I am only the fourth owner of this Jeep. She has spent her life on the West Coast. Judging from the stack of old papers that came with her, original registration was in Santa Fe Springs, CA. I am very interested in reaching the earlier owners or descendants. So far, all my attempts, including DMV record searches, have been unsuccessful. If you know how to research this, please contact me.

I bought her in the spring of 1998. Rust was minimal, and there were no major signs of abuse. Unfortunately, it had a poorly applied coat of tan paint. The tire sidewalls, axles, frame, radiator, engine, gauges, etc. were covered with lots of extra paint. Click here to see the method apparently used for painting.

I never aimed for show quality with my repaint. I was happy if you stood ten feet away and thought it looked good. It was tempting to pull the tub and fix every last little ding and dent. I'm glad I didn't, as I may have gotten bogged down in the details. The front clip needed some attention, so the fenders, grill and hood came off. Here is a shot in the garage with fresh paint, shortly before reinstalling the front clip. The smiling beauty is my daughter, ready to take the Jeep out for a spin:

At an automotive paint shop, the salesman nearly stopped breathing when I had asked about being able to cover old paint and rust spots. He was used to dealing with high quality multistage paint jobs. I thought I'd have to give him CPR. At an industrial paint store, I found Hammerite paint perfectly suited for me. (For autobody work, purchase the smooth finish, not their hammered finish. Hammerite paint was originally created in England, so oddly enough my Jeep started leaking oil as soon as it was repainted.) It covered the less than perfect body surface underneath, especially the rust pits in the floors, and may even be holding the Jeep together in some places. After a couple of years, there are a few minor chips here and there from the kids and the dog, as expected. I wouldn't have it any other way. Considering that my prep work consisted mainly of walking past the Jeep while thinking sandpapery thoughts, I'm very pleased with this paint.

Under the floor and cowl, some of the original Michigan Yellow paint is still visible. I left it there for future historians. Try as I might, I just couldn't bring myself to use that color. I spent a lot of time trying to pick a shade of paint. A local refuse hauler paints their drop bins in a certain shade of green I liked. One of these dumpsters was behind the paint shop, so I walked out back to match that shade in Hammerite. I affectionately refer to this paint as Dumpster Green.

On the firewall, above the motor, there was apparent damage from a previous engine change. It looked like the engine had swung and hit the flange where the cowl and firewall are spotwelded together. After reading how rainwater ran down the cowl and collected in the #4 spark plug well, I took another look. The flange had been bent up to divert the water away from the engine. Willys even offered an optional gutter that bolted under the hood hinge to divert the water. Here is a side shot showing this simple fix by one of the previous owners:

If you look at my Projects page, you'll see I'm always puttering on something. Everybody has an opinion about such modifications, but I've tried to limit my "Improvements" to bolt-on items. Someday I may want to put things back to bone stock 1948 conditions. Probably not, but you never know.