Online publications sometimes work with sponsors. Over at the Autopian, they landed a sponsorship deal with eBay, but due to an unguarded comment, fulfilling the sponsor’s requirements turned out to be something of a handful. Build a brand-new, completely WW2-spec Jeep using only parts sourced from the auction site, and drive it to Moab for an event. [David Tracy] set to work, and the resulting write-up is a build of epic proportions.
Of course, many Jeeps have been built since the war, not least by Willys and its successors, but also by enthusiasts. You can even buy a modern-day visible derivative of the original made in America by the Indian company Mahindra, which has been licensed to build Jeeps since the 1940s. So his claim of making the first new WW2-spec Jeep since the war may be difficult to substantiate, but it’s certain that his attention to period detail is exceptional. For example, most people would either use a more modern engine or find a second-hand original. Instead, he sources a brand new block from France and builds a new engine from scratch. And is that the infamously flawed early Jeep steering system we spy? The vehicle uses second-hand parts for other major drive train components, but the chassis and body are made in the Philippines.
An early Jeep is a simple vehicle, but following his build, you realise the power of the manufacturing industry, as so many individual parts and assemblies must come together to make the finished machine. Some of us have had old cars in our lives, so we appreciate this very well. The moment of completion comes with very little testing time to spare, and he’s off on the long drive from LA to Moab. That in itself could make an epic write-up, and yet again, we recognise the combination of willpower and worry. All of this has made us idly want one of these wildly impractical but seductive vehicles, but we know it will pass. If you aren’t interested in authenticity, you can always meld a Jeep with a Prius.
I was searching for a UTV and came across Roxor. Its a pretty cool vehicle, essentially a WW2 jeep, with a few modern niceties. Sadly it’s not street legal
Jeeps, Ambassadors, Vespas, Enfields, India gets all the cool stuff.
It is in some states. In my state, in my town there is a Roxor registered like a side by side or a motorcycle. He runs it all over town. I see it at the hardware store sometimes.
Well you can change a tag and a plate here or there and then it is
Don’t swing under the apple tree with anyone else but me—-PUT THAT LIGHT OUT!
I hope he doesn’t live far from Moab. I learned to drive (in my very early teens) in one of these and it struggled to drive 50mph (and felt very unsafe doing that because the steering was so loose.)
Whew that car was a lot of work to keep running. I feel like cars have doubled in reliability every 20 years since then.
uggghhhh 900 miles of driving. We towed the jeep for anything over 40 miles because it was so uncomfortable on big highways. I can’t imagine driving that far in such a rattletrap.
They had vacuum driven window wipers: they ran real fast when you were coasting but slowed almost to nothingness when you were going up a hill. The designers had thought about this and included a thumb lever so you could run them by hand, because taking one hand off the steering wheel so you could see seemed like a great idea I guess.
Vacuum driven windshield wipers were introduced in the 1920s. They were common, not being phased out until the 1960s.
If I remember correctly, the 1960 Rambler Ambassador had a foot driven windshield washer pump.
’61 VW Bug had a hand pump on the dash.
One feature in my 1974 mercury Capri I really enjoyed was a foot pedal windshield. Just a little rubber puck that pressurized the reservoir.
I owned a 1941 WW2 Willys Jeep and yes the steering was VERY loose until I put a steering stabilizer on it and then that little 4 banger ran over 60mph on the hiway!! Then the rear gears failed and I had to get a 5-38 front and rear gears and then it would climb anything but the top end was about 55mph wound out. I was surprised Sears and JCWhitney still had original parts for it. I also had a local Chrysler Dealer who was around since the 30’s and he had stuff on the shelf that was part numbers correct for my Jeep!!
Someone really likes to say epic a lot. Don’t dilute the word, epic is a very strong word. You sound like a dork using all the time, epic dude.
Have you ever had bacon that you would describe as epic, like this is some freaking epic bacon dude with a side of awesome sauce
I had fantasies of getting a decent WWII willy’s and converting it to electric for local driving. Fortunately I came to my senses, but now with this thing basically providing me all brand new parts it’s such a good baseline…
I assume that you could get a VIN tag off any old Jeep in a wrecking yard and get away with it. Until somebody actually checked.
Not so simple anymore.
In my youth, wrecking yards had file cabinets full of VIN tags/titles for sale, no questions.
These days they can’t sell a car to the shredder without a title.
Getting rid of an untitled car can come down to ‘sawzall’ and putting the bits into trunks of other cars.
Otherwise it’s a pile of paperwork, more money then the scrap is worth.
Then maybe, just to shred it.
You’d have to buy the whole junk old jeep (and get the title) then ‘rebuild it’ around the VIN tag.
That would be perfectly legal, but average shady.
Common among high dollar old cars common enough to have sheet metal available.
You’d be insane to molest a willy’s like that.
Just do it a Suzuki or something else disposable.
Yeah they’ve made such things a tremendous pain in the ass lately, and all of this has benefited the world in no way whatsoever. You used to have a loophole for titling a dirt bike you’ve converted to street legal by licensing it in Vermont, they closed that a while ago.
Jeremy Makes Things EV swapped an old Jeep, it works really well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNF0ou4KHi8
This is HaD. Gimme download side for tech drawings, assembly plans and latest software (or cushions as they were called back in the days).
This has been done before by other people, however it shows how many parts are resdily available. Ernest Baals and his father did this over 20 years ago in NJ just as an experiment. Bought every reproduction part they could get and then built an MB. Parts fit was a pain of course as so many reproduction parts are a wee bit off from factory specs.