Sickness, that’s all it could be. Why else would a person want to own so many jeeps.
It all started years ago when my dad was given a non running ’49 CJ-3A. This jeep had at the time a 327 chevy in it and dad and I got it running. WOW what a beast that 327 turned out to be a real runner . Dad actually popped a wheelie in the driveway accidentally while moving it around as the clutch actuation was one of those “all or nothing type”. I tried grading the rocky mountains flat with that dana 41 rear axle but the stock drivetrain and the 327 didn’t get along. Well the upside was that I learned how to rebuild a T-90 3 speed after all the teeth on the input gear mysteriously fell off and pretty much the same experience for the tranfercase low range slider gear. Somehow the dana 41 rear lived through all this . The same could not be said for the dana 25 front which decided to drop the spider gears and run them through the ring and pinion. Fortunately, by this time I was starting to get savvy about finding spare parts that did’nt cost an arm and a leg. One of the junkyard trips in a really crummy part of town I found a Ford GPW. This thing was BEAT it had no engine, the wrong tub, hood cut for a F head engine,the frame had been booger welded back together on all four corners and the front wheels sat at an angle that meant something was either terribly bent or broken. I wanted that jeep BAD. Problem was, it wasn’t for sale. The proprietor (If one could call him that) said “you can’t build a nice jeep out of that thing . I’d have to sell you another whole nice jeep to make that one into something”. I persisted and told him the truth. I told him I did not want a “nice” jeep to show or shine I wanted a jeep that if it rolled over or rubbed a rock it would be no big deal. Someone else must have had a lot of fun in that jeep or perhaps hauled boulders out of the mountains with it. Yeah, it was beat like a rock box on a unloved ’69 Peterbilt dump truck. So I persisted until the guy finally sold it to me probably just to get rid of me. $200 bucks. Thats what my favoite jeep of all time cost me. I sure did’nt get much except a ragged old title and the most worn out jeep I have ever brought back to life.
