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Thursday March 21: We spent Wednesday night in Flagstaff, slept in, toured Flagstaff, then drove to Phoenix. It wasn’t all that interesting, as the only thing we documented was a stop at Pita Jungle in Flagstaff.

Friday March 21: 

Left to right: Joel, David, Joe-in-Mesa

Ann and I dropped by Joe’s house in Mesa on Friday morning before heading off to the 2013 FC Roundup. While Joel has been around jeeps much of his life, Joe is newer to them.

Joe’s initial jeep goal was simple: militarize an old CJ-2A. So, he bought a running CJ-2A with a rough body. Then, he found a GPW body with a great body and frame. His plan was to put the body onto the CJ-2A frame, but his plan was thwarted when he discovered the frame and body matched. With Joel preaching “thou shallst not separate a matching body and frame”, Joe decided to focus on building up the GPW to an originalism state and just patch the floor of the CJ-2A.

As Joe began looking for parts, he found a T-84 transmission and transfercase. Though Joe only wanted the tranny and tc, the seller gave him a price on that plus CJ-3B parts that he couldn’t refuse.

So, a story as old as time, Joe’s one project has turned into three 🙂

The GPW has a few interesting items of note. First, the passenger side was cut and replaced with a swinging door. The door is better than bubba quality and looks like, based on paint comparisons, that it has been with the jeep a long time. Joe has decided to keep it as a conversation piece.

Also of interest is a hinge welded to the bottom of the Ford script seat frame. I suspect that’s a mystery which will never be solved.

After a great time with Joe and Joel, we headed west to central Phoenix and the FC Roundup.

FC ROUNDUP:

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