1954 Willys M38A1 – Father and Sons Project

I purchased my Willys back in 2002 from a farmer in Hallettsville, Texas where I hunted deer and dove during the fall. The Jeep was buried in a barn and the only way I noticed it was I could see some of the front-end peeking through some hay. After some negotiations, the farmer agreed to sell it to me, with the thought that it would never run again. I towed it back to our house and assessed the challenge ahead of me. After a few weekends replacing everything I could, the engine fired up and I was out driving it, but it was pretty rough going. Going forward, I used it to run around and take all the kids on a “Jeep Ride” for about 12 years. Two summers ago, my family decided it was time for an overhaul of the old Jeep, and the project began. We started with stripping everything out of the Jeep except the engine and transmission. What we found after we began to strip the Jeep clean was at least 4 layers of paint. The original Army Green, then Blue, then Yellow, then Red as the final coat. Needless to say, it was much more work than we ever thought. After the paint was removed, we then were surprised to find enough Bondo to cover holes (Bullet), dents, rust, etc. that most of the body was filler. We lost count of how many hours once we passed the 200 mark, but the time was well spent. There were many days and nights where we thought, how many people would have given up and had someone else complete the work, but we were determined. The end result was well worth our time. My sons and I learned a lot about body work and painting. We spent many more hours working on the breaks, drive train, engine, interior etc. plus a lifetime of memories knowing what we accomplished in the summer of 2017.