This is a build done by Chris Olson that I found at the BC4x4 website. He found a beat up '48 CJ-2A, made a variety of mods, and ended up with a highly modified, but ordinary looking, CJ-2A.
"At first glance, Chris Olson's 1948 CJ2A Willys looks rather plain next to his brother's LJ80 Suzuki. Your first impression would be that it's another flat fender Jeep with big tires and a spring-over-axle conversion. But like his brother's Suzuki, Chris' Jeep isn't what it appears to be. In fact, it is more Toyota than Jeep. This flat fender reflects Chris' pragmatic attitude toward building a 4×4. Choices were made due to cost, availability and functionality. He has no loyalty to any make or model of vehicle and because of that, he has ended up with a very unique vehicle.
When Chris first set eyes upon the Willys in 1997, it was sitting in a backyard, partially hidden by knee-height grass. It had a seized engine, the front axle housing was gutted, all four tires were useless, the interior was a rat home, and it sported a rollbar made of old driveshafts (including the yokes!). The important thing to Chris was that the body was in pretty good condition, especially for a vehicle built half a century earlier. For $400, it was his."
Crazy build! I’m usually the first to balk at foreign drivetrains in American jeeps but this one is pretty cool. Impressive that with no testing he tackled the rubicon…. Of course I did the same thing with my new flattie build… Finished the night before and headed for the Rubicon. I trailered mine down though. And I did have an ignition and charging problem but that’s part of the adventure, right?
Well, hopefully he didn’t tackle the Rubicon alone that time. That’s a little too much adventure!
Yeah, I’ve seen some other foreign drive train builds and am usually not happy with the results. But in this case, I thought he did a great job.
-dave