My mother tells me the month of July in Seattle is on pace to be one of the coolest on record. Fortunately, I didn’t move here for the heat! And as I took a relaxing walk this morning (sunday) dodging tourists through bustling Pike Place Market, with new female friend in tow, to the Seattle Art Museum in the drizzle that defines Seattle, I rather relished it. I relished the cool rainy July day, weather I ran away from back in June of 1992 as fast as the moving van would travel on a journey that seems otherworldly at this point.
So, 19 years later, here I was walking only a few blocks from the very spot from which I moved, an apartment at the base of Queen Anne hill in downtown. As I walked down 1st Ave towards the SAM, I realized I’m older, yes; I’m grayer, slighly; I’m richer, financially no, experientially yes; I’m wiser, maybe; more introspective, absolutely! I sold my jeep to finance the move so long ago and arrived back with a nicer one; maybe that was worth the entire adventure?
I guess I can’t help but be introspective at this time. A heady move followed by a delightful time with my kids, which after their summer stays, I’m always simultaneously proud at who they have become and disappointed that their time with me is up for another summer.
And, of course, there was the added element of my father, whose dignity we fight to preserve as time weighs heavily on his formerly stout constitution. The truth is dad is a little south of odd for the kids to recognize, as they really did not know him the way I did. I wanted to show the kids he is facing his mortality head on, despite infirmities and incontinence, and fighting for his end goal, to live to the age of 80. Will he make it? If he has any say about it, he will.
During all these events eWillys has suffered a bit, as time demands bit into my updates. Whenever that happens, I wonder if I have run out of time and energy to keep running the site. And it always seems that when I start feeling that way, when I think there are better things (money making things) I could do with my time, some far flung reader I have never heard from sends me an email. In this case, the reader’s name was Joe who hails from the Nashville area.
He writes, “Ewillys has refueled my passion for old flatfenders. I never knew much about them growing up, other than I wanted one and they were cool as all get out in all the old black and white war movies. I have wanted one ever since I was a kid. Two years ago I finally got a 46 cj2a. I traded a Harley for it, straight up. Figured both were about 3000.
I put 2000 miles on it in the first year and I am currently replacing the motor and catching up on some long over due maintenance. I will send a pic or two. I took my mom for a ride in it last winter through the snow and it was 21 degrees out side, no heater. I have created a monster of her now. This past November she called me and told me that she wanted an “old” jeep. I figured a cj5 or 7 so she could get around, go fishing, and wat knot. She said “I want one like yours!” She wanted a flatty! After searching all over the craigslist and ewillys we finally found her a beautiful 48 cj3a in GA. She drives it everywhere! I will send you pics of it as well. Now my son is 5 and I have created a jeep nut of him as well.
I bought a parts 2a and it ended up having a title. So my son and I have tinkered with it and after getting his little hands greasy he’s hooked. He can see the corner of a hood behind something and he will shout, “JEEP DADDY!” He is also convinced that they don’t make “real” jeeps anymore and he loves cj’s. We plan on building from the ground up(with a lot of help) the parts 2a into a daily driver. When he turns 16 I am going to sign it over to him.
My father and I never had a project like this and its been great and created an even larger bond with my son. He will sit with me in the recliner and look through eWillys and give me full commentary on all the jeeps. My father is now retired and has run out of projects around his house……until now. We have dissasembled my 2a and replaced the motor and are working on the body. My family is now 3 generations deep in jeep and I hope it continues. So a BIG THANK YOU for ewillys! I hope there is many more years of it.”
I shared that letter with my kids and they thought it was pretty cool. So did mom. She wonders less and less why spend time on the site. A few letters like that and she is a 100% backer.
Karson, my oldest, also informed me near the end of his stay that he’d like to have a jeep to drive around here. With the perfect warm weather we had at the beginning of the month coupled with the hills and valleys of Renton’s East Hill, he finally got it. He understood why I thought it was so fun to drive a jeep around here, even on the roads.
To be honest, it was funner to drive here than in Boise. I was having a blast driving the kids on the roads I had grown up driving. While driving, I tortured my kids and their cousins with the history of my old jeep and where I had driven around the area. “Oh, here is where I did such and such” and “this is where I got stuck” and even the rolling of their eyes at the sound of my history-lesson voice did little to dissuade my lesson. I was having too much fun.
So after all of this introspection, with the kids gone and my life sort of re-orienting to normal, with Joe’s passionate call for another few years of eWillys, updates will commence on a more regular schedule starting tomorrow.
Well, at least until early September when I hope to get to New York to spend one to two weeks doing research in NYC and Yale on a family project. I will finalize that schedule this week, which will include several jeep specific stops that I know will interest readers.
Until tomorrow’s updates, I am happy to report, for the record, that four paddle tires will fit inside a BMW 540i. Matt, who specializes in early Dana axles rebuilds (if you are near the Boise area and need axle or drive train work done, drop me a note; Matt has about 18 years of drive train experience.) sold me this set at a great price. Since I only need two, if anyone has an interest in the other two, drop me a note. The tires will hold air, but they really should have some inner tubes put into them. Thanks Matt!
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