This was for sale on eBay in 2010. Check out the work done to restore this. Particularly interesting is the body’s sub frame. I like the vintage looking tail lights — they 1950 Pontiac repop lights.
“I started out with a total scrap basket case. The entire Jeep is metal! Repop body panels are: front fenders, grille, hood, windshield frame(CJ3A) and the tailgate. I built the majority of the body tub which included all new floor braces made out of rectangular tubing. This body tub is far superior in strength when compared to the original design. Its not perfectly straight, i wanted it to look more original as they weren’t exactly perfect either. The only parts left on this Jeep when it left Toledo back in ’47 are the headlight buckets, the cowl section and the vin tag. I bought a repop passenger seat frame, the drivers seat is an original M38 seat frame(NOS). There is a custom made gas tank under the driver seat(approx. 12gal.) and a storage compartment under the passenger seat(lockable). All new Autometer gauges are used. The entire steering column including the steering wheel are brand new, the steering box housing is the original with all new guts and pitman arm. Hsa its original horn too! This Jeep includes the Best Top as seen in the pics and comes with the doors too. There is a small aftermarket heater on the passenger side. The radiator is a repop of the original. 1950 repop Pontiac taillights are used. The Jeep looks like it is white, it was supposed to be gray, but came out the colour you see in the pics, an off white that looks kinda gray, depending on the lighting.
I sourced a near mint ’48 CJ3A along with a ’79 DJ5 front axle that used to be in a postal Jeep, it has a ’78 CJ5 AMC Model 20 rear axle with 3:07 posi and aftermarket one piece axle shafts. Four repop leaf springs and gas shocks at all corners. The frame and axles were cleaned up and painted with POR15 as was the bottom of the body tub. The interior and inside the wheelwells are coated with DIY Hippo Liner. It has a set of 4 1/2ton Dodge steel rims with the centres trimmed out to fit the hubs along with a set of new baby moons. This Jeep also comes with an original implement hitch as seen in the pics. I made the custom front bumper, it looks original but was bent up out of 1/4″ flat plate to give the front frame horns more strength. This Jeep is a 2 wheel drive only.
This Jeep has a VERY RARE 1962 Chevy II 153ci 4 cyl engine!!! This block is date coded ’61, so its an early production one. The block has been bored .040, has N.O.S. Jahns domed racing pistions from the 1960’s yielding 11:1 compression, the head has been reworked to accomodate the biggest valves it can handle, it has a steel crank, the wildest hydraulic Competition Cams camshaft available for the street, custom made header and a custom made intake manifold with a Rochester 2bbl off a 283 on it sporting a tri-power top on the carb. The entire engine has been rebuilt and runs very strong and sounds great! Doesn’t sound like a rice burner 4 banger, it’ll idle at 550rpm and sounds hairy! Like the saying goes: No replacement for displacement! The transmission is a 1960 SM-420 bull low 4-speed. It leaks fluid and could stand a rebuild, it still works pretty good..”
Let’s start with some old pics of this build and work forward ….
Follow this link for more pics ….
I am the same guy that had the blue ’52 Canadian M38 on eBay at the same time as this one was. I still have both jeeps, this one here is undergoing major changes in the drivetain department currently.
Once again, beautiful work. I have to say, I sure appreciated the detailed pics on this project. One of the reasons I wanted to share these with readers was that you did such nice body and subframe work.
Thank you!
Most people have no clue what it takes to rebuild these things. I have around 300 pics of this one during the rebuild.