John Escobar bought a few FCs last month. He recently acquired a few more through a trade. He writes, “I got the Bug! Just traded a Snowmobile I had for three fc’s and flatfender jeep ! he collection goes on! The one fc 170 is real nice and originally from Washington State. Was used n the area as a water truck. (government owned )   Parts will be for sale this spring.  Can’t wait to get started on them. Spring can’t come fast enough!”

3 FCs and a truck for this snowmobile. Looks like a good trade to me!

Brady Leetch shared his recent build. It’s got a great flat fender / scrambler feel to it. The snow is a nice touch, too. You might remember one of Brady’s other builds, this blue low-rider jeep.

Justin bought this FC last year believing he could save it. I’d say he’s done a bang up job on it!

Justin’s FC was pretty rough at the beginning.

I bought this jeep and restored it over the year. It was very rusted out but I rebuilt what was there and now it’s almost back on the road. Still need to buy a new windshield and get some tires. But it purrs like a kitten.

Maybe you can see on the rear bumper the spots I need to cut out still for my 28-31 Ford Model A tail lights and the slots to mimic the grill. I ended up going with new rugged ridge low back seats. They where pretty easy to attach the old brackets to. My rear view mirrors or for some kind of motorcycle. They look cool and the curved mirror allows good visibility. I kept the front lower part of the body off so I could build a nice flush bumper in its place with a winch hidden behind it.

My cab mounts are reinforced on the back with 1/4″ steel. And the cab mount is made from 2″ sch 40 steel pipe. The cab is raised 3″. So I could put a taller tire. I still need to mold some fender flares from fiberglass in the next couple of months pending the weather. I built this with intentions of snorkeling the engine tranny and axles air tight so I could go under water if I wanted.

This was gonna just be a trail rig. But I loved it more and more as I worked on it. It’s not by any means a great looker. It still needs a few things I can’t find like- speedo cable and front E-brake cable. And other things a cant think of off hand.

Justin took a bunch of photos to share.

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David Silberman just picked up this two-owner CJ-5 w/ a Tuxedo Park III package. Looks like a great project. The color is Indian Ceramic, consistent with one of the Tuxedo Park options from 1961-1963. A post from 2012 post shows how this might have looked.

He notes:
1962 Tuxedo Park Mark III.
August, 1962, as per VIN.
Original paint, original tires, original radiator hoses and most clamps.
Chrome hood hinges, windshield stops. Even the tailgate chains are chrome.
The steps were chrome, but mostly gone by now.
The interesting part is the mileage. 21,000 miles. The owner got it from his uncle 50 years ago.
He added the hardtop and plow, but it wasn’t on the road since 1986.
Seats are black with “pink” sides, same as
the wheel well pads.

Here’s the photos David sent:

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Alex just completed a rebuild and modification of this Ebro Diesel. It’s now his daily driver. He added a couple features to allow his daughter (pictured here) to carry her surf boards.

http://tahiti-pacifique.com/hobbies/CJ3A/DIESEL/1974%20diesel%20jeep.html

Jim Johnson, his father and brother are all Willys nuts. He says they can’t get enough of them. Each year they head south from Utah’s Utah County for the Jeep Safari with their vintage jeeps. They enjoy showing how well their ‘old’ jeeps perform against the new ones.

This first jeep is a 1962 CJ-5 that Jim got from his father. Jim fixed it up some and gave it another coat of paint. All three look ready for Moab again this year. Have fun!

An Idaho summer trip with high school friends and their families. The Green CJ5 belongs to my sons’ friend Drew, he built this Jeep himself and is running an AMC 304 with a Dana 44-30 combo and ARB air lockers.

Longtime readers will remember the 2011 post about Randy and his boys’ jeeps. Randy shared how the three of them turned basketcase jeeps into viable, modified vehicles. They continue to drive and jeep them in Idaho. Since we last check in with them, they’ve made some updates to their jeeps. Randy describes the changes below (thanks for taking the time to write this up Randy!):

Randy’s Jeep before a summer trip.

Randy’s 46, CJ2a (blue):
In the winter of 2012 Dusty and I swapped in most of the running gear that was originally installed in his Jeep when we built it in 2004. We Installed the Buick 231, radiator, transmission, exhaust and drivelines. I did a Saginaw power steering upgrade and installed disc brakes on the front axle as well. The springs were re-arched and Bilstein shocks were installed. In order to make room for bigger tires I opened up the back fenders about 3 inches behind the tires and moved the rearend back 1 ½ inches. The fender trimming is not noticeable unless there is a stock Jeep around to compare it to. Last spring I purchased a new set of 37 x 13.5 x 15 Super Swamper Truxus MT radial tires and mounted them on the 15 x 10 Mickey Thompson aluminum wheels that were originally on Devon’s Jeep. Those tires made an unbelievable difference when running in the snow. I usually air down to about 3.5 to 4.5 pounds of air pressure and didn’t have any trouble losing tires off the bead on our snow runs.

This past year I installed a set of suspension bucket seats made by Corbeau that are designed for use in a side-by-side such as a Yamaha Rhino. They have the same dimensions as the Jeep seats that Corbeau makes but the bottom of the seats are shorter which makes it easier to get in and out of the Jeep. I also notched the front of my rear inner fenders and moved the front seats back about 2 inches. Seat heaters were installed in the new seats as well. It is a lot more comfortable to drive now.

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Like Lays Potato Chips, Mike just couldn’t stop with one. He recently picked up the yellowish CJ-2A on the left off of eWillys.

Mike wrotes, “I just finished the shop about a month ago. The picture is a little dark but I had to wait for the last one,(Jeep) to come home. A grandson was out checking his game camera with “His Willy”, I do love to see the grandkids drop by and ask to take a jeep out, they all seem to have their favorites. All ‘46’s except the one ’47, it was the city of Nixa Mo fire engine in its last life.”

I’m taking today off, but here’s one post for everyone.

James Turner from Mississippi emailed me the other day.  A self-described ‘jeep freak’, James and his brother bought their first jeep, a 1947 CJ-2A, in 2008. Out of it they created a nice looking military replica. Since then they’ve added a 1942 GPW they are currently restoring, a 1952 M-38A1 that looks in great shape, a 1951 M-38 that they plan to restore and a 1946 CJ-2A. At this rate they’ll soon have their own private jeep force.

Here’s the 1947 CJ-2A they restored:

This is James’ 1952 M-38A1:

You can see they have some work  to do on this M-38:

The staff at Bo’s Hotrods in Sanford, NC, just finished work on Jim’s restored CJ-2A. It looks like they do some good work. The jeep will now head to Maine where it will enjoy life in the country.

Here are some ‘before’ pics. As you can see, it appears it was thoroughly rebuilt.

I don’t know how many divorces eWillys has caused, but Hugh is pretty sure he’d be in trouble if he was married.

Hugh writes, “If it wasn’t for ewillys i wouldn’t have found these jeeps.  Got them one year apart and have learned a tremendous amount between ewillys and the cj2a page.  I have a highly modified jeep and a purist  jeep.  Your website is great Dave but costing me alot of money!  Good thing im not married.”

Here’s Larry (left) and Moe (right). Larry is a fiberglass jeep that Hugh’s been slowly transforming into a  MBish jeep. Moe is a pretty stock CJ-2A that hugh plans on continuing to restore as money allows. 

Here are some before and after photos of Larry. Hugh’s keeping his budget tight and enjoying giving his jeep some military character. It just shows how little changes can make a big difference.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

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Hugh sent a couple pics of his jeep with the trailer his father’s calls “Odie” for OD Green. They are about to start its restoration.

Hugh spotted this on eWillys and went to look at it. He was pleasantly surprised to discover it was better than it looked in the pictures, so he bought it.

He writes, “This is the 47 cj2a i picked up in niangua missouri.  The thing runs like a sewing machine.  The previous owner and his brother meticulously maintained the drive train.   The shock absorbers are shot, the springs are flat and it needs new tires.  I put more than fifty miles on it today  and it seems very dependable.  Its very original but not a show piece, but heck,  i just like to drive em,  preferably off road!”