emailNeed to contact me and don't have my email? Click on email button.
Welcome to eWillys.com, a website for vintage jeep enthusiasts. I update this website nearly every day with jeep deals, jeep history, interesting reader projects, jeep related info, and more.
These quick searches can help you find things on eBay. People list in the wrong categories all the time, so don't be surprised to see brochures in the parts area for example.
The links to posts below show jeeps grouped by models, condition, and other ways. Some of these jeeps are for sale and others have been sold. If you are unsure whether a vehicle is still for sale or not, email me at d [at] ewillys.com for more info.
There are plenty of interesting, unusual, historic and surprising stories related to Jeeps and their owners. In addition, some of these features have nothing to do with jeeps. This link will display all featured stories starting from the latest.
Looking for parts and not sure where to go? There are a variety of large and small new and used parts sellers both online and offline.
Importantly, the allure of buying a project jeep can be romantic. The reality of restoring a jeep can be quite different, expensive and overwhelming without the right tools and resources. So, tread carefully when purchasing a "project". If you have any concerns about buying a vintage jeep, or run across a scam, feel free to contact me for help, comments or concerns .
I thought this commando has an unusual soft top. Was this a standard or third party option? I can’t remember seeing another. This has a nice looking warn winch on the front, too.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/306174302118419/
Has good tires on it. Warn wench on front works. CB radio inside. Serious inquiries only. 7K OBO. No trades”
It’s a Commando with a CJ hood and grill and I’ve got a 1970 Cj5 with a Commando hood and grill.
If it has a CJ-5/6 hood and grille, wouldn’t it need CJ fenders as well?
Will: good point. I missed that. The warn winch distracted me.!
John: I think the fenders are the same? I haven’t seen the setup in person, but from the outside the fenders look the same. Will should be able to confirm that.
It has been awhile since so have seen a Commando in person, so I thought I’d ask about the fenders.
I have never been a huge fan of the early Commando grille, they look like chubby cheeks. A CJ front would look better to me.
I believe the fenders are the same from CJ to pre-72 Commando but not sure. I used my stock CJ fenders and a Commando grill and hood on my CJ5, it was a simple bolt on project with a couple of holes drilled in the fenders to secure the Commando ears. The Commando grill is a CJ grill with the ears added. I’ve taken the ears off a Commando grill to make a grill for a CJ. The stock CJ grill hood shape is behind the Commando ears.
After closer examination of Commando front fender pictures, it looks like the Commando and CJ front fenders are the same length, shape and bolt up the same, but the commando fender has a different fender flair than the CJ as it curves down to meet the body. It was very common for Jeep to repurpose many things jeep from model to model. As an example, the exterior door handles of the Forward Control were used for the Jeepster Commando.
In looking at photos, I noticed a couple of things about the Jeepsteer Commando front….
-As Will R. mentions, there are flairs/rocker panels on the bottom of the fender which match up with similar shapes on the rocker panel of the Jeepster body tub. These flairs are much more square than the rounded (stiffening?) flair found along the front and wheel opening edges of CJs and M38A1 fenders.
– The seam on the outside of the Jeepster fender (between the wheel and cowl) is at a 45° angle, like the early (52-53) M38A1s. So they are not stock CJ-5/6 parts.
So that leads to at least three questions:
–Why is the seam there?
–Why not use already tooled CJ parts?
–Did they reuse and modify the early M38A1 tool?
-And finally, the hood latch was moved to the edge of the fender to accommodate the wider hood. On CJs there is a flat mounting point, was there on the Jeepsters, or did they just drill holes?
And are the grille panels really CJ parts modified with the outboard section removed and then cheeks added? Seems like a lot of hand work. Or did they modify a separate tool? if so, how about modifying the M38A1 stamping die since production had pretty much ended in the U.S.?
Just guessing….
In case it helps, within these two threads are several examples of Commando hoods and grilles on CJ-5s
http://www.ewillys.com/category/cj5/?s=commando
http://www.ewillys.com/category/cj5/?s=jeepster
This post share’s Gerald’s story of modifying his Jeepster Commando by removing the hood, knocking the wings of the grille, and adding a CJ-5 hood. http://www.ewillys.com/2010/06/10/geralds-first-jeep-a-60-commando/
Gerald’s story suggests that the fender lengths between a Commando and a CJ-5 are the same, as the hoods are interchangeable.
More info. According to Bob Christy (from here: https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/66-jeepster-commando_topic20534_page3.html), “I think I remember reading about this a few years ago. Some dealer in Colorado was doing this back in the 1960s and 70s, they called it the “Colorado” conversion. Take the grill and hood from a cj5 or 7 and put it on, leaving the Commando fenders in place, they look great. In fact, if you look into the prototypes of the commando, they looked like a cj in the front.”
And, another source regarding the fenders (https://forums.off-road.com/threads/cj5-jeepster-similarities.155599/): “The 66-71 Jeepster fenders are different at the bottom to match the rocker but the front group bolt patterns are identical to the CJ-DJ’s of the same years. I didn’t take measurements but by visual comparison the CJ6 and Jeepster frames are prety much the same considering I was looking at -6 frame from the top and my Jeepster frame from underneath.
To answer your questions:
1) Why is seam there and at that angle? Who knows? Perhaps it was a simple design decision. It is possible the company reused and modified (for the flair) an early M-38A1 fender (which begs the question, why was the M-38A1 fender design changed?
2) Why not use existing dies? Maybe they did, but with slight modifications?
3) I imagine if you are doing a swap, but keeping the existing fenders, it would be necessary to drill new holes for the hood latches.
4) The backside of the Jeepster grille suggests that the “wings” are attached to a standard grille. Here is an example photo off of ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184319832345 (scroll through the pics to see the interior side of the grille.
I hope those answers help some.
– Dave