1944 Willy’s jeep restoration

Aim

Two aims- to bring a piece of WW2 history back to life and forfill a life long dream

When I was a young boy I used to watch all the classic war films with my Grandad. Together we would spend hours watching the greats like “Kelly’s heroes” or “a Bridge to far” and as a young boy I would watch the films and be lost in the Hollywood excitement of the explosions on screen. My Grandad would afterwords tell me what it was like growing up in the war time and having Unexploded bombs around his house and how he used to pick them up and put them in a vice to chop up for their outer case that he would sell to all the school boys. He would tell me how after the war the US army was selling all the surplus stock and part of this was the rows upon rows of WW2 jeeps that didn’t make it to the fight . At this point the us army was selling a row of jeeps for £80 a row and the farm my Grandad was working at would buy a row so they could carry the hay in off the fields. 

I remember listening to every word of his story and thinking how fascinating it was that he could actually drive around in the same vehicles that were in the films we just watched dodging explosions and fighting the war! This was where the love of these little jeeps started. When I was a little older my Grandad bought me a magazine Which contained a poster of a WW2 jeep which hung on my wall for years. Every night I would look at it and say “one day I will get one of them”.

The dream of the jeep sadly got put to one side for the next 13 years as sadly we lost Grandad and life took over until I was one day filling my car with petrol and saw a jeep pull up beside me. It was in a perfectly restored version of the jeeps I saw in the films all the years before and like a old friend the dream had returned! I approched the gentleman driving the jeep and asked him where did he get the car from and with a look of “who’s asking” the man replied “I restored them”. I paused for a moment then continued to talk to the man and found out not only does this man restore the cars to museum standard and has done a number of jeeps in his time that he also lives less then 5 minuets from my house! And with this chance encounter the clock started again of the countdown to my little jeep! 

Sadly since my initial interest started in jeeps allot of them have gone to the scrapyard in the sky and this has now made them a rare vehicle. Adding to the rarity of the vehicle is also the fact that people have jumped onto the jeep market and have driven the price up of them. Now as soon as you put Willy’s in front of jeep the price goes so high it prices people with the passion but not the means to own one out of the market. This is why another 18 months went by since I saw my new restoration friend at a garage. Then like a old Hollywood movie it happened.... I was at a point where I have researched every jeep website and car sales website there could be and thought I would try one last time to find one. As I was flicking through the usual I noticed a jeep not getting any attention on eBay. As I looked I could see that underneath there was the car I had been looking for but on the surface there was years of facelifts and modifications. The engine was in the back in bits and the price was the usual top end but I thought why not try another one. I contacted the seller to enquire and found that he imported the car as part of a job lot from America and it is not his usual car he goes for but he had to take it as part of the lot he went for. I explained to him not to worry I will take this problem off his hands and he wouldn’t have to pay me or thank me for doing it! Sadly this initial tactic didn’t quite work and after some much needed negotiations the top end unacceptable price was a price I could live with. like the old dog in a rescue Home that nobody wanted the tired little jeep was mine. I went straight away to arrange it’s final 220 miles to get to me and after a weeks wait I finally got to see a jeep come through my gates. 

Now starts the hard part! 

I have had the gentleman from the petrol station (now to be referred to as Dave the jeep man aka Dave the jeep) to inspect it. He has verified it is an original WW2 Jeep. 

I have paid and had completed a full strip down of the car and a list compiled of all the parts needed and all the parts we can keep to get it to factory original. 

This is where your support comes in! 

Dave the jeep has given me an estimate of around £15-£20k to get the jeep back to original and back to how it should be. I have already spent a considerable amount purchasing the vehicle and will continue to finance the project personally until it’s completed. All I ask is if you read this and remember when you wanted to make a dream come true or even if your a fan of a Jeep and would like another one on the road. Help me along my way. 

This project closed unsuccessfully on 8th March 2018