How One Man Assembled The World’s Most Complete Collection of Jeep Grilles

David Adams has a 50-foot wall covered in Jeep grilles. One of every model, including some “cousins” from before Jeep ever existed and as interpreted by licensed automakers across the globe, all the way through 2021. Even the most hardcore enthusiasts of the brand are likely to get stumped trying to identify each one.

It’s probably the rarest collection of Jeep grilles in the world, and yet it’s not his most prized artifact. “My kinda crown jewel is I actually have a World War II MB [grille] that’s hanging in my kitchen,” he said. Known across the online Jeep and off-roading communities as The Gimpy Jeep Guy, Adams has an unparalleled conversation piece.

“In 2018, somebody posted up this WWII MB Jeep grille and said ‘hey, what do you guys think this is worth?'” Adams didn’t think it looked like much. “I said it may be worth a hundred bucks, and the guy private-messaged me and said ‘would you give me a hundred dollars for it?’ I said sure.” It might have looked like scrap, but its history was priceless.

“If you look at it, this grille has seen some shit,” he said. “It’s bent, and it’s twisted, and it’s mangled, and it’s rusted. It’s pretty rough,” Adams told me. “They found this Jeep that was buried outside of the city of Kharkov,” he explained. During WWII, the city was a major industrial center and rail link for the Russians, making it the site of several major battles. “When the German 3rd Army was surrounded in Stalingrad by the Russians, the Germans kept trying to break in and free their trapped army, and one of the battles that happened was in the [Third] Battle of Kharkov. This Jeep at some point was probably hit by artillery or something like that, and was pretty much destroyed and buried and left there for the next 80 years. And then, in early 2018, these guys found it, dug it up, and about the only part left salvageable on it was pretty much the grille,” Adams said.

Photo: David Adams

“That grille was built by Americans. It was shipped to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program. So it was driven into war by Soviets, destroyed by Nazis, and then spent 80 years in the Ukrainian soil before I repatriated it and brought it home.”

The Wall

Adams, a retired former history teacher, chooses to live in the Jeep Guy paradise of Utah to be close to great off-roading. His Jeeps have been modified to accommodate his physical disability, a condition similar to Multiple Sclerosis called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease that causes nerve damage in the arms and legs. He’s still got his first CJ-7, and it’s been joined by others. “I have a 1961 Jeep Fleet Van,” he says, listing his vehicular inventory – think of a boxy version of a Forward Control model. “Those were originally postal delivery vans that were built on the Jeep chassis. And I got one of those and I’m making it into a handicap van for me.”

That’s cool already, but the coolest part of that project is what you won’t be able to see. “Literally everything under this van is brand new,” Adams said. “We were trying to figure out what drivetrain we wanted to put in,” but they didn’t wind up with what you’d expect. “And then Greg [Henderson, builder and owner of Unofficial Use Only] is like ‘You know what? I could get you a stripped-down Mahindra for ten grand.” The shortened frame and powertrain from a Roxor – basically a licensed version of the CJ7 built in India – is under Adams’ van, and the Mahindra grille is on the garage wall as a weird little branch of the family tree.

“I’ve got an original Ford GP grille, I’ve got a prototype Bantam BRC 40, I got a prototype, a reproduction from Willys MA, and then of course I’ve got the WWII flat grille – the stamped grille, all the CJs, all the Wagoneers,” Adams told us. “I’ve got a lot of really, really rare stuff. I got a CJV-35/U that [is] incredibly rare.” That one’s a deep Jeep cut – just 1,000 were made in early 1950 for the Marines during the Korean Conflict. According to this CJ3APage.com article, it was “a waterproofed, radio Jeep.” Based on a CJ-3A, the CJ-35/U (U for underwater) could operate completely submerged ight up to the driver’s neck for temporary periods. It had tall intake and exhaust snorkels, and the ignition and electrical systems were extensively sealed from water. To keep water out of the engine and drivetrain components, a driver-operated pressurization system (instead of the normal vacuum) was activated to counteract any intrusion that would normally seep past seals. The distinctive grilles of these reconnaissance Jeeps feature protruding headlight guard rings, and that’s how to spot it on Adams’ wall.

An RV-sized garage means the wall itself is gigantic; It’s 13 feet tall and stretches for 50 feet of length. As Adams ticks through his collection, there’s even the rare CJ-10, which served as an aircraft tug for the U.S. military and as a consumer pickup truck outside the U.S. (like Australia).

The full grille collection, 61 items in all, is a sight to behold:

The most Jeep story ever

Things escalate quickly for the Jeep owner, and Adams’ grille collection is no different. “I felt like, okay, I’ll get some of the major grilles, you know, maybe ten or so, whatever. Maybe get some tailgates, you know, that might be kind of fun. And then it just kind of snowballed and it just kept going and kept going.”

The first grille was just a whim. “I actually was driving one day, and I saw this old Jeep grille literally sitting, leaning up against a brick wall, a rock wall in somebody’s yard.” Cue the smoky, wheels-locked panic stop. “I thought, oh, that’s really cool,” Adams said. “I literally pulled in and knocked on this random door.” The grille was from an early 1950s Willys pickup, which may be why it got Adams’ attention in the first place, since he had one of his own. Like a cat hoarder, the collection soon expanded, and the plan was … there was no plan.

He went for the most obvious first. “I started looking for some early CJ grilles and early flat-fender stuff, and CJ-7, and trying to find some World War II grilles,” Adams said. He soon had a conundrum on his hands, since the weirdest Jeeps are some of the most interesting. He added Jeepster, Commando, all the early CJs, someone even gave him a YJ grille, and despite the low status of the original square-light Wrangler, he accepted it. [Ed Note: I take offense to that! – Proud YJ Owner]. The CJs are easy enough to spot, but there’s so much more. Other old stuff includes the M38, the military successor to the original flat-fender models, and its replacement, the M151 MUTT. Reproductions of the original Bantam prototype and Ford GP hang proudly.

And where do you go from there? You enter the coliseum of the Full-Size Jeep (FSJ). “I had an original Gladiator grille,” not the Gladiator we know today, “the original FSJ trucks and Wagoneers, with a little chromed insert in the middle.” Full-size Jeeps are well-represented with several versions of Wagoneer, Gladiator, and military M175 grilles. There’s new stuff, too. At least three different XJ grilles, including the quad-lamp XJ Wagoneer are there. All the Grands show up; WJ, ZJ, WK, and WK2. There’s that Roxor grille, and a Mitsubishi, too.

With no more room on the wall, the grille collection is complete. But Adams seems to always be collecting something. There’s a tailgate collection on the other garage wall, and he’s never far from something Jeep-y. Adams is always up to something interesting; from writing books, appearing on reality TV shows (he was a competitor on Season 2 of Truck Night), or being deeply involved in the Jeep enthusiast community. Don’t be surprised when you see a cool, very green, handicap-equipped Fleetvan showing up soon.

Top photo: David Adams