Nadda Truck
To be perfectly honest, Roy didn't send us pictures of his '51 Willys pickup for this article, he sent in a mess of pictures of his '61 CJ-5. But because we were just tired of looking at CJ-5s, we chose to run his truck instead. While he didn't tell us much about it at all, we can see how it was converted for a flatbed at some point in its life and has a tweaked passenger-side fender, but the pickup is mostly stock otherwise. If any of the other pictures included are any indication, Roy will be basically restoring this truck to like-new condition, with a few minor improvements. That is, if he can ever get his CJ-5 out of the garage.
Garage-Built Lift
And we don't mean the springs and shocks, either. This '81 CJ-5 was sent to us by Rob of Atomic 4x4, and it received a 5.7L Vortec V-8 backed by a NV4500 and Dana 300 transfer case. The rear axle (not pictured) is a Dana 60, while the Dana 44 front came out of a '78 Dodge military truck. The tires are 39.5-inch Super Swamper Boggers on 16.5-inch black steel wheels. We have no idea where the Jeep is from or who it belongs to because Rob only tells us it's his employee's Jeep. What we do know is that they've got a very unique home-built shop lift for doing all that work (note the 55-gallon drums).
M715-M725 projects
OK, so it isn't in a garage. It isn't one project. Heck, most of the picture is of a running, driving truck. Adam Smith of Zanesville, Ohio, sent us this picture of his military fullsize Jeeps. The 715 is from Pennsylvania and got a 6.2L diesel, while the M-725 is slated for a gas V-8. The 725 is a basket case, with the frontend just propped up for show. There are dents in the cab, the axle has run away, and being from the coast of Virginia, has a fair amount of rust as well. What keeps the 725 a project is the 715's jealousy. Whenever Smith works on the 725, the 715 breaks down, necessitating more care and feeding.
Work In Regress
Richard Buchanan of Fort McCoy, Florida, sent us photos of his unimproved '78 CJ-7. Richard scored it "as a mess" for $450. He's since dumped $1,500 into it to get it running by rebuilding the suspension, wiring, and so on. Still on the table are new ring and pinions, fixing the four-wheel drive, and a ton of other stuff that places this Jeep smack in the realm of project vehicle.
Cold Kids and a Cool 2A Douglas...
Cold Kids and a Cool 2A
Douglas Harris of Simsbury, Connecticut, sent us as many pictures of kids with his'48 CJ-2A in the snow as he did pictures of the Jeep without kids or snow. We can only assume that one of the kids is his four-year-old son who loves reading Jp Magazine. Douglas' Jeep has a Dana 44 rear with...
(continue)the stock front...
(continue)the stock front axle and 11-inch drums rather than the stock 9-inchers. It also got a 2.5-inch Rancho lift with new H shackles, a Saturn overdrive on the Spicer 18, and a Warn M6000 winch on the front bumper. The flathead 134 and T-90 still transfer power downstream to the 31x10.50R15 BFG MTs.
Ice Oddity From Otsego, Minnesota,...
Ice Oddity
From Otsego, Minnesota, where the winters are long and the Jeeps appear to be narrow, comes Doug Jackson's uni-passenger '48 CJ-2A. The narrowed flattie runs a Chevette four-cylinder engine, narrowed axles, and a body and frame narrowed 13 inches. The black flattie next to it sits on an FC-150 frame and runs a 225 V-6 and power steering.
Scrounger Most people scrounge...
Scrounger
Most people scrounge the junkyard for parts, but Aubrey Hounshell of Hilo, Hawaii, scrounges for whole Jeeps. Aubrey's '80 CJ-7 was nabbed for $800, made to run, and given its camo paint job. The gray '70 CJ-5 dented Aubrey's wallet for only $500, but most of the bolts and nuts were fused with rust and needed to be sawed off. Other than that, the '70 just needed a driveshaft to be a runner.
Wrangler Wrebirth We ran...
Wrangler Wrebirth
We ran a contest to win a new Premier Power welder back in 2003, with the most miserable story taking the prize. W.O. Vinson of Alma, Arkansas, won hands down after his Vortec V-8-powered '79 CJ-7 floated away on the Mulberry River.
(continue)W.O. was able to...
(continue)W.O. was able to rebuild the frame, salvage the axles and Chevy drivetrain, and installed a '90 Wrangler body. And that Premier Power welder is proudly mounted under the hood.