- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I ran across an ad yesterday for a "1943 Jeep Willy" with just one pic of the old title, which showed the VIN# starting with "GPW".
I reached out and said I'd like to see it, showed up with cash in hand and was pleasantly surprised. From a distance it looks rough, but that's due to the multiple, shitty paint jobs that are peeling. There really isn't a ton of terrible rust and it's actually pretty straight. It's the cleanest Flatty I've ever bought!
It is a genuine MB (military) Willys with a killer, homebuilt half cab cut off an old pickup. It has some funny additions like the carb hump on the hood, the windshield visor, the KILLER bench seat (it's so comfortable!) and the perfectly fitted rear step bumper. It has all the MB features like the headlights that rotate into the engine compartment, the shovel mount and indents under the drivers door,the tool storage in the rear wheel wells and FULL FLOAT rear axles!!
The door windows were plexiglass and mostly shattered. I love the dual Jerry can mounts and the Red triangle (made out of a Stop sign) for a slow moving vehicle! 😆
The PO said it was last running and driving about 10 years ago and I believe it. It seems like it was well maintained, the PO used it for hunting.
I did my best to air up the tires, but a couple of them didn't want to hold air. It was work to get it loaded as my HF winch on the trailer didn't want to do anything either. I had to use a short come-along.
Once it was home, I filled a trash can with all the junk in the cab, in the bed, tool boxes, under the seats, etc. Then I got the hose out and went to town flushing out all the wasp nests and junk. I cleaned up the bench seat and compared to how it looked before, it turned out amazing! Pledge FTW!!
The leaking tires were bothering me, I can't roll it around very well so I pulled the 265/75/16 BFG Muds and Black steel wheels off the CJ5 (it's not going anywhere) and bolted them on the MB... and holy shit, night & day difference. They barely fit, but look amazing! 😍
Next up I need to get a battery, see if it'll turn over... then see about getting fresh gas in it, one way or another. And I'll go from there, see what it takes to get running.
I reached out and said I'd like to see it, showed up with cash in hand and was pleasantly surprised. From a distance it looks rough, but that's due to the multiple, shitty paint jobs that are peeling. There really isn't a ton of terrible rust and it's actually pretty straight. It's the cleanest Flatty I've ever bought!
It is a genuine MB (military) Willys with a killer, homebuilt half cab cut off an old pickup. It has some funny additions like the carb hump on the hood, the windshield visor, the KILLER bench seat (it's so comfortable!) and the perfectly fitted rear step bumper. It has all the MB features like the headlights that rotate into the engine compartment, the shovel mount and indents under the drivers door,the tool storage in the rear wheel wells and FULL FLOAT rear axles!!
The door windows were plexiglass and mostly shattered. I love the dual Jerry can mounts and the Red triangle (made out of a Stop sign) for a slow moving vehicle! 😆
The PO said it was last running and driving about 10 years ago and I believe it. It seems like it was well maintained, the PO used it for hunting.
I did my best to air up the tires, but a couple of them didn't want to hold air. It was work to get it loaded as my HF winch on the trailer didn't want to do anything either. I had to use a short come-along.
Once it was home, I filled a trash can with all the junk in the cab, in the bed, tool boxes, under the seats, etc. Then I got the hose out and went to town flushing out all the wasp nests and junk. I cleaned up the bench seat and compared to how it looked before, it turned out amazing! Pledge FTW!!
The leaking tires were bothering me, I can't roll it around very well so I pulled the 265/75/16 BFG Muds and Black steel wheels off the CJ5 (it's not going anywhere) and bolted them on the MB... and holy shit, night & day difference. They barely fit, but look amazing! 😍
Next up I need to get a battery, see if it'll turn over... then see about getting fresh gas in it, one way or another. And I'll go from there, see what it takes to get running.
