Sitting in my driveway is a car-sized box from the Philippines containing a brand new World War II Jeep body. In the back of my Chevy pickup is a brand new frame, also from the Philippines. The next big package to arrive will be a brand new Go-Devil engine. Yes, I mean “brand new” — these parts, and darn near any part of a World War II Jeep — are still in production, a fact that led me to a crazy idea that I casually mentioned to my friends at eBay: “What if I tried building an entire World War II Jeep… from scratch.” The idea faded away, and I continued focusing on my work here at The Autopian… until I got an email from eBay.
This all began last summer, when eBay invited me to drive some off-road vehicles in Colorado. I fell in love with a Lexus GX, and began missing my Jeep XJ; it was a great trip. After getting to know the eBay team, I was later invited to Las Vegas, where I got to see my very first Formula One race. It was during this race, in the swanky viewing lounge where journalists got to eat endless food while watching the action, that I chatted with eBay about just how much stuff I buy from their site.
Seriously, let me go to eBay right now and just pull down my latest orders. Here is some diff oil and a badge+adhesive for my BMW i3:
Here’s a charging cable for my i3, plus suspension parts and a timing cover for a Nissan NV200 taxi:
Here’s an oil pan for that NV200 taxi, plus another charger for my i3, and there’s a special hub puller tool for my 1954 Willys CJ-3B:
Here’s an exhaust for the aforementioned taxi, plus some parts for a Jeep YJ whose gas smell I was desperately trying to mend before the Jeep starred at my wedding ceremony:
I could keep going, but then it would become too apparent that I clearly have a problem.
Anyway, after showing eBay just how much car-stuff I buy on their site, I mentioned, semi-jokingly: “I bet I could build an entire World War II Jeep from scratch using parts from eBay; boy that’d be fun.” I then showed the team the Willys Overland MB body listed on their site. We all agreed it’s extremely cool:
After watching the exciting Formula One race, I drove my Rivian R1S loaner car back home to LA,and continued writing stories and managing the website you’re now reading. To my surprise, a few weeks later, eBay got in touch with me. Remember that comment I’d made about building a World War II Jeep from scratch? Well, eBay wanted to know if I was interested in actually doing it, and if I was, they were going to support it.
“YEEEHAWWWWW!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, calling Jason and Matt right away to tell them the news.
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You see, ever since starting The Autopian, wrenching has had to take a back seat as I built up the website, hired writers, edited, set editorial standards, helped grow membership, help grow our social media following, tried writing whenever I could, managed who went to which media events, handled various crises, and on and on. Running a company, even a small one, is a lot. Between that and the birth of my baby boy, I’ve simply had no time to work on cars.
But now things are different. With eBay’s support, working on cars is now a significant part of my job. I now have a great excuse to delegate tasks while I build an entire World War II Jeep from scratch.
Wow that makes me a bit anxious writing that. Building a brand new WWII Jeep from the ground up is going to be, without question, the hardest wrenching task I’ve ever taken on, and believe me, I’ve done some challenging projects in my day. Just look at these:
The last two videos above were of my Moab Easter Jeep Safari projects, which I used to do annually, but haven’t since… 2019. Now, after such a long absence, I’m bringing it back in the ultimate way.
But I have to be honest: I’m anxious and nervous and excited and full of all sorts of other feelings. I have until April 1 to pull off the most challenging build of my life, and not in a shop, not with a giant team of technicians, and not with a huge amount of time.
During the peak of production, World War II Jeeps came out of the Willys Overland factory every couple of minutes. But those vehicles were built using specialized tools, their engines came in fully assembled, and there was a huge team of workers. This is going to be me and my hand tools in my driveway, and I’ve got to build it all. From scratch. All while keeping an eye on the website for which I am the editor-in-chief.
I’ll be describing my full plan in a subsequent article, because pulling this off is going to require extreme planning. This is a massive, massive undertaking. And as nervous and anxious as I am, I’m also extremely excited and grateful that eBay is supporting something so beautifully ridiculous. Here at The Autopian it’s super important that the brands we do business with are ones we believe in, and I know that, were it not for eBay, many of us enthusiasts would have a really, really hard time finishing our car projects. As you saw in my screenshots above, I use eBay all the time, not just because the really hard-to-find-stuff is there, but also because I can get white-hot deals on things like suspension bits (like from the Detroit Axle brand I mentioned before); it helps that, if I buy a part that’s covered by eBay’s “Guaranteed Fit” program, it either fits my car or I can send it back for free.
This is about the most perfect wrenching situation I could possibly imagine; I get to spend months working on the iconic Jeep that started it all, I’m being supported by a brand that does a lot for car enthusiasts like you and me, and above all: I get to give many of you, dear readers, the greasy, oily, wrenchy content that brought many of you here in the first place.
Expect updates on this build… pretty much constantly between now and April.
[Ed note: David mentioned the idea of building a brand new WWII Jeep to the team at eBay, and they loved the idea so much they said, “How can we help?” Their support and David’s Jeep-obsession are the fuel behind this crazy build. – MH]
A few years back, I bought a CJ5 in pieces. The previous owner had taken it fully apart to restore and had to move out West for work. I basically got the frame with attached axles and a pile with the rest of the stuff. The assembly was not too hard. I bought a brand new wiring harness as the old one had been cut up during disassembly. I would love to do exactly what David is doing.
We officially have confirmation that David Tracy is a direct descendant of Radar O’Reilly.
(This comment would work a lot better if I could embed pictures *HINT HINT*)
Exactly what I was thinking.
I posted the same thing. Now we need to nickname David as Radar.
Radar (not his real name)
Pretty sure that’s his EBay ID.
At least is not rusted (yet).
What will happen to the car after is built and moab’d? go to Ebay or Autopian headquarters or David will keep it?
If the later, then it will give us another future story about how he needs to sell another car…
I smell a member drive!
This should be next year’s Pebble Beach ride, especially after DT’s article complaining about the lack of Jeeps.
One thing David may learn during this process is that his Angeleno neighbors aren’t quite as tolerant as the ones he had in Michigan. I hope there’s plenty of working space on Galpin’s back forty
If his house has a double wide door to the backyard or something, I’m voting for using the living room to build, and then rolling the thing out of the house when done. He could work on the Jeep while cooking, watching the infant, etc, and no worries about weather or time or neighbors.
Before I was around, my parents had a rental house where someone rebuilt a motorcycle in the living room, and left a 10 foot oil stain. But since this is all new parts, it should be pretty clean. He could also then brag that “my kid practiced walking, not by holding onto furniture, but by holding onto a WWII Jeep. His first steps were from the Jeep to the tool box.”
I seriously doubt Elise (nhrn) would allow that! too many sharp edges for the kiddo to get caught on
Reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a LARGER house when he retired. Guest bedroom became the electronics shop, wood shop in the TV room, and metal shop in the den. A really swank place to work though I have to imagine the terrazzo tiles made leveling the machines a bit trickier.
“Mr Architect, design a big house for a solitary misanthrope with a lot of hands-on hobbies.”
He and his wife cruise around town on their tandem recumbent bike. 😀
He could plasti-dip all the parts to make them child safe.
How’s that vehicle reduction plan going, David?
Company cars and spouse cars don’t count. It’s a loophole! 🙂
Does ENHRN buy that excuse while said company vehicle is being built in their driveway?
This one trick allows you to hoard dumpy cars…
Then you’re going to eat it like Klinger, right?
Only if he dresses like Klinger as well
Hey, Klinger had style.
I’m still amazed by the fact that Klinger managed to purchase a fur coat on a corporal’s pay while in a war zone
I think that came from his uncle’s WWII section 8 wardrobe. How his uncle acquired it, that i dont know
Why hundreds of rats Tailor experts in Korea.
No he didn’t.
First thing I thought of!
Somebody please explain the reference to David.
Some parents get their kids Legos. Some parents get themselves Legos.
I love this. That being said, I feel like this might be easier than some of your old projects. No rust and (hopefully) no trench foot.
Or Hansa virus.
You only get that from working on Borgwards.
“I could keep going, but then it would become too apparent that I clearly have a problem.”
Mercedes… are you there?
Shh…
Back in the day you could have sourced everything from the J.C. Whitney catalog.
When I was 10 or so, my father got J.C. Whitney catalogs in the mail. I really wanted him to order a Lotus Elite kit — I remember some sports car magazines carried ads for CKD Elites and Sevens — but he wouldn’t go for it. Then I saw the Whitney catalog and figured out a whole Jeep could be assembled off its pages. Probably used the same suppliers back then.
He didn’t buy that idea, either, but I still have the desire.
Or the whole thing from the back of a comic book for $50
7 Months? I’ve seen people do it in 4 MINUTES!
I came here to post the same thing. Yeah there are 7 or 8 of them but if we are generous it shouldn’t take DT more than an hour.
He is estimating based on his experience with rust on rust parts
One big question: how do you get it registered in California? Does it even have a VIN number?
Does Beau have a ranch somewhere it could live on after its Moab debut?
Along with hundreds of pets of children
You register it as a Specially Constructed or Modified Vehicle
Could he find a completely rusted hulk and transfer the VIN from that?
Listen to me “Could David find a completely rusted Jeep”, duh, of course he could, the question is; could he be persuaded to swap the VIN rather than trying to ‘rescue’ it.
Very cool! Rick Russell who used to put out the sidekick off-road maps did something similar back in the day. He built a CJ8 that he called the AJ8 (aftermarket jeep). He and a few others did the vast majority of the build during Moab Easter Jeep Safari, so 5 days? His idea was there were so many aftermarket parts out there you could build a totally new jeep and he was right! Obviously thats not exactly the same as build a WW2 jeep from used parts. I wish you luck, I know you can do it!
Not much rust, 60 year old wires, and rats nests so that will make it a bit easier.
True. In order to even things out, I vote that Torch needs to build the entire wiring harness.
Can you build a wiring harness with a chainsaw?
These early military jeeps don’t have tailgates. Imagine what Torch can do with the entire rear panel as a blank canvas for taillights! Late Chevy Vega ones converted to functional amber blinkers! Mini ones switched side to side so the arrows point the right way!
All the switches and controls will be mounted on whichever body panel Torch is nearest to at that time.
This has got to be the most David Tracy build ever. And by extension, the most Autopian build ever.
I, for one, am looking forward to updates on the project as they come along.
And if they have to call an ambulance for any wrenching-related injuries, I’ve already let the EMT’s out there know that his blood type is 0W-20.
There won’t be any rust, so DT will have to compensate by including some Shower Spaghetti
Delmar can and will handle the interior foodstuff-placement duties. And also the dooty-placement ones.
I think we should have a build-off, Mercedes buys all the parts to assemble a smart roadster, and then they get put through a bunch of “challenges”
I assume the process will be mildly disconcerting since you’ll be using all new parts which are much less likely to fight you. 🙂
Quick question: what happens to the Jeep when it’s done and you’ve successfully taken it to Moab and back?
It’s all aftermarket parts so nothing will line up perfectly anyway. He might even have to weld on it to make stuff fit.
Tack weld a connection point or weld in an extended part of the frame to keep the vehicle from collapsing? (project postal <project Cactus as well now that I’m thinking about it>). Seems like a walk in the park.
I have wanted to do this with a cj-7 for like 30 years (back then from catalogs) and the frame, engine, axles, body, wiring harness, were not the worry but things like cabin heating and wiper linkages and all that small stuff. Of course building a ww2 jeep makes that so much easier.
And we were all thinking that David has become a changed man. Responsible not just for generating regular content but a full website and now a family. Then new massive project comes along and Boom, DT is back to his usual self.
At least with this project you won’t be fighting rust and a frequently frozen garage the whole time. The new parts SHOULD fit OK and fasteners will actually turn without a generous helping of penetrating oil/heat/can’t be stuck if you are liquid. And hey, get a pop up shade structure and the temps should be OK the whole time.
However as a parent of young children myself its going to be rough finding the time. When mine were that little a successful night was replacing all the burned out lights in my house.
Very interesting! A friend of mine has considered doing the same thing for a 2CV. He figures it is actually less expensive to buy the parts than a full car of the same condition.
The big advantage here vs your other shitbox Easter Jeep Safari builds is this is all new parts. You (likely) won’t have to spend much time laying in the dirt with a torch cursing Michigan rust. Working with new parts is what I enjoy about wrenching – it’s the one damn stuck bolt that takes way longer than it should that makes me wonder why I do it.
Then again, you may get an equal or greater amount of stress having to comb through listings trying to find the one last piece you need before the damn thing will finally be finished (translation: before you realize what else is missing).
Are there any 10MM bolts on that? If so, should probably buy a dozen or 2 10MM sockets.
No, but buy a ton of 3/8 sockets.
“So…Elise (NHRN), um…I might be a little busy for the next few months because I know I told you I’m going to downsize the fleet, but I have this AMAZING “opportunity” to build another Jeep…from a pile of parts I got on Ebay.”
I hope she doesn’t shred your credit cards over this.
This is what I signed up for.
“I have until April 1 to pull off the most challenging build of my life”
Anyone else think this has the potential to be an amazing April Fool joke?
Like, say, tell Uncle Adrian he’s being brought out to California for a big champagne soaked reveal, only to end up strapped into the passenger seat of David’s just assembled pile of parts that mostly resembles a WWII Jeep that is headed for Moab?
Thoughts?
Or a Rodius body dropped onto an XJ frame.
If this does not end up with you standing next to a half built Jeep surrounded in parts in the Galpin parking lot, I will be surprised.
David Tracy: I have too many cars, I need to get rid of some of these and I have a plan.
Also David Tracy: JEEEEEEEEP!!!!
Yep this seems like one step forward, one step back.
“But honey (not her real name); I just sold a Jeep, so I thought that meant I could buy a Jeep.”
DT should have his own Carvana commercial.
“The price of rusted out J10s just went up!”
His plan included “something cool” involving a partner. If this isn’t exactly that bit of the plan, I’m befuddled.
I hope you received everything you needed from overseas already because all those little things just got more expensive today.
I also imagine the shipping delays might be significant.
That’s where the patina gets added.
First thought I had. I’m currently stuck waiting on a bunch of used body parts for my ’78 Beemer and they’re sitting in a shipping container somewhere in Germany because they didn’t get them out of the country quickly enough. Ugh.
Thankfully, the rule states that the tariffs apply to products shipped on Aug 29. So if you bought something on Aug 25 and it’s currently in transit, you should be okay. But yeah, anything bought today and forward…big oof.
I wonder if those parts are actually made in the Philippines or are they new old stock for army service that were originally made in the US?
The 25 year rule will be an interesting discussion as well.
The Ship of Theseus just delivered it. Relax, it’s 80 years old, it’s just had a few parts replaced.