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Year? MB? Boise, ID **SOLD**

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

UPDATE:  **SOLD** Was $1500

May be worth a look.

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Rancho Cordova Flat Fender Builder

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

In 2010, Chris commented that a retired Ford Mechanic in Rancho Cordova, CA, built about 40 flatfenders.  I believe he’s responsible for a variety of jeeps I call the “California Modded” jeeps.  They often have an expanded windshield, implement a Muller Top, and have a lip added on the rear wheel wells.

Does anyone know the name of this mechanic or have any other information about him?

Here was Chris’ comment from this post:

There was a retired Ford mechanic in Rancho Cordova, Ca. that was building flatfenders for a while as a hobby. Back in the early 90′s he had built closed to 40. When he picked up a willys that didn’t have a a good windshield,the large windshield is what he put on. He has since passed away.

 
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Erratic Postings the Next Week

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

My boys are in Seattle for the next week, so for me Christmas has finally arrived! However, this means postings will be erratic for the next week. I will continue to check emails.

 
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1947 Truck Texas Creek, CO $7000

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

Body needs finishing of some kind.

“High Performance Buick V6. Offenhauser High-Rise Four barrel intake, with a 700 Holley carb. Body off Refirbished frame, NO rust and fully painted. Body needs finished, Basic painted-primer.All original parts, with factory Power-Take Winch. Factory Transmission and Transfercase.”

http://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/4818723998.html

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Why is that jeep still for sale …months (or a year+) later?

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

Joe, a self-described eWillys addict (aka – Joe in Mesa), created this post about the reasons why some jeeps never seem to sell. He’s organized the problems into four categories: seller issues, ad issues, buyer behavior, or the jeep itself. His examples reflect what I’ve experienced. No doubt there are more . . . Perhaps you’ll find this instructive or amusing. Thanks to Joe for assembling it.

SELLER ISSUES:

  • Unrealistic seller (thinks jeep is worthy of Barrett-Jackson price).
  • Reluctant seller (doesn’t really want to part with his/her “baby”).
  • Seller won’t respond (doesn’t answer phone or email). Could be jaded from the SPAM attempts. Some people get slammed with email SPAM when posting to craigslist. Others have received telemarketers after posting their phone number.
  • Email responses from buyers are going into seller’s junk mail. Dave has run into this problem when replying to a Craigslist ad using a yahoo account.

AD ISSUES:

  • Wrong contact info in ad (incorrect phone number or email address. Sometimes just a “type-O”).
  • Misspelled “Willys” or other issue making ad hard to find (copy the spelling from your vehicle!). That’s why Dave uses a whole bunch of different spellings for “Willys” when searching Craigslist. He just got a great deal on a 25 page brochure off of eBay because the seller spelled misspelled the name WYLLIS. Sometimes Willys nor Jeep is used in an ad. One alternative some sellers use is “flat fender” as in “Flat Fender for Sale”.
  • Old ads, seldom updated. Only gets reposted with the same price, pics, and description every time. Buyers quickly tire of old ads.
  • Poor pics or lack of pics in ad. Have great pics can really help. Conversely having poor or no pics will turn off many potential buyers, that sometimes no-pic ads are fantastic deals. But, you have to investigate a lot of bad ads to find a good deal.

BUYER BEHAVIOR:

  • Not local to buyers: too far from the major metro area. Some folks don’t want to deal with an absent buyer. Some want the money quick and don’t trust paypal. Others don’t trust absent buyers.
  • Particular buyers. Many jeeps are worth the hard work but not everyone can afford the time it takes or don’t have the facilities to repair a mechanically challenging-jeep.
  • Cheap local buyers (many people only want a deal, a “steal”, or a bargain).
  • Scared, reluctant local buyers (see reasons for HARDER to sell, below)

JEEP ITSELF:

Technically the jeep itself should never be an issue that a low enough price can’t solve (a common example would be “no engine”: I bought one of those), but some jeeps are much HARDER to sell:

  • – no title (in some states nearly impossible to resolve, and expensive in many others)
  • – excessive rust
  • – bad engine (cracked, seized, etc.. IMHO “no engine” jeeps sell better than “bad engine” ones).
  • – horribly ugly (despite the current saying, there really isn’t a butt for EVERY seat)
  • – similarly, “what the heck did Bubba do?… and why’d he do THAT?”
  • – botched, incomplete “projects”
  • – jeep covered by piles of misc. parts, furniture, dust, animal droppings, etc. (“barn find”? Really?)
  • – jeep looks way better in the photos than in person.
  • – seller places an ad without pics, but offers a description that doesn’t match with what a buyer finds when he or she sees the vehicle in person.
  • – Bottom Line: insufficient value (cost too much to fix or restore… even if you gave it away for free)

Could there be other reasons? Poor economy (buyer issue), seller is a jerk, nearly impossible to move/get (tree growing up through frame, buried deep in a barn or basement, holding up the corner of the structure, in window of Banana Republic mall store…)?

So, buying a jeep can be an adventure!

 
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1951 M-38 Swedesboro, NJ **SOLD**

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UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $12,500.

Mark just listed this good looking M-38 over at warjeeps.com. Even includes a phone for that occasionally air strike you might need.

“M38 that drives great and is in great condition. Has always been garage kept and we’ll maintained. Everything works well and it has no rust or dents. Also has new tires.”

1951-m38-swedeboro-nj1 1951-m38-swedeboro-nj2 1951-m38-swedeboro-nj3

 
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Alaska Highway Museum Dawson Creek, Canada

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

The small Canadian town of Dawson Creek is home to several museums, including the Railway Station Museum and the Walter Wright Pioneer Museum. Because the town is considered the southern terminus of the ALCAN, or the Alaska – Canadian Highway, it’s also home to the Alaska Highway House, a small museum that chronicles the building of the highway. Inside the museum, is a jeep that participated in the building of the famous road.

EWillys has several photos and posts about the building of the highway, including this 1944 article by Herbert Lanks about a jeep trip up the new highway.

You may enjoy this humorous introduction to the museum (that includes the jeep):

Here are some still photos of the jeep:

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I can’t wait to see this sign some day:

 
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Cradle of Aviation Museum and More w/ Kasia

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

2014-12-08-cradle-of-aviation-jeep1The weekend is over and Kasia has returned to her ‘peeps’ at Fema Corps. On Saturday we braved the wind and rains for a trip to Roosevelt Field Mall. We did some shopping, then saw a movie (Interstellar – both liked it), and finally returned to Sea Cliff where we spent several hours talking. It was great!

Sunday morning we drove to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, NY. On the plus side there were some great interactive exhibits, some interesting photos and stories. and, of course, lots of airplanes. I also even found an MB that was being used as a gift-shop display prop, though the jeep looked mostly complete.

On the down side we were approached by an exuberant docent ready to share all the information he could about Charles Lindberg, the museum and more (and more and more and … well, you get the picture). And, he did have some interesting tidbits and stories, but after a while he was just too much. Several times we thanked him for his help, turned and walked away, but then the guy would follow us and start up again! Finally, we just started walking away and he gave up.

Here’s some pics from the museum starting with two more of the jeep:

2014-12-08-cradle-of-aviation-jeep3 2014-12-08-cradle-of-aviation-jeep2A sign marking the beginning of Lindbergh’s flight to Paris near the entrance to the museum:
Continue reading

 
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Wednesday’s Brooklyn Adventures

• CATEGORIES: News This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
2014-12-03-brooklyn

Starting my morning in Brooklyn at Barnes and Nobles. I’d misread the subway, so got off tow stops later than planned. At least I didn’t misread it all the way to Manhattan!

I ran out of time to update you on most of Wednesday’s adventures. However, Ann did post her version of my day on Facebook.

Traveler update. Poor David: it’s dangerous for him to travel without me… To start with, his plane got in at 7amish (an hour late), and included a woman passing out in the aisle next to him (hope it’s not Ebola). He’s gotten almost no sleep OR food in two days. His morning adventure was to visit a grave of a family friend and someone he’s done considerable research on. After a long walk from the train to hotel all the while dragging his bags he faced another long walk to the cemetery, only to find the cemetery much more vast than expected.

And that’s when IT START RAINING.

Undaunted he plodded-on but the grave wasn’t where that dang google map said it should be so he looked it up on the cemetery map, but then it started raining harder. Now my poor soaked traveler recognized an important fact: He should always listen to his wife, but more on that later.

Realizing his folly poor David tried to leave only to find a locked gate. Bewildered, cold, hungry, and soggy, and tired, he used his iPhone to look for an escape route…… but then, it died. In the end he had to trudge his way ALL the way back across the cemetery blinded by foggy rain splattered glasses, alone, all connection to the outside world lost, paranoid the cemetery was acting against him….wanting him to remain forever.

Thankfully, he made it out alive and was able to get a cab right away. He’s now back at his hotel and tucked into a warm bed to sleep while his sweater and only pair of jeans hopefully dry out. Now, I had to recommend a few times that he should:

1. Take more cabs and not kill himself walking all over hell and gone.
2. He should really really get a new phone since he’s been having so much trouble with his current one.
And 3! Take a darn coat. It’s winter and rain is expected in the forecast. My poor guy. While I love being right, heheheee, I don’t love it so much at his expense. Let’s hope the rest of his trip goes better then theses first few hours.

In her explanation, she missed one important encounter I’d forgotten to mention to her . . .

While walking in downtown Brooklyn this morning, some woman walking toward me stopped 20 yards in front of me, lifted her jacket, grabbed her crotch, and shouted “DO YOU WANT TO LICK MY P(female part)Y!?! WELL DO YOU!?! I was pretty shocked! So, was the middle aged woman pushing a stroller with a child in it just in front of me. Both of us froze while the eager, exuberant woman tried to convince us we should sample her wares, “C’MON, DO YA?”

Needless to say I and the stroller-pusshing woman both declined the generous offer and walked purposefully and briskly passed her.

On the bright side, I did have a fantastic burger at the Burger Bistro on 5th Street. They made burgers out of beef, Kobe beef, tuna, chicken, lamb, vegetables, and turkey! I splurged on a Medium rare Kobe burger. It was fantastic. Now, if only they’d made fresh fries.

2014-12-03-burger-bistro

Kobe beef, caramelized onion, chipotle (spicy!) sauce and hot pepper cheese. It was great!

 
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Kaiser Willys Monday – Wednesday Cyber Deal

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

Kaiser Willys has a special cyber Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday) deal! Check out the info here: Cyber Monday Promo Code Link:http://www.kaiserwillys.com/?p=THANKS

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