Assembling a WWII Jeep from scratch took a toll on my body, my marriage, and my house, and I’m working to improve all three. Since I don’t want to show you photos of me working out or going on dates with my hot wife, I’ll focus this article instead on my house, which has been a dumpster fire for over a year thanks to my ambitiously awesome Jeep project.
I’d never categorize my wrenching style as particularly … neat. I’m meticulous and organized in the ways that matter (you can’t complete challenging projects on a tight deadline like I have unless you’re organized), but my workplace often looks like a disaster zone.
Here’s what I mean; this is the worst my suburban LA home got during my brand new-WWII Jeep project:
The thing you see a lot of is blue shop towels. That’s because I was dealing with lots of components that had to be very clean — primarily bearings and brake parts. Grease on brakes or contaminants in bearings can lead to performance/longevity issues, so I was wielding blue towels a lot. Should I have trashed them as soon as I was done using them? Yes. As they say in the popular Hulu Series The Bear, “clean as you go.” I did not.
But I did get the job done while maintaining high standards for quality, so I guess it is what it is.
Laurence and I had to erect a tent at one point when it started raining:
This was the view from our bedroom:
My wife, Elise, loved that.
Eventually, that tent did come down after things became way too hot in there:
And eventually, I completed the Jeep and slowly started cleaning up, revealing the oil stains on what was a brand new concrete deck pad/driveway:
Will those stains ever come out? Probably not. I’ll pressure wash the driveway, but the concrete deck pad (the left side of the photo above) I’ll have to cover with a shiny new wood deck. Elise is excited for that.
I recently gathered a bunch of metal scrap from the build and threw it out. “We’re rich!” I told Elise. “I made $15 on scrap!”
“How much did the gas cost you to get there?” she replied.
She had a fair point.
Still, things are looking better these days. The insane number of boxes from all the parts I ordered off eBay are gone, as is the big pallet on which the Jeep body tub arrived, as are all the wood planks that were shrink-wrapped to the frame to protect it during shipping:
I also managed to sell off a bunch of stuff locally. This big shed that stored my motors and other parts?
It’s gone:
My spare WWII Jeep axles? They’re out of the driveway and went to a local Jeep nut, for free:
The Red Cross Camp that was on our back patio has been dismantled, and I sold it for $40:
In addition, I managed to sell my reference Jeep and my spare engine. After buying them all for a total of around $4000, I sold them as a package for $6000. Not bad; I made The Autopian a couple stacks:
So what does the driveway look like today, with the shed gone, the tent gone, the axles gone, the metal scrap gone, and the reference Jeep gone? Lemme ask Elise to snap me a picture:
So much for that.
The lawn is still toast from all the degreasing Laurence and I did there.
And many of my clothes are ruined forever.
So there’s still work to do. Elise bought me a bunch of clothing for a white hot deal at Costco (Costco’s clothes are somehow … not bad?), and the driveway is clearer than it has been in months. But there’s still a ton of junk on it. I need to clean it all up, because my son is now not only walking, he is running, and he has never once gotten to play in our backyard.
So folks, I’m in the doghouse, but — with the help of my power washer and a bunch of deckboards — I plan to soon make the back area look better than ever. I just need to find time between running a media company and running after a toddler. Hmm …
All photos: David Tracy/The Autopian
Elise (NHRN) has to be a little impressed with your wrenching wizardry.
Costco clothes are good! At least the ones I’ve gotten are. My wife also likes me to get new cloths instead of car parts
At least your wife finally got to meet Detroit David.
It’s like Michigan Assembly all over again.
Speaking from experience, the alkalinity in that degreaser is going to keep the grass from growing back until you neutralize the soil a bit. Soil acidity can be tested so you dont overdo it the other direction
There is a general mathematical proof (silly and non-serious) that can be applied to this:
project vehicles are time times money
project vehicles = time x money
time = money
project vehicles = money^2
money is the root of all evil
money = √(all evil)
money^2 = √(all evil)^2 = all evil
project vehicles = all evil
project vehicles are all evil
I’m sure someone more clever can figure out an extension to wrap the family aspects into this as well.
The more things change…
Now that you’re a father Costco clothing is all you will ever need again. Take your wife on a nice trip somewhere. Cabo San Lucas is a short flight away and you can get a few nights at an all inclusive resort for not too much.
You can take the boy out of Detroit, but you can’t take the Detroit out of the boy!
Seriously, though, for the sake of your marriage you are going to need a dedicated shop space. I don’t know if there is room on that property to build a small shop, or a place you can rent space, or if The Autopian could pony up for a company shop. I’m guessing it would be a no on The Autopian ponying up since you are all fairly spread out across the country.
Also, DT. Genuinely, actually, and with love. Talk to someone about an ADHD diagnois. That level of disorganization and chaos screams of executive disfunction at a diagnosable level. I’m not a doctor, I’m just a dude who also has ADHD and was not diagnosed until my late 30’s, but the chaos here is basically every project I’ve ever attempted multiplied by 10.