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My Visit With Dan

• CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Dan forwarded a pic of his yoke.  Despite grounding the sm420 rib, the yoke still won’t make it by the tranny while spinning.

For the last year, Dan has invited me up to take a look at his project: the rebuilding of his grandfather’s jeep. Well, I finally got a chance to drop by his remote Deer Park, Washington, home.  

As soon as I arrived, my gracious host gave me the cold beer he had promised, a very tasty bottle of Red Hook.  Soon after, his four kids wandered in the garage to see what kind of strange guy would drive all the way to Deer Park to look at a jeep and talk with dad.  Clearly unimpressed, they dashed back into the endless , densely treed property like baseball players from the movie Field of Dreams.

Meanwhile, Dan and I looked over his jeep and we talked about various issues he circumvented.  He said his goal was to build something functional that he wouldn’t be afraid to scratch and dent, so he didn’t sink much time or money into the body.  For example, the rust in the bottom of the body was repaired with some fiberglass and steel from the old body sitting across the driveway.  It was nothing fancy, but sound.  He was concerned it might not be nice enough, but I told him the most important thing is that it satisfied his goals, was solid, and got him closer to exploring backroads.

We also talked about his sm420 tranny. His yoke is hitting the side of the tranny, despite the grinding he has done (I should have gotten a pic of that).  He’s hoping he can find the slightly smaller V6 yoke.  Does anyone have one of those?

While we talked, his wife dropped by to say hello.  We chatted a bit and then she dashed off to finish supper.  Dan noted that he convinced his wife he needed a new garage to work on the jeep  by parking his jeep inside the existing garage.  That seemed to work, so he built a new shop around the jeep project just down the driveway.  It’s a fine man cave, clean, organized, with plenty of light.

I asked Dan to take my picture with his jeep and he kindly obliged.  After which, I left his piece of paradise to head south so I could hang out with my cousin and explore family history. So, many thanks to Dan for a pleasant time.  It was worth the drive!

Here’s yours truly.

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Flamin’ Willys BBQ

• CATEGORIES: Features, Unusual • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Mark from sellajeep.com forwarded a story he posted on his website.  Here’s a short excerpt below.  Drop by his website to read the entire story and see all the pics.

“The wagon was a whole different story. The thing was shot. I parted it out keeping the window trim, regulators, dash, and steering wheel, anything I might need in the future. The title said it was a 49. I couldn’t let it go because along the line I picked up a 47 Willy’s pickup.

The wagon was simply too far gone except that front end. A tree had landed right on the hood. That was the only real issue with the clip. After sitting in my barn with lots of thinking fluid, my friend suggested turning it into a BBQ grill like what they did on that movie “Gone in 60 Seconds”. Remember at the end of the movie, they are grilling in the back of an old car? Anyway, that sealed the deal.”


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A Ford Jeepster

• CATEGORIES: Features, Jeepster, Unusual This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Bob spotted this unusual project on the web. I had meant to publish it many months ago, but I seem to have forgotten to do that. I only have this one image.

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The Flat Fender Club of Butler Drops by the Reunion

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Sebastian wrote me yesterday, telling me he and some buddies made a special trip to visit the Willys Spring 2011 Reunion.

He writes, “Yesterday I went to the Midwest willys reunion in Mason OH. Altough we did not take our jeeps, some members of the Flat Fender Club of Butler went there to see some nice willys. It was a busy day, about 4 hours each way (from Pittsburgh). A very long day as you can imagine, totally worth it as shown in the pictures: http://flatfenderclubofbutler.wordpress.com/ (top post). I thought you may want to take a look.”

Here’s a couple of his images. See all of them at the link above.

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Another gun mockup

• CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

A reader and his son have been restoring a CJ-2A and have mocked up their own .30 cal gun.  They shared the below pic with me.  Thanks!

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Area 51 Jeep (and a mockup A-12 Spy Plane)

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I spotted this unusual image today. It was published along with some other declassified photos from Area 51 (which doesn’t exist btw) and published on National Geographic’s website.   I wished I had a close up of the jeep.  I’m glad there’s a guy standing in front of the jeep or I would have thought it was a toy jeep.

One time I drove north on the extra-terrestrial highway (Nevada State Route 375).  I’ve driven all over the west and that was one of the strangest highways I’ve ever driven.  There were several different events that left me certain there was some strange things going on out there.

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Shep’s Mock Browning M37

• CATEGORIES: Features, How To This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Shep built this custom M37 and thought others might be interested in it.  Thanks for sharing!

Shep writes, “Just wanted to show you some pics of the dummy gun I made a couple days ago.  This dummy gun for the most part is based on the browning M37; which was actually put on tanks instead of Jeeps in Korea.  But I thought it was one of the coolest looking of the Browning .30 cals so decided to use its specifications.  For the main box of the gun, I used an old piece of 1/4 inch 3×5 tubing, which I found was a mistake because almost all other pieces I welded too it was close to 1/8 inch, thus the voltage on the welder had to turned way up to penetrate the box.  The barrel shield was the hardest part.  I had to measure all of the distances correct, and I couldn’t start drilling with 13/16″ bit, I had to work my way up.  The handle on the back is an old axe hand I cut down and threaded.  The bolt shucks back and forth and the sights flip up and down.  The gun pivots up and down as well as side to side.  The pedestal has an ammo can bolted to the side for realism.  I still need to drill the bolt holes for where it mounts in the back of my Jeep, but overall I think this is gonna look good in the M38A1.  The gun also comes off the pedestal, I hope to make an attachable bipod for it in the future.  Hopefully I get pulled over because the cop thinks it’s real, that means I did a good job making it!”

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