Bought my husband an old Willys...

[sarahdodgegeek]

My husband, Andydodgegeek, is turning 40 this year. I started out last fall working on having a special saw built for him through Mastermind, which went over spectacularly. But when this deal came up, I had to add to the pile - I mean hell, you only turn 40 once, eh?

It all started this morning, when I was painting a local community center and I get a text.."you got some extra money laying around?" Good lord, I thought.. No money in the budget for another chainsaw right now. But curiosity got the better of me, so i asked what for. Well turns out it wasn't a chainsaw. (1st time for everything)

When Mr. Dodgegeek was just a young pup, his neighbor / friend of his had an only Willys Jeep. This was the jeep that made him like jeeps. Well, his friend passed away back in 2010 and he often wondered what happened to that old jeep. While looking at craiglist this morning, he spotted it. When I got home, we scraped together every piece of foldin' money we had in the house. (I was eyeing up the change jar) It wasn't enough. But we hopped in the old Dodge and headed over anyway, in the hopes of talking the feller out of it for a less than askin price.

We spent over an hour talking to the guy - helluva nice guy, big time into the history of vehicles and a true car lover. After hearing about all the childhood stories, and seeing the passion Andy had for it, he not only took less, he insisted on us leaving with enough money to go out for a good ole broasted chicken dinner at the Brass Rail (chicken is "world famous", ya know)

So, Happy Birthday again, babe...:msp_wub:
(Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon - It's not over yet - his birthday ain't till next week!:msp_unsure

Here's a couple pics. I'm sure he'll post more after he drools over it more tomorrow!

 

[Hedgerow]

Will that thing make it all the way to Arkansas???

Nice find you guys...

 

[dieselfitter]

I don't recall seeing many with a hard top like that. Are the hard tops kinda rare? Better than 9 months out of the year, I would rather have hard top. I used to have a 1951 Willys truck. I really like the way those old Jeeps look. It is amazing where they will go without getting stuck. DF

 

[mga]

it's got nice tires.

is that dual exhaust pipes i see?

 

[Blazin]

Nice!

Dauntless 225???

 

[sarahdodgegeek]

Will that thing make it all the way to Arkansas???

Nice find you guys...

Maybe.. if he leaves tonight :msp_w00t:

 

[sarahdodgegeek]

I'll let Andy give you all the particulars, he's got the whole background history.it is not bone stock though.:cool2:

 

[WKEND LUMBERJAK]

Will that thing make it all the way to Arkansas???

Nice find you guys...

If it will Andy won't be able to walk standing up straight for a few hours. :msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin:

 

[buzz sawyer]

I love it - had one exactly like that in high school! Hurricane 4 engine - just the right size. First gear wasn't syncronized and you had two levers for the transfer case - engage and range. Should have never sold it. There was a hill outside our school we had to walk down to get to the athletic field. In a "hold my beer and watch this" moment, to everone's surprise I drove the jeep down that hill...and then back up again.

Starter button was on the floor as was the headlight high beam switch. The latter cause a problem for me when they moved the high beam switches to the turn signal lever. For a while, every time I switched to high beams I'd get my foot caught in the steering wheel. :hmm3grin2orange:

The Dauntless (Buick) 225 v6 didn't come out until about '69. We had one of those too. it had some early emission controls - air injection reaction. It failed early on and that thing would blow mufflers apart with the backfire, not to mention hearing loss.

Give me the one in the photo any day.

 

[andydodgegeek]

Yes it is sweet!!! My neighbor put a 289 Ford v8 in it back in the late 70's/ early 80's. He also did the spring over back then. This thing looks the same as when I saw it way back when. It still has the same tires on it. I will take a bunch of pics of it after work and try to post them tonight. I am so excited.

 

[Work Saw Collector]

Yes it is sweet!!! My neighbor put a 289 Ford v8 in it back in the late 70's/ early 80's. He also did the spring over back then. This thing looks the same as when I saw it way back when. It still has the same tires on it. I will take a bunch of pics of it after work and try to post them tonight. I am so excited.

Is there a cool paint job in the future, or leave it rustic as is?

 

[andydodgegeek]

Is there a cool paint job in the future, or leave it rustic as is?

The cool paint job is on it.I just couldn't change it, its too cool the way it is. Big thing is to get operational brakes, it didn't have working brakes when I was a kid and they've never been fixed. I will get them taken care of.

 

[Work Saw Collector]

The cool paint job is on it.I just couldn't change it, its too cool the way it is. Big thing is to get operational brakes, it didn't have working brakes when I was a kid and they've never been fixed. I will get them taken care of.

I'm good with that, it does look kool. I was just asking some folks want new paint.

Edit: I love to paint just not very good at it yet.

 

[Trx250r180]

that's the first flat fender iv'e seen with a hard top and doors

 

[andydodgegeek]

that's the first flat fender iv'e seen with a hard top and doors

The cab was built by Willys, it was a firemans special. I never saw another like it.

 

[LegDeLimber]

The cab was built by Willys, it was a firemans special. I never saw another like it.

Are the side pocket looking things for axe or other implements of destruction?

can't tell from the angle of pics but how much clearance do the exhaust and the axle have?
interesting to see full run of pipe.
Way back when, around here you never saw a v8 swap with anything but headers (usually leaking)
dumped into side pipes or just a set of "cherry bombs" hanging from a coat hanger.
- -
you guys seem to be good to/for each other!

 

[hanniedog]

With that metal top I bet it makes for loud ride.

 

[andydodgegeek]

Are the side pocket looking things for axe or other implements of destruction?

can't tell from the angle of pics but how much clearance do the exhaust and the axle have?
interesting to see full run of pipe.
Way back when, around here you never saw a v8 swap with anything but headers (usually leaking)
dumped into side pipes or just a set of "cherry bombs" hanging from a coat hanger.
- -
you guys seem to be good to/for each other!

Yup, the side pockets were for axe's and picks. The exhaust on it right now is going to get replaced. The guy I bought it from slapped it on all hillbilly like to take it to a car show and enter it into a "rap" contest. It is really bad. It still has stock exhaust manifolds. The drivers side is flipped upside-down. I will take some pics and post them up, it looks quite goofy.

 

[andydodgegeek]

With that metal top I bet it makes for loud ride.

For sure, there will be no conversations while driving.

 

[Guido Salvage]

For sure, there will be no conversations while driving.

Ideal wife hauler...