T-tp Storage Bags

[Susan Wilborn]

Hello

Have never read much about t-top bags. Just bought a 1972 t-top with the bags intact. Should the bags match the interior or are they all the same color? Are the bags dated in any way?

Thanks

Susan

[Louis F.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

i had three 1970's era t top coupes. they all had black bags and they all were dated on the inside of the bag.if memory serves me right, they were month/day/year.

[Tom R.]

[Chuck S.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Susan, my late 70 (July 30) T-top bags are color coded to the interior (Bright Blue). The fabric backing inside the bags is stamped "TEX-3-70" about every 12" along lines about 4" apart. The stamp lines are staggered such that there are stamps about every 4"-6".

[Warren F.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Susan:

I have a 1971 coupe with red interior, my bags are dated and they are both black.

[Dave F.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

My '68 storage bags match my interior (black), look as old as the rest of the original parts (funky), but have no markings inside whatsoever. They call me "Lucky"

[Roger Legge]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

I have a late '68, black interior. The bags are black and have date stampings on the inside of the vinyl material. I do not remember the exact format of the date coding, but I believe the date is inside a rectangle that almost looks like it's balooned out a bit. It looks like a black ink stamping and there's several date stamps in each bag.

Roger

[Dave F.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Mine is a late 68. Could you scrape off a couple of your extra stamps and email them to me? I'll trade you a "vintage" TI system

[Dick W.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Susan, if my feeble memory serves me correct, early in the model year, most bags were color coded. As you got toward model year build out, some of the colors must have not been available as you began to see black bags with the various interior colors. Just a theory, but I believe that the factory ordered a limited number of color coded bags, and when they ran out black worked just fine.

[Tom R.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Dickie:

I take it from your message that "each year" a limited number of color matched bags were ready for shipping and once the supply ran out per trim code...the rest got black! So, red could run out mid-year while less popular colors might have a longer run time until black bags were substituted. The next year, they would start all over again. It's no wonder they went to all black!

[Dick W.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Tom, from the cars that I have seen, worked on, and judged this seems to be a plausable theory to me. With all the restorations that have been done, it is hard to find a car with the original bags to verify what I think.

[Reba Whittington]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

There were two types of dating done in the bags. One manufacturer encorporated the date with the logo printed onto the lining e. g. TEX 2-70. Another had plain off-white lining with the date ink stamped with an exact day such as March 2, 1970. This ink was water soluable, and thus is quite often missing from some bags. The JG spells out that the date cannot be later than the build date for the car, but no penalty is assessed if the date has worn away.

[Dave F.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

Reba,

I will take this as good news for mine, as they are black with the plain off white lining and no date, but enough evidence of water stains to believe a date could have worn away.

[Michael M.]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

I have an early '72 ( build date in Oct. 71 ) with Dark Saddle interior. Original bags, nice date stamp, but mine are black - not color matched. I wonder if there were any "Dark Saddle" bags???

[Tom Freeman]

Re: T-tp Storage Bags

I have an early 73 but it has black interior so the bags are black. The code stamped inside is "10 AT 72 FR" so I assume Oct 72 but don't know about the AT or the FR.

Also there are other marking like "T/T", a large Diamond, and a date stamp (like you would use to stamp an envelop receipt date) of "OCT 20 72"

Attached is a composit pic of the code itself and then of the other markings. (the Red is from the flash).

tom...