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When I became interested in owning a military jeep a friend of mine knew where one was for sale. We went and looked at it, it really was a poor site, having sat unused in a barn for 25 years. I did not really know that much about jeeps when I looked at it. I was told that it had a title, 4 combat rims (this was a plus), and data plate on glove box and the engine was complete. On the down side the title number did not match data plate on glove box, it had a tailgate, a Sears aluminum top, and a Mack truck bumper with about four trailer hitches and surf rod rack on the front, no military seats or any of the bolt-on accessories, and to top it off the motor was seized. Even after considering all of this was not sure if I wanted it, but I took it anyway. Well the day came (12/27/98) to go pick up the jeep it was snowing pretty hard, and the jeep was in the mountains, I don’t believe that anything could have stopped me from going to pick up the jeep. See picture 1 of jeep when it arrived at home. See picture 2 for nice spacious interior and upgrade seats that it came with. See picture 3 to see that a family of squirrels lived in the engine as it is full of acorns, even the muffler was full I had to shake them out. Well after a little elbow grease it finally looks like a jeep in picture 4. I bought some seat frames and mounted them, went through the gas lines and carb. The risk pin in cylinder 3 was frozen. Fixed that, honed all cylinders, new rings, and battery and she cranked right up first time. Picture 5 shows me riding around.
After a serious evaluation I found that the Mack truck bumper had completely ripped the driver side frame horn (c channel) in half. The frame serial number matched the data plate on glove box. The title number matched the engine block. Running gear is in great shape. Body in desperate need of floor and tail section, but I am going to save it J even tough it will be a lot of work. The jeep is completely disassembled and boxed up. All parts needed have been hunted down and are all boxed up, the frame is on sawhorses and has been repaired, the engine is on a dolly. A decision is made to stop work on jeep and start on trailer. The trailer needs a new floor so I am going to learn how to weld, do metal work and paint on the trailer, so that when I do jeep I will be an expert J.