert and the quote unquote smartest guy in the room, which I don’t really think I am, but they pay me to believe that. And then I get it, and then I start doing my own stuff and I’m scratching my head thinking, does this make any sense? Like, am I really thinking about this the right way? So yeah, it’s,(…) yeah, I got a solid product. I got something I can show to people.
(…)
So first off, I mean, I’ve looked at the pictures. I don’t know a lot about the product. So let’s assume the people that are listing don’t either. And since it’s only been out since this year, they probably don’t. What is TopBrella? What were you trying to accomplish with this? Great question. So I’ll tell you the story of how TopBrella came to be. And I think a lot of people can feel what it was like to be in my shoes that day. So I go to a client meeting, it was my first week or so, and I’m on my new JLU and I’m all excited I’ve got my four-door JLU and I’m driving this thing. And I’ll back up one step further. I had the JK convertible, but it was my second car. So I had a Kia Sorrento, which I also loved. I had the JK, which I also loved. And then I thought, why do I have two cars? This is kind of silly. And I basically traded both of them in to have a full-time JLU, which became my daily driver, which I love as my daily driver.
(…)
But you kind of learn the pros and cons and the challenges of having a Jeep convertible, especially as a daily driver. One of them was taking it with the top down to a meeting and living in Florida, and it being the summer when we get storms that pop up every afternoon. So this one was 10 o’clock in the morning, right? I’m figuring, I’m pretty clear for storms. I’ll put the top back on later on in the afternoon. I get to my meeting now, it’s about 11 o’clock and sure enough, there’s a storm off in the distance. And I figure I get about four minutes before this thing’s done popping. It’s gonna be a JLU, right? So I got the top off, I’m having fun, but I’m wearing a suit, right? I’m looking like a marketing guy. And I got two choices at this point. I can put the top up into safari position, right? If you’ve got a JLU, you know, they put the top up without the windows on the back, right? And take my chances of how wet things are gonna get. Or I can spend 15, 10, 15 minutes putting my windows on, getting dirty, getting my suit sprinkled, getting soaked because the storm was right on top of me. And I opted for option A, which was, I’m gonna roll the dice. I’m gonna walk in this meeting, looking like I belong in a meeting. And I’m gonna roll the dice on what’s gonna happen with my Jeep when the stuff in my Jeep, my golf clubs are in there. I’ve got, you know, stuff in there and I’m gonna roll the dice. So I’m in the meeting, but sure enough, six minutes later, somebody in the meeting, there’s like 20 people just meeting. And somebody goes, “Hey, who owns the Jeep? “It’s pouring in your top top.”
(…)
(Laughing) Like, that’s me. I don’t know, some dumbass. Right, some dumbass. Now it’s not me. Happens to be me, but I don’t have a choice. So sure enough, it rains for an hour. The meeting takes a couple hours. I come back and there’s this much water, this much water in the Jeep. I drive, right, every time I turn, the water sloshes up. I turn the other way, the water sloshes up. I don’t know enough about Jeeps at this point to know that just plugs in the bottom and I can just drain the Jeep. But needless, you know, regardless,
(…)
I’m now in a position where, “Wow, these windows are really a pain in the ass.” Like they are, especially for JK. For J-L, you, for J-L, kinda streamline them a little bit. They’re not that big a pain in the ass, but they’re still a pain, right?
(…)
On the JK, it’s even worse. So, you know, I’m driving, I’m like, “Man, there’s gotta be a way to just cover up the windows, just that space around the back.” And, you know, I’m driving, I got an hour back to my house and I’m driving and driving, thinking about, you know, somebody really needs to solve this, right? And by the time I got home, I’m like, “You know what, I’m gonna try and solve this.” So that’s how the top row was born, was me and my windowless Jeep in safari mode with everything, you know, top up and the windows off and everything I own getting soaked. And here we are, that was three years ago. The first iteration, and there’s pictures on the website,(…) is, you know, one of the standard blue painter’s tarps. And I basically took a painter’s tarp, threw it over the back, cut it around the places where I wanted it to go. I glued magnets into the painter’s– Oh, that’s a great idea. Right, thought, “Hey, you know, this’ll hold.” And then one good gust came and the magnet went,
(…)
right across the line, I’ve got to, still have it as a keepsake. I still have the gouge in this side of the Jeep. I’m like, “That’s a Jeep, right? What are you gonna do?” But that evolved into what is now the top row and how it fastens into the window grooves and it fastens tight. And I’ve driven, you know, do not drive with your top row, but I’ve driven with the top row in an empty parking lot up to 16 miles an hour. So I know it’s windproof, I know it’s waterproof, I know it’s gonna stay on there, and I know it’s gonna do what it’s designed to do, which is go on in 30 seconds instead of six to 12 minutes. And I’m pretty good at putting my windows on and still takes me eight, nine minutes to do it, right? The average bear, you know, is a smaller person, I’m six, three, but a smaller person, it’s gonna take even longer. So this is a, the guys at Quadratec, the catalog company called it an emergency top.(…) It’s been called a duster, it’s been called an emergency top, but it’s that 30 second rain solution to put on your JL, your JK, either the U or the two door,
(…)
again, 30 seconds and take care of that water problem while you’re shopping, going to a meeting, doing whatever you’re doing.(…) So I neglected to mention this, I like mentioning the website information, because this is, you know, people are listening to the show or they’re watching it, but they can pull up another window and actually go to the site and have a look at the product. So go to thetopbrella.com, the word the, the word top and then brella, B-R-E-L-L-A.com and you can see this directly. Actually, it looks like I see you there, Mark, putting on the toprella versus putting on the windows. Yeah, yeah. And the windows are taking longer. (Laughing) The windows are taking way longer. I mean, it’s literally 35 seconds to put the toprella on. It’s when I show it to people, when I tell people about it, they kind of scratch their head, like I don’t really get it. Oh yeah, this is great, this is a great idea. You ought to be on marketing, because this is perfect. It gives people a good idea of why you want to do something like this. Now, just describe to people that maybe haven’t gone to the website yet, this is something that you put on your Jeep. It’s not a full cover. It doesn’t go all the way to the front. Correct. It’s not called a Safari top, because I’m not familiar, I don’t have a soft top, so. Yeah, so the soft top, some people call it Bimini mode, some people call it Safari mode, but with the J, and it’s not this case with the JK, but in the JL, in the 2018 and up, you can literally drive with your top on and the windows off, right? Windows off, but you can still do it with the JK.(…) But there’s no struts in the back. It’s really easy to get it up and down.
(…)
And it acts just like a Bimini top, really. Now I would say that a bunch of people didn’t opt for the four or $5,000 option to get half doors when they bought their JL, whatever it is, it’s a lot of money. So just to be clear though, so people will understand, this does not cover the doors, either the two doors or the four doors. It’s just to cover the three back windows. So the two sides and the tailgate window, or what it’s called in the back. Yeah, so just where the windows go. Where the rain’s gonna get in, right? If you’re driving with half doors, if you’re driving with doors off, I can’t help you, you gotta get a full– Yeah, just so people understand. But if you’re not on– This is gonna be like for the majority of people and they like having that open because you can roll your windows down. And now you’ve got an open air environment, but you still have protection from the sun or maybe sprinkles and stuff. So yeah, this makes sense. And of course, the 30 some odd seconds it takes to put the other thing on, it at least keeps you from having the sloshing that you went through.(…) Which is still, it still makes me laugh. Still makes me laugh. I mean, it came up in a wave, right? Like the suit had to be replaced.
(…)
It was terrible.(…) But it was the emphasis for this invention.
(…)
So I’m assuming that you’ve already sold a few of these. What kind of feedback are you getting on it from the people?
(…)
The people that have bought it love it. We have a couple quotes on the website. I think we have one quote right now on the website, couple more coming.(…) But it seems to be exactly what people are looking for. When they see it, they get it, they love it, they buy it.(…) It’s just a question of getting it out there. And we’ve got maybe 30 or 40 of them in the market so far, which to me is kind of a whole run. We made 30 of them and we sold 30 of them. If you’re like me, getting one person to listen to this show is a victory. So I can well imagine selling 30 of them is like, wow, this is great. Yeah, that’s exactly right. We’ve actually managed to do something unique. We’ve managed to get the price down.(…) Since we first started to make them, we’ve kind of worked with manufacturers. I’ll say that this really surprised me. I thought this thing was going to be three, three and 150 or so. And I mean, I’m seeing on the site 169 bucks. 169 bucks. And, you know, there are, are there $79 covers out there? There absolutely are. There’s nothing like this out there. The challenge with the cover is it takes almost as long to put on as it does to put on windows and it becomes a big sale.
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SAIO.
(…)
So, you know, a cover is not that easy. It’s not that simple. This is definitely an alternate solution to the cover. The other nice thing about the top umbrella is it folds up to about the size of a football and you just put it right in the, right in the back storage area in the jail. Yeah, excuse me, my next question. Cause we all know, all Jeepers know what limited space we have.(…) So you thought about that when you were making this. What’s what material are you using on for this cover? So it’s the same material that one would make a boat cover out of. So it’s a hundred percent resistant. It is, it’s got a little bit of stretch to it, which is how it adheres itself to the top,
(…)
but it’s windproof, waterproof, UV proof. It’s just a really solid top. It’s got a three year warranty.
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It’s got a, we do a 30 day. If you don’t like it, if you don’t get it, it doesn’t work. If it’s not what you hoped it was going to be, send it back to us in 30 days. But the top itself is warranty for three years. And it’s a, it’s a great product. If it’s, you know, it’s Marine gray. It’s Virgin, almost both. So I was just poking around here on the website, which is thetopbrile.com. I saw the price. It looks like it’s down from 199 for 169. I didn’t see that 199 before. Actually started at 249. And we’ve been able to work with our manufacturers to get it down to the 169. Hopefully we stay there.(…) You know, anytime we’re going to get a chance to lower the price, we’re going to lower the price. This is great. Yeah. I mean, it’s just, you know, I’m not here to, we’re not here to gouge people. We’re just here to, we’re here to help people enjoy the top off life and windows. It’s exciting because it’s like people are joining in you and your delusion or belief. It’s like people get it, you know, it’s just wonderful. It’s being able to sell a product to people being interested in it. So that’s really nice. Now I did notice it comes in a couple of colors,
(…)
black and was it beige? Black and beige, the two colors that G tops come in. No, I assume, I don’t know this for a fact, but I assume the aftermarket top makers, the best tops of the world, those guys are making them, are making their tops in black and beige as well. Obviously Mopar, the OEM version are black and beige. So cover some black and beige. Oh, those are safe. I mean, especially for inventory, I think that until you get really big, you probably just want to stick with the basic stuff anyway. But this is for two door wranglers.
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Yeah, two door wrangler JLs, four door wrangler JLs, JK two door and JK four door also known. And both of those are JLUs and JKUs.(…) So you did do the JKs, you listened to the people. We did, we did. And one guy, he was great. He’s from Florida and he bought it in the box that I have and couldn’t hold up.(…) Basically said, because we went to market as just a JL solution, right? And there’s so few products for JLs anyway. Oh, he panicked.(…) Right, so we went to market as a JL solution. He bought it. We must’ve talked for an hour, right? We put it on, put it off. We rested on it 15 times. You had a great conversation. He’s from Florida, I live in Florida. Just had these great conversations. And then finally he’s paid and he walks, and I put the box in his hand. He walks away and he says, “Wait, I have a JK.” And like, “Oh no.” I thought like all this conversation and I’m demonstrating it on a JL that he kind of knew that this was on a JK. And he said, “You know what? Go back, make one for me, make your JK version, send me the first one, I wanna be that guy.” Oh nice. Yeah, and he gave me the box back, gave me the thing back or the top back and we kept the money and three weeks later we sat on the JK and he called back and said he loved it.(…) So we’ve got a great designer who,
(…)
she’s a Jeeper and she got it immediately as soon as I pulled into her. She was a boat seamstress. And as soon as I pulled into her driveway, she was like, “I get it, I know what you need.” And she made that one.
(…)
Did you make her sign an NDA? Cause you don’t want this guy who’s rolling up there and saying, “Hey, could you make me one of these?” I absolutely did.
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Unfortunately it’s not my first time around the block and I’ve been hosed on a non-NDA situation before. So will I ever use it? You know, who knows. Well, it’s just the idea behind it. You clearly making her aware that this is a patented product and you don’t want it to go out and certainly to China.
(…)
So, well, this is really cool.(…) Thank you, I appreciate that. And it is a hundred percent made in the United States. Now, and this may be something that you don’t wanna give away. And I understand you can always say pass. How does it connect to the Jeep?
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Is it magnets? Did you do the magnets thing again? No, after scraping my Jeep. I didn’t think so. No, after sufficient scrapage, we decided to abandon the magnet idea. Although someone has suggested, hey, you guys should use magnets for this.
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So it’s got a very similar, and JL owners will understand this. So when you’ve got a JL, it’s got a piece of plastic and there’s a groove at the bottom of the window on the outside of the windows, right? I like this. So it’s the same plastic or similar plastic that goes into the window and it basically attaches on the bottom groove, on the horizontal groove and on the vertical groove. And then you flip it over the top, you walk it around, you do the same thing on the other side and it stays just like that. It goes on like a window goes on, except without that top bar. And much easier. It’s got a little stretch to the fabric. So it hears, I guess is probably the best word I can think of at the moment to the top. So it’s virtually waterproof.
(…)
Are you gonna get a couple of drops in there? Yeah, you might,(…) especially if it’s blowing sideways, but for the most part, I’ve yet to have a water intrusion issue on mine. I’ve been using it for two years. All right.(…) Is there anything that happens that you didn’t expect, some positive things to this, this top that this cover, this rain protector, that you weren’t anticipating? It wasn’t something in the design. You went, oh, you know what? This is pretty cool. Yeah, the punchline about your Jeep looks pregnant was a good one.(…) That was pretty funny. And you’ll see when you go to the website and on the photos, you’ll see that the back material drapes over the window or rather drapes over the rear tire.
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So in version two, we’ve actually cut that behind the tire,(…) which was also a comment from Jeep Beach was, what if I have to delete? I was gonna ask that. It was gonna be my next question. I’m gonna delete it, I don’t have a tire. Well, and one guy bought it and just has a big piece of material. So now it looks like you were pregnant and– It was pregnant. You’re out of the delivery room. You’re waiting for the– Right, right. Now look, I can think– Point for the sag to go away. Yeah, now it’s a kangaroo pouch.
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So we’ve made the second version that does not have the piece that folds over the tire and then it just cuts in the back.
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But I think the coolest response is when I have it up and I’m in a parking lot and I’m just kind of pretending that I’m walking around my Jeep,
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you know, when I kind of wanna show it off, people actually come up to me and say, it’s really cool, what is it? And I get to tell them the story and they immediately go, that happened to me yesterday.
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So that’s been cool. The punch line from the Jeep has been cool. The people I met, I met some influencers. We talked about the man eater, who’s got the leopard print Jeep. I found her on Instagram and she came and she did the whole Jeep each with me. And she knew, she’s got 10, 12,000 followers and she knew just a ton of people. So she was pulling people into the Jeep each. So I’ve met a lot of cool Jeepers. I’ve got to hear a lot of cool Jeep stories about trail riding, excuse me, about trail riding and muddying and doing all these things that I wanna do.(…) So yeah, it’s been a cool six months of owning this thing.
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Now I know that you said you shouldn’t drive with this on. It’s not designed for that. It’s a safety issue. And I would imagine it’s also a vision issue
(…)
that you can’t really see out the back or the sides from, at least from the,(…) I don’t think you really look out for those anyway, unless maybe you’re changing lane.
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But it will stay on. Would you say like maybe you’re out at an event, you’re off road and the weather is iffy. You don’t have the parts because it was gonna be a clear day. You got this stored away. Is it okay to put this thing on and wheel with it?(…) I would not wheel with it. Couple of reasons. One, I mean, we’ve had it, I’ve driven with it up to 16 miles an hour and it stays on firmly, but you don’t wanna be the guy, the girl, to have their top road blow off and hit the windshield of the person behind you in cargo rack. So this is purely for stationary use.
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The other nice thing about it is
(…)
it provides some kind of theft deterrent, right?
(…)
Like you got your windows off. You got your top basically open and you’re inviting someone to come and take your stuff. This is a nice 30 second theft deterrent to block people from reaching in and to block people from even seeing what’s inside. So I would never market it as a anti-theft device, right? It’s certainly not insured and don’t hold me to that, but it does act as a nice theft deterrent too. Out of mind, yeah. But we really discourage people from driving with this thing on. Good. I’m not clear on this because people looking at buying it, you need to put this on, you need to stop.
(…)
And this is better than looking for an underpass to get underneath. It’s much better. But your use case is exactly right, right? Like you’re going on a trail ride or you’re going camping overnight and you don’t have your windows with you because you’ve got all your camping stuff in there and you wanna just put that one level of top up and put your top rail on, it’s gonna solve that problem for you. Yeah, even if you don’t want the morning dew on your stuff, you can cover it and keep that moisture that you don’t even think about until you’re handling it and you go, “Oh, this is wet.” Right, exactly. And I can’t wait for us to sell a lot of these things and start getting people to tell stories about how they use the trail, right? Like that’ll be the next level of joy for me is this thing really works. And we used it at the beach and there was a storm coming and we didn’t have our windows and we put this thing on and the storm lasted for 15 minutes and all this stuff was protected. So how do you schedule a storm? I mean, unless that’s a government secret. Well, I live in Florida. That’s a good opportunity.(…) Right, I live in Florida, so they’re pretty well scheduled for me.
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I would imagine that you do not recommend using this in significant storms that it may not hold on there. And I’m just saying, I don’t know.(…) Not hurricane, but you can have some very strong storms. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it’s kind of meant for that. Like if you’ve got a storm, like, Good.(…) Right, you got a tropical storm coming, you got a hurricane coming, you’re pretty much putting your windows on anyway, right? But some people don’t. Some people don’t last that minute. Yeah, I mean, I have every confidence that, you know,(…) from maybe hurricane level down, that this thing’s gonna hold in one of those heavy afternoon Florida storms. Like I said, I drove with it for 60 miles an hour. If you’ve got a 60 mile an hour afternoon storm coming, you better duck and cover anyway. Your Jeep’s probably the last thing in your mind. But I’ve kept it out there in some pretty significant weather here in Florida, and I’ve had zero problem with it coming off.(…) So not good. The other thing it does, in addition to draping on the, or connecting to the windows, to the, under whatever it is, the groove,
(…)
with version one, which we’ll continue to make,(…) it actually has a strap, it has a pull cord that goes around the tire. So it’s got some extra, it’s got some extra hole there. Yeah. So you’re talking about the spare tire? Yeah, the spare tire. Yeah, yeah. That makes sense, because I could see the initial design having that on there, it makes it a nice, stronger way of keeping it on there. It’s unlikely that that’s gonna slip off from that area. I’m pretty confident saying in a reasonable storm, this thing’s not going anywhere, you’re pretty safe. Good, that’s important. I mean, people like knowing this stuff. So I’ll loop back to something you said earlier. I got too involved in the conversation to mention it. You were kind of apologizing in a way for using a tarp as to design this. And people use cardboard all the time to design bumpers and all kinds of stuff. So a tarp makes perfect sense, it’s cheap, you can cut it, you can do stuff to it. And it’s like the cardboard that people use for building their jeeps. It worked perfectly as a prototype. I folded it up, I used it a couple times, and again, it was with my buddies who were like, dude, what is that? That’s freaking brilliant. You really ought to patent this and make one for real. And I mean, I’m not an inventor. I never thought I’d be in the seat talking to you about something I actually invented. But I think I’d be able to put that on my LinkedIn bio.(…) (Laughing) But here I am, inventor of a thing. And it was all just, it was all because of the blue tarp and the magnets.
(…)
So tell me about the name, Top-A-Brella. I mean, I definitely get the umbrella reference, but it seems to be, it seems like you went online trying to look for a domain name and went, damn it, that’s taken, damn it, that’s taken. (Laughing) No, actually, it’s kind of the opposite. We actually found the domain. Well, we found the domain was taken, which really shocked me. And we tried to buy it because the guy that owns it isn’t using it for anything that has to do with a top or an umbrella. So we tried to buy it, he wouldn’t sell it to us, we went with the Top-A-Brella.
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But it was, the original name was Jeep-Brella.(…) And all my attorney friends– Yeah, that’s a dangerous thing. Yeah, and they were like, dude, you’re just setting yourself up for having to rebrand this thing and spending the money to rebrand this thing because Jeep’s gonna sue you.(…) So we went with Top-Brella. And the other reason we did it was, you know, I hate to mention the B word, but you know, we may get– I was gonna ask you if you’re gonna be doing anything for the Bronco, everyone is doing stuff for the Bronco. We made you a Bronco at some point, and I wanted to kind of leave us open for that. And it’s perfect because it doesn’t say Jeep-Rilla, because you can go with a myriad of vehicles, just, you know, that you want to go to. So it’s a good choice. Right, the Bronco who copied everywhere in the Jeep, they could have a Jeep, right? They’ve got a similar situation with the windows. So we may get into Bronco world at some point, but right now I’m a dedicated Jeep-er, and I want to keep this thing in the Jeep land, and we’ll see what happens. But that’s, you know, it wasn’t an accident that we came up with Top-A-Brella, it was kind of a default, like you said. It should have been Jeep-Rilla, so hopefully when people see it, they see Jeep-Rilla.(…) No, I understand. So, and this is one of those Jeep Talk Show million dollar ideas. I don’t think that this thing rolls, but I would think for the Bronco, if you go with B-roll, I think that would be a good name. I like that, I like that.
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Yeah, I’ve got a friend of mine who’s got a Bronco across the street, and he keeps looking at me like, oh, I’m gonna do this for the Bronco. I’m like, no, no, you’re not.
(…)
It’s in our patent. Yeah, it’s a really neat thing. So, okay, now, I would assume that you can still take your windows with you, even if you have the Top-A-Brella with you, and then it’s just really a situation where if timing is critical to keep things from getting wet, you can get this on very quickly as opposed to the windows. Right, well, and even keeping yourself from getting wet and getting dirty. Oh yeah, because you’re gonna be putting the thing on. You’re putting your windows on, it’s hot, right? Typically, the weather’s nice when your top is off, right? Then your windows are down, and your windows are off. So, it’s most likely hot, right? So, you know, you’re not gonna get hot and sweaty, you’re not gonna get dirty, you’re not gonna get wet, right? This thing, again, it goes on in 30 seconds. So, to your point, the guys at Quadratec really nailed it when they called it an emergency top,(…) because it’s that emergent situation, or just that convenient situation, when, you know what? That storm’s gonna come, it might be an hour or two, but I’m going to dinner, and I don’t wanna do this. I’m going shopping, I’m going to a meeting. I don’t really wanna put my windows on, because that’s just a– It’s an emergency backup. It’s like having a fire extinguisher. You have it there in case you really need it. Yeah, so, you know, bring your windows, right? Like, if you got time to put them on, put them on, if you don’t, this is your inner pinch solution. Well, the cool thing is, you don’t have to, unless you can’t stop and wait for the rain to finish. Right, I mean, it could be a five-hour storm, and you got a two-hour meeting, in which case, you may wanna go ahead and put up your windows, but this is a pretty good solution for that. Yeah, if you’re just out lollygagging around, I mean, you might as well sit there and cruise the internet anyway, while there’s a rain storm. How does this thing sound in the rain? Is it loud, or is it just something you would expect from a standard soft top?
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You know, it’s pretty quiet. It sounds just like a soft top.(…) And, you know, I listened to a couple guys talking the other day at dinner, and they were jeepers, and they were telling me about how the soft top’s so loud, and I’m like, it’s not actually a quieter drive than a hard top, because it doesn’t have the wind channels up where the freedom panels are.(…) Right, so I thought that was kind of funny, just some of those misconceptions. So this thing’s quiet, it’s all the way in the back, you’re not hearing it anyway. Hopefully, if you’re sitting in your jeep, and it’s raining, and you get this thing on, hopefully you got your music blasting anyway. Hopefully you’re listening to your podcast. Yes, there we go, I didn’t have to say it this time. Right, right.
(…)
So you mentioned the possibility of a Bronco, do you have any kind of timeframe on that? Because I know we have listeners that have both a jeep and a Bronco.
(…)
I wouldn’t call it a timeframe. You know, I think we gotta get this one really solidified and nailed down, and there’s enough business for us, I think, in the jeep world. So what you’re saying is they should go to thetopprobrella.com and send you a nasty gram saying, I want my Bronco cover. Just like a JK, right? I have no intention of making a JK cover, and now we got a JK cover. So yeah, if I get enough feedback from your listeners and watchers of, you know, we need to move to the Bronco, then yeah, we’ll set up shout out. All right, so Bronco is a definite maybe. Do you have anything else on the horizon that you would like to maybe tease people about here? No, it’s fine.(…) Yeah, no, I mean, this is it. Like I said, I never thought I’d be an inventor, never thought I’d find a solution for the window problem that we all share and love.
(…)
So yeah, this is it. We’re gonna make the topbrella the best topbrella we can, and we’ll keep refining it, we’ll keep going, but right now I feel comfortable that it’s a really good product and hopefully priced right, and you know, I think people will be happy with it. Very, very cool. So, and I understand that there’s tops with windows already, but have you thought about maybe putting in some clear plastic windows like a soft top does, maybe one in the rear, just to let some light in?
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It’s been asked of us, it would drive the price up. Absolutely.
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And I don’t, and it’s really not what this is for, right? This isn’t really for sitting in your Jeep in the rain, right, like it does the trick, it certainly is that solution, but. Well, some people came up in their Jeeps, and this window would be nice, I mean, to see who’s knocking, is that a bear, or somebody needing to use the pee bottle?
(…)
Or maybe something you don’t wanna know.(…) That’s true. It’s a bear. So you have some seclusion there with it this way. Yeah, if it’s a bear, I don’t wanna know about it.
(…)
We keep going.
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Very cool. So, nothing else planned right now, of course, that’s always an email or somebody coming out away. Oh, I know,(…) do you have any plans to be, any kind of, any events you mentioned, Jeep Beach, where are you gonna be if people wanna come by and see this stuff in person? They love the touchy feely, the questions, the see it real, even though this is a great price. This isn’t something you gotta worry about. Why did I spend 300, $400 or something without checking it out better? But the people still like seeing it. Yeah, absolutely, and again, if you don’t, well, send it back, we’ll send your money back. We’re not here to rob anybody. But great question, I appreciate it. So, we are going to what is a new Jeep show,
(…)
called the Tampa Jeep Takeover, which is September 21st. I don’t know where it is in Tampa, but it’s in Tampa. We’re going to that, we’re excited about it. It looks like a good show. They’re only taking 1,000 Jeeps as showgoers, and then they probably got 15, 20, 30 vendors, which will be one.(…) So, we’re excited about the Tampa Jeep Takeover. And then we’ll be at Jeeptoberfest, which I think is a pretty big show in Ocala, which is October 11th through 13th. And that’s put on by the Ocala Jeep Club. And then we’ll be actually at Ocala Jeep Club meeting on September 14th, but I think that’s just a small kind of club thing.
(…)
That’s as far as I can see.(…) We’ll definitely be back at Jeep, at Jeep Beets next year. We wanted to go to the Jeep Takeover, the one at Pigeon Ford, so it’s coming up next weekend, but we couldn’t get in, which is awesome for them. We couldn’t get a vendor spot, they were sold out. So, our next spot, come see us Tampa, September 21st, Jeep Takeover.(…) So, I think this is obvious, I’ll ask anyway. You were not at Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion this past– Absolutely, no, that’s the one. So, we will not be there. They were sold out for vendor spots. Gotcha. So, God bless them.
(…)
(Laughing) Well, very cool. So, that way you can go and see things, see this thing in person. I know that that’s a lot of people like doing that. And I don’t mind it either.(…) Do you know about Armor Light? You were talking about your inside getting wet, and I don’t know if you know about Armor Light. I do not, please share. Yeah, so I’m thinking this actually might make a good partnership, although people probably won’t need it with this top. But Armor Light is a flooring replacement. You pull out all your carpet, and this stuff does not mold, there’s no mildew, it doesn’t get wet because of the material that it’s made out of. It’s a really fantastic product. And I thought about that because at EJS one year, we interviewed Armor Light, and it sounded like a great product, but I was actually able to go and look at the stuff and touch it and feel it, and then it just reaffirmed how great a product it was. Oh, cool, yeah. Because I’m still the guy who leaves his top down in the rain.
(…)
I did it today, went to the chiropractor, didn’t I?
(…)
The other position for a JL is you can roll back the top, keep the windows on, right? So it’s sort of like, I don’t even know how to define it. It’s kind of like a giant sunroof, right? So I’m looking up, right? I see a storm cloud, I know it’s gonna rain, right? Because I live in Florida, but again, it’s 10 o’clock in the morning, what are the odds?(…) Gonna be a passing, great thing. So I left the top open position, and I get out of the chiropractor’s office, I’m walking down the hall, I’m looking out the window, and sure enough, it is pouring.
(…)
And the Armor Light product would have been perfect as my carpets are soaked in the back, my carpets are soaked in the front. Not quite as bad as the deluge of 2021 that forced me to invent this thing, but it was still pretty damp in there.(…) Right.
(…)
So I don’t know exactly where Kevin and Scott are, and I know that you’re wanting to get on and tell people about this. I was gonna recommend that you contact On the Trail with Kevin and Scott.
(…)
Excellent podcast, they’re very technical, and they are in Florida.
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But On the Trail with Kevin and Scott, you guys don’t know about On the Trail with Kevin and Scott, a lot of our listeners listen to that as well and really enjoy it. It’s much more technical and mechanical type of podcast than what we do here. So, great guys. I love what you guys do, like I said, you’re actually the first GeePodcast I discovered. Oh, thank you. When I started looking into GeePodcast, and I’m a big, I mentioned to you earlier that I’m a big podcast guy, I listen to two or three every morning, and this is definitely in my rotation, and I appreciate what you guys do, and keep doing it, GeePodcast need voices like yours. Well, thank you very much. We’re trying our best.
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So, you know how the kids love the social media, where can people find you on social media? Or is there something coming up? No, we have an Instagram feed, it’s TopBrella.(…) We have a Facebook feed, which is also TopBrella. I admit I am not as Facebook fluent as I should be, I tend to post more stuff on Instagram. I’m not a huge Facebook fan, I like the Instagram, so I’m right there with you. Yeah, yeah, it’s, you know, I don’t know, I just kind of lost interest when, there’s just too much going on. Instagram’s nice, it’s short, it’s pictures, I can, it works better with my– Well, the kids don’t have no time for words, they just don’t look at the pictures, and when I say that, I absolutely, I like the pictures better too. Yeah, my attention span favors Instagram for both posting and reading, so that’s where we are, Instagram, TopBrella,
(…)
we’ve got a YouTube channel where we put installation videos and the video that you’re talking about that is also TopBrella on Instagram, on YouTube. Excellent, and I forgot to ask the most important question about this, because every jeeper is wildly concerned about this. Do you have stickers?
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We do not have stickers, but I’m– You know what I’m talking about, you’re a jeeper. I will have stickers by the Jeep Takeover on September 21st for sure.(…) You got a nice logo, you gotta make that into a sticker, man. Yeah, I mean, it’s embarrassing, I don’t even have a sticker on that. People are gonna get this thing, oh, this is great, I love this thing, where’s the damn sticker? Right, right. Ticked one through the box.(…) Tony, I promise you we will have stickers and you will be the first one to have them. Oh, cool, well, I don’t know if you see this behind me, we have a bunch of stickers up here on the wall, you can get up on the wall. I wanna be in the sticker wall.
(…)
(Laughing)(…) All right, man, well, this is really interesting, it sounds like a great product, and I’ll just mention that this is, even if you get one of those full covers, where you can cover the top and all the way to the back, like if you’re completely topless, that one is not 30 seconds, that is a pain in the ass. I got one from my daughter’s TJ, and it’s nice, but it’s not meant to quickly put on, and once it’s on, you’re probably not getting in, and if you do get in, you probably don’t wanna be in there very long, because it’s gonna get hot. Right, right, no, it’s funny, I saw a Instagram ad for a cover, and it was two people, it took them five minutes, it was like, what if you don’t have that second person, what if it’s windy?(…) Like, I would discourage people from having a big cover for when they need a big cover, but this is not– Well, it’s a different type of job. Yeah, yeah. So, people are gonna go, why don’t I want one of those, I’ll just get a full cover. Well, the point is, it’s quick,(…) you can still get in the Jeep while the rain’s going on, and then do the things you need to do, it’s a quick shower, maybe the shower breaks long enough for you to get out, but the wind is on. So, it’s a way, it’s like having the right tool for the situation, and it doesn’t take up a lot of room, I think it’s very inexpensive,(…) I’m really happy to see that, because quite often I see things that are very expensive, and I go, really? Because I’m cheap,(…) so, really cool. So, I guess the same thing would be true for, I know there’s not a lot of TJs out there, but I could see this would be an advantage for a TJ as well.
(…)
Perhaps more, I’m trying to think where actually you would attach it to the front, because it’s not really lends itself to just the back, so maybe not, but– Yeah, well, that’s what we thought about the JK, and here we are with the JK top, so, you never know. You never know, we may go down the TJ road. We had a lot of, you know, you start getting into how many of these can you really make, and how many, no, how many can you make, and how many TJ buyers are there, and how many TJ buyers are there that are gonna buy one of these,
(…)
but yeah, I think you could probably use the JK one on a TJ, is what I get. Oh, nice, okay, good, so they can reach out to you at thetopbrother.com, and learn more about that, and get some information on how realistic it is to do the TJ or not, so. Yeah, yeah. Mark, thank you so much for being here with us today, and I think you got a great product, and I suspect you’re gonna be making some really good sales with this. I could quite, I could see people contacting you to put logos and things on this, because it’d be a great advertising tool as well. We have that ability, we have the ability to put initials, logos, whatever won’t get us in trouble, we can put it on there.
(…)
I’m thinking some scary eyes would be good. You know, they like the angry bullet front. Right, right, scary eyes, stay out of my stuff, right? That’d be kinda cool. Yeah, I like it, I like it. There’s nothing in here worth dying for. That would be a good one. (Laughing)(…) I do like that a lot, I do like that a lot. The appropriate for a Jeep owner. All right, man, thanks a lot for being here, and we’ll have to get you back on, especially when you go to make the announcement for the Bronco, the TJ, and I’ll tell you this, if the XJ owner contacts you, just hang up on them, because they’re just messing with you.
(…)
(Laughing) I’m not gonna know any better, right? Suddenly I’m gonna make a point for an XJ, I would have known that. You have to have a Salzall and I’ll take the top off of it next year. That’s right, that’s right. All right, man, thanks a lot. Tony, I appreciate it, thank you.
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You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.
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