diff --git a/src/message/http/index.ts b/src/message/http/index.ts
index bd90eb5..f162660 100644
--- a/src/message/http/index.ts
+++ b/src/message/http/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
 import { CloudEvent, CloudEventV03, CloudEventV1, CONSTANTS, Mode, Version } from "../..";
 import { Message, Headers } from "..";
 
-import { headersFor, sanitize, v03structuredParsers, v1binaryParsers, v1structuredParsers } from "./headers";
+import {
+  headersFor,
+  sanitize,
+  v03binaryParsers,
+  v03structuredParsers,
+  v1binaryParsers,
+  v1structuredParsers,
+} from "./headers";
 import { isStringOrObjectOrThrow, ValidationError } from "../../event/validation";
 import { JSONParser, MappedParser, Parser, parserByContentType } from "../../parsers";
 
@@ -122,23 +129,12 @@ function parseBinary(message: Message, version: Version): CloudEvent {
   let body = message.body;
 
   if (!headers) throw new ValidationError("headers is null or undefined");
-  if (body) {
-    isStringOrObjectOrThrow(body, new ValidationError("payload must be an object or a string"));
-  }
-
-  if (
-    headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION] &&
-    headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION] !== Version.V03 &&
-    headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION] !== Version.V1
-  ) {
-    throw new ValidationError(`invalid spec version ${headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION]}`);
-  }
 
   // Clone and low case all headers names
   const sanitizedHeaders = sanitize(headers);
 
   const eventObj: { [key: string]: unknown | string | Record<string, unknown> } = {};
-  const parserMap: Record<string, MappedParser> = version === Version.V1 ? v1binaryParsers : v1binaryParsers;
+  const parserMap: Record<string, MappedParser> = version === Version.V1 ? v1binaryParsers : v03binaryParsers;
 
   for (const header in parserMap) {
     if (sanitizedHeaders[header]) {
@@ -186,14 +182,6 @@ function parseStructured(message: Message, version: Version): CloudEvent {
   if (!headers) throw new ValidationError("headers is null or undefined");
   isStringOrObjectOrThrow(payload, new ValidationError("payload must be an object or a string"));
 
-  if (
-    headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION] &&
-    headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION] != Version.V03 &&
-    headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION] != Version.V1
-  ) {
-    throw new ValidationError(`invalid spec version ${headers[CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION]}`);
-  }
-
   // Clone and low case all headers names
   const sanitizedHeaders = sanitize(headers);
 
diff --git a/test/integration/message_test.ts b/test/integration/message_test.ts
index 837854e..127f6f6 100644
--- a/test/integration/message_test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/message_test.ts
@@ -59,6 +59,32 @@ describe("HTTP transport", () => {
     expect(HTTP.isEvent(message)).to.be.true;
   });
 
+  it("Can detect CloudEvent binary Messages with weird versions", () => {
+    // Now create a message that is an event
+    const message = {
+      body: `{ "greeting": "hello" }`,
+      headers: {
+        [CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.ID]: "1234",
+        [CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SOURCE]: "test",
+        [CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.TYPE]: "test.event",
+        [CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.SPEC_VERSION]: "11.8",
+      },
+    };
+    expect(HTTP.isEvent(message)).to.be.true;
+    expect(HTTP.toEvent(message)).not.to.throw;
+  });
+
+  it("Can detect CloudEvent structured Messages with weird versions", () => {
+    // Now create a message that is an event
+    const message = {
+      body: `{ "source": "test", "type": "test.event", "specversion": "11.8"}`,
+      headers: {
+        [CONSTANTS.CE_HEADERS.ID]: "1234",
+      },
+    };
+    expect(HTTP.isEvent(message)).to.be.true;
+    expect(HTTP.toEvent(message)).not.to.throw;
+  });
   // Allow for external systems to send bad events - do what we can
   // to accept them
   it("Does not throw an exception when converting an invalid Message to a CloudEvent", () => {