Andy Watford’s CJ-5 (video transcript):
We’re here today to talk about my old CJ-5 seventy-five model. I’ve been driving jeeps since I was fifteen years old. And ah, there’s a big story behind this one. We went and ordered it, and ah, it was so funny. I had a buddy of mine try and talk me into buying a Pontiac Trans-AM, at the time. And so we went down and got the Trans-AM and I told the guys at the Jeep place that I changed my mind, so we decided to go with the Trans-AM. So the day I went to get the Trans-AM to test drive it, I rode by the Jeep dealership and um, they were rolling it off the back the truck and I took one look at it and said “WOW” so that’s what it looks like. So I turned around to go back to the Pontiac place and about that time when we finally got back to the dealership. They told us they’d already sold it, so I was heartbroken.
Well, about that time we got a phone call from the salesman, he said the man bought it, his wife didn’t like yellow so he returned it, and he called us and we went up there and picked it up and bought it. And I’ve had so much fun with this thing over the years. I drove it for ten years. And um, it was getting worn out so me and my dad decided we were gunna restore it, that was in 1985. Anyway, we um, started taking it apart and, um, took the motor out and took everything else out of it. And um, in the process of working on it my father was killed, um, in a wreck. He got hit by a tractor trailer and it killed him down in Charleston. And needless to say, it kinda knocked the wind out of my sails, so for a couple years I put a tarp over it and didn’t work on it anymore. And about that time I got a buddy of mine to help me try and fix it, and ah, and I took it to his shop and didn’t get nothing done there. Had to go rescue it, matter of fact.
And came back and of course life took over. I was running my business full time, Watford’s School of Karate, here in Aiken. Doing quite well, got married, had three beautiful children. And so of course that took my time and money and effort. Now I am no longer married, my kids are almost grown. So, now it’s time to come back to what I love, and um, get my jeep put back together. It’s kinda funny I acquired a name in high-school. My nickname was A.J., Andy’s Jeep goes fast, AJ Go Fast. So here we are today, and with my good friend Jonah and we are going to see what we can do with this thing. I think it’s a huge project, but I think it can be done.
Andy Watford
Aiken, SC
Sponsored by Kaiser Willys
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If I had mentioned my dad I could not have finished the video. This restore looks to be more than a paint job. There are some real feelings going into this one. God Bless and looking forward to the completion.