A jeepster? Really?

So in August of last year, I was driving home from the sandblasters after blasting the two front fenders from Betty, my 1950 Buick that never seems to get done, when I noticed a Jeep parked in a yard with a for sale sign on it. For some reason, I decided to stop. I've always liked old Jeeps. I owned a 79 CJ for a short time and a wrangler, and this thing looked old. When I got up close I realized it was a Jeepster, and on the surface it really didn't appear to be in bad shape. The sign said 3,000.00, so I decided to take the number down and inquire on the amount of crack the owner smoked to think he would get 3000.00 from a Jeep in this decrepit state. Jeepsters in and of themselves are pretty rare birds, especially up north where under normal circumstances they pretty much rotted away right before the owners eyes. This one was no exception. Thin, thin metal (which I really found out later). It needed work. Luckily, my thought process (at least I thought) was in the right place. I wanted something without a top. Either an S2000 (10,000.00) or an old Jeep (not 10,000.00).

When I called him he seemed pretty open to negotiate. I guess the old Jeepster had been sitting for awhile. A long while. I offered 1500.00. He took it.

Wow. I own a Jeepster.




I am unable to explain the insane chrome swan hood ornament, but I'll assume it was bought from JC Whitney in 1979. The medic-badge on the front was a cool score.

Prior to offering I did look the thing over pretty good. The rear floor section was trashed, the rockers were trashed, as were the rear quarter panel sections behind the tires. No biggie...just lots of welding. The motor was a Dauntless V6, made by Buick, and had be retro'd to an HEI ignition system. The thing fired up, coughed a bit, and I goosed the gas for about 2 minutes or so and it idled right out nicely. Exhaust leaks everywhere, no brakes....but I drove it down the street and back. Not bad.


This is what I was dealing with in the rear cargo section. Lots of rot. The dude that owned this thing looked like he thought he was the galvanized sheet metal - rivet king, because these side patch panels here was just the beginning. Oh, and that's the gas tank fill - a nice 2" pipe cap! The thing was going to need a lot of cutting and welding. Nothing too major, and luckily my thought process was fabricate and make stuff work.

Unfortunately, here's where I made one documentary-grave error - unlike Betty, I did not take before and after pictures of everything I did. I know, I'm a slacker. At the time, I thought it wasn't worth it. Looking back, i wish I had. So in the next post, the Jeep miraculously has new paint and is almost ready to hit the road. What you don't see is that I started the project in August, got the car in paint by late October, let it sit through Christmas, and just finally got back off my butt to finish it up here in January / February. Currently I have the front disc brake conversion to do, rear bumper, and take it down to the muffler shop to have pipe bent up and exhaust ran. Not bad considering the amount of work I did in such a short time.