The Boss & the Hired Help

I won't sell my Dad short as just the Boss on the CJ2A progress, as he got his hands plenty dirty, plenty of times. But it's funny to have it in a picture the glee he takes in having me do some dirty work, especially when it's cleaning up greasy parts. This is just a great picture & one of the few I have of us together, as it's usually he or I taking pictures of the other as we work or just pictures of the project on it's own.

Sabbatical

OK, OK, maybe sabbatical isn't the best excuse, I just haven't gotten much done due to family schedules, weather, illnesses, etc. The only significant work I've done in the past 4 months was a weekend with Dad working on my CJ2A getting a lot of the interior parts & front cap on. Dad went a huge step further & has nearly completed the work. We finally got to drive it for the first time at Christmas, the first time since we've owned it, putting 4 miles on it before we developed an issue with the oil pressure, requiring a replacement pump, & a problem with air in the fuel line. Hopefully we'll get that worked out soon when time allows & I can move on to finishing up the body work & paint. I also recently scored some brand-new canvas seat cushions that will make for a nicer ride and a great look. As you can see from the pictures, we have come a long way on this project.

Original Condition, Spring 2003:

Current State, December 2005:

As far as the M38A1 is concerned, I've completely sanded & primed the exterior of the tub. I continue to hunt for parts, with the latest finds being the correct military breather & a generous donation from a friend of a pintle hook. Beyond that, not much progress due to colds, busy home schedules & temperatures that prohibit priming, so sanding or buffing parts is not possible. I hope to start back on it in March & begin some steady progress. As it's not a frame-off restoration, & I plan to spend more time, money & effort finishing the other Jeep, this is definitely a long term project. Here's a pic of the sanding/priming progress:

Meanwhile, I've spent a lot of spare time foraging through the forums & learning a lot, with a lot of quality time spent on some outstanding websites:

http://www.willysmjeeps.com Wes Knettle & Ryan Miller's website devoted to the M-series military Jeeps. You will not find a better source of information or anyone more knowledgeable about M38, M38A1 & M170 Jeeps. This site is the next generation of the original group Wes & Ryan ran on Yahoo!

http://www.g503.com/ Ron Fitzpatrick's website dedicated to WWII jeeps, but with excellent forums for all other military vehicles & Civilian Jeeps. Great place to start & an excellent community of people.

http://www.thecj2apage.com Best place to start if you want to learn about Flatfenders.

http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/ I'd have to say this is the best Jeep page on the web, & believe me, I've looked at hundreds. Can't say I'm a high-hood fan, but you have to respect the passion this page demonstrates for CJ3B's & all things Jeep. This site has jeep stuff you didn't know existed.

http://www.earlycj5.com/index.shtml Site devoted to the early models of the CJ5 & CJ6, but with forums for flatfenders