One thing I love about American car culture is that you can pretty much drive anything on public roads. I know this, because I built a reproduction World War II Jeep in my backyard, and I was legally able to drive it despite nobody even having looked at it. This brings me to today’s Facebook Marketplace listing.
I don’t know why I’m still constantly browsing Facebook and Craigslist. I have no space, no money, and no spousal goodwill left. And yet, the addiction continues, and I still play all sorts of weird mental gymnastics about which cars I can sell, which I can store where, and how this allows space for just one more car, which is of course always a white-hot deal.
The good news is that in my endless quest for another automotive-dopamine hit, I end up finding some gems that I think you, dear readers, might appreciate. Like this:
Listed on Facebook Marketplace as “1991 Jeep wrangler Mb,” it is what the title leads you to think it is — someone took a Jeep Wrangler YJ and somehow turned it into a World War II Jeep.
To some, this may not seem like a big deal. After all, how different is the YJ from the MB? They both have essentially the same leaf-sprung suspension, a ladder frame, an inline engine with a low-range transfer case, a manual transmission, a steel open-top body tub, and a foldable windshield.
In truth, though, they’re extremely different, and this job was definitely a massive undertaking. The YJ is at least four inches wider than the MB, it’s over a foot taller, and it’s almost two feet longer. Dropping the MB body onto the wider, longer YJ frame just … wouldn’t work. Which is why the builder used the original YJ tub.
I’m a bit confused on how they pulled this off, because the YJ tub does not have cutouts for an axe or shovel. Did this person graft the MB’s bedside onto the YJ’s tub, or did they modify the YJ’s tub? The door opening shape is also not YJ-ish. For reference, here’s my YJ:
Up front, you can see how the builder adapted the WWII Jeep grille to fit the taller, dual overhead valve 4.0-liter inline-six or 2.5-liter inline-four (I’m not sure which is in this Jeep). Check out the 4-ish inch vertical extensions on the grille:
I do wonder: How did they fit the windshield? It looks like they didn’t widen the frame itself, but rather just those pivot arms on each side of the cowl; you can see where they have been cut and welded:
Speaking of the cowl, how did this fabricator make that windshield even fit over it?
The YJ’s cowl is a totally different shape than the WWII Jeep’s. Here’s my Willys MB Cowl, which looks like the one above:
And my YJ, you can see, is not rounded; it’s got a squared-off, vertical part about which the windshield pivots:
Here’s a bare YJ tub:
I guess they just hacked that part off.
That brings me to the dashboard. How the heck did they build that dashboard?!
It looks much like my Willys MB Dash:
But how did they graft that dashboard onto the YJ body? A YJ’s dash, for reference, looks like this:
Here’s the body under all that plastic:
This might have you thinking this is actually a Willys MB tub on a YJ frame. But this is very obviously a Jeep YJ tub, as you can see here in the rear:
The WWII Jeep tub, by contrast, does not have a rear door, and it has storage bins atop the rear wheel housings.
What’s more, the WWII Jeep’s hood attaches to its tub via a bunch of bolts hidden out of sight:
This contraption for sale on Facebook has a more conventional hinge like the YJ’s:
Here are my YJ’s hinges:
I reached out to the Facebook seller, Robert, who told me a bit about how he got this Jeep. “So I bought it off a guy that started it,” he told me, “and I finished the body work and installed the mb dash and I put the military tires on in and painted it the olive green.”
How did he get military wheels to fix the 5×4.5-inch bolt pattern on the YJ’s axles? How exactly did he weld in that dash into the YJ tub? How did he get the door opening shape right? How did he get that indent for the shovel and axle? I have many questions.
I’m just in awe at all the work that went into a vehicle that, based on the “Listed 2 years ago” at the top of the listing, might be unsellable.
Or really care….
There is nothing you can do to one of these tractors that will impress me.
I’m sitting here in awe that David Tracy has no idea what a custom car is.
None of this work is even that hard, custom car-wise.
I think the answer here is simply “skilled metal worker” (who made a frankenstein jeep nobody else wants).
Unsellable. That face obliterated ROTC wannabe will be a grown, actual corporal before a buyer appears.
> how
You spelled “why” wrong.
Wow, DT is actually stumped on a Jeep? Never saw that coming
the way the hood is bent around the sides looks so off
Yep. They did a hacky step-bend rather than take the effort to properly radius it.
That is, frankly, pretty impressive work.
Raise your hand if you were once that bored child forced to participate in your parents’ hobbies and hated life at the time but now fondly look back on the experience 2x+1 years later. I say the kid is real due to the slumped shoulders
Yeah, you can see the sad in that kid’s posture.
Admitting you have a problem is usually the first step, not the conclusion.
I mean the answer is obvious. It’s because the headlights are the wrong shape, duh.
It’s so much work for a simulacrum of what you actually want. Like, I get the idea of modern reliability in a retro package, but just the amount of work to get there feels so not worth it. Thousands of dollars and man-hours for a weird cosplay.
And to turn around and try to sell it?? It’s a crazy project that you should only do for yourself because there’s probably 20 people in the world interested in such a thing.
> modern reliability
We’re talking about a ’91 Jeep, here, though.
I have no argument, damn.
I mean, based on the readership here there are more than 20 people interested in it.
But I’d wager 20 is about 19 too high if the criteria is “interested in owning it.” And even that last one seems like he’s not convinced, considering he’s trying to sell it.
There is nothing like olive drab.
Honestly I think Jeep could make a 2 Door Wrangler edition that looks like a WWII Jeep with the winter kit installed, as soon as the soft top comes off though the roll cage looks so bad even though it’s a great thing safety wise.
I feel like the seller ran out of spousal goodwill himself. “I swear honey, I listed it two years ago! It’s just crazy that nobody wants it.”
My sister married into an old Appalachian family (like, hundreds of years in rural VA), and that was my first exposure as a California boy to proper country folk’s relationship to property and machines. The things I saw them put together, repair, modify, whatever – it was just wild. It was like (and I mean this in the best possible way) watching a squirrel break into a bird feeder – where I saw a contiguous object, they saw a pile of parts and resources to be recombined as they saw fit. I didn’t realize how much how I’d grown up had limited my imagination.
“I have no space, no money, and no spousal goodwill left.”
Welcome to the club. Just remember that spousal goodwill is the most important thing, but it can be replenished (to some extent) by getting more money. Money will take some of the pressure off, but there’s no substitute for spending time caring for your family. Also, clean up the leftover mess from the WW2 Jeep project. Messes drive my wife crazy. Hard to pass up those “deals” though.
I’m not sure if it’s helped or exacerbated by the fact that David generates the money by making content about the machines that strain the spousal goodwill.
Maybe spend time making content that doesn’t take away from the family time for awhile. A project like the Jeep should be rare enough that the wife forgives in between. While it was undoubtedly awesome – still looking forward to the articles – it definitely monopolized his time to the detriment of his family life. (Or so I would think. Maybe Elise NHRN is more patient than my wife.)
Maybe. I get the impression that David “married well”.
Well, Elise NHRN surely knew what she was getting into. David’s proclivities weren’t exactly a secret before he moved to LA!
To quote the Freewheeling Franklin of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: “Spousal good will will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no spousal good will.”
No wait, maybe he said something else…
Also: Some say the first year of marriage is the hardest, I found the last year to be even harder
Not for me, but I gotta say I’m impressed.
Is that a child in the photo or are Wranglers a lot bigger than I thought?
I thought it might be one of those weird dolls that some people inexplicably think look appropriate next to 1950s domestic iron at car shows.
With a piece of blank paper over its face to make it even more creepy than usual?
-shudder-
Would have been an easier build if it wasn’t three times normal size!
“What is this? A school for ants?!”
“Please excuse the crudity of this model. It’s not to scale.”
My first thought was “wow, Delmar (NHRN) has grown a lot!”