The Story of “Blondi” a 1967 CJ-5 Jeep in Turkey

 I’m actually a rider, so I’ve been travelling mostly on my motorcycle since my teenage years. During one of my travels in 2014, I was invited by an old friend of my fathers to stay and rest in their home for a day in Kaş, Antalya, which is another coastal town by the beautiful Mediterranean. While having our breakfast in the morning, he told me that he bought a new car, a Jeep! That word got me really excited because Jeeps always had a special place in my heart. The reason for that was because my very first vehicle on this planet – at the age of a year and a half was a yellow Jeep, you see below. 

 So when I heard that he got an old Jeep, I asked him curiously the color of it, but somehow I definitely knew the answer would be yellow; I could undoubtedly feel that moment all those right unexplainable things were aligned in the universe for me and the Jeep. 

He just said, “look down yourself, she’s there.” I hanged my curious head down the balcony and saw MY yellow Jeep standing on the street, looking at me with her cute and humble round eyes. Smiling. 

This was definitely my Jeep, she just got a little bigger in time as I did.. 

So this was how my path crossed with Blondi’s again after 18 years. 7 months later, I sold my own car, took a one-way bus ticket to Kaş and went there to purchase her. She was mine once again. Yet I had to bring her back to my city, Istanbul, it’s a journey about 850 kms (approx. 530 miles) with mostly steep mountain roads, not a very easy job for an old Jeep which definitely wasn’t in a good condition. Only 3 cylinders were firing, transmission and radiator was leaking (some things never change…), brakes were not functioning right etc… It took 3 weeks to complete that journey from Kaş to Istanbul… 

But. 

She did it. 

Once I brought this country girl to the big city, I parked her deep down in my apartments basement parking space, where unfortunately she would have to wait for a while to see the sunlight again because that time I took another roadtrip around Europe on my motorcycle which lasted 2 full years. 

But I brought her with me everywhere I went like you see here. 

Once I was back in Istanbul, I knew it was time to rebuild Blondi. There was a few problems though; I never did any full car rebuild/restoration in my life before. All I had was the old little toolbox with a few rusty wrenches left from my father. Also the Jeep was parked at the -2 level of the basement of a common parking spot and there was no way for me to take her out with a tow-truck (she wasn’t running herself too) since it was impossible for any tow-truck to get inside that area with such low ceiling. 

So the only way was to build the Jeep down next to other resident’s cars. Despite the risk of being accused by the building’s administration (and potentially by the other neighbours) I decided to start the project underground. I was only familiar with motorcycle mechanics so cars mechanic was quite an alien subject for me, but I kept telling myself “It’s just got two more wheels and that’s all.” I asked an American friend to bring me a Haynes Jeep manual from the States, and meanwhile I spent a lot time studying Jeep rebuild videos, tutorials on forums etc. 

But most importantly I believe the crucial point was to keep myself motivated and somehow trust the process that this can be done. If soldiers were able to keep this vehicles going on the battlefield with limited capabilities back in the day, I thought I can fix and rebuild her as well in these modern days. My equipment and experience was limited but at least I didn’t have mortars flying over my head! 

I worked on the Jeep almost every day since day 1 of the rebuild, when I needed help, I called my friends, girlfriend, neighbours and even strangers. Most of them were willing to help me out, and the Jeep is such a symphatetic thing, everyone wanted to get involved in the process somehow. Once the Jeep was torn apart I had to make a decision, I would rather start putting the pieces all together in the parking space, or I would take her out, piece by piece to another garage for a proper full restoration. 

I left this decision to be made by Blondi, and she wanted a full restoration from head to toe. 

She wanted to be beautiful once again and I respect that, after all she’s a woman. 

A friend who had a pick-up truck helped me to carry the frame, tub, engine, transmission and differentials to the restoration shop, the rest of the parts, believe it or not was carried to the shop by my fathers tiny Nissan Micra! 

Of course, finding the new parts for a Willys CJ-5 was not so easy in Turkey, most of the parts here 

were salvaged but luckily during the process I met some true Willys gurus and they helped me finding the right new parts, especially for the Hurricane. I didn’t have a huge budget for the project so I focused on renewing the mechanical parts more than the body parts. Except the engine block, we put everything brand new and after many years F-134 roared gloriously once again. Everything else was restored as well with care and love. 

I’ve learned so much during this rebuild process, and those were mostly spiritual lessons; visualizing something and working for it no matter the conditions, the power of determination, the importance of trusting others and letting go, patience, friendship, love and going on your own way.  

I always felt like this was one of my life’s duty since meeting my childhood car, the car that I always wanted when I least expected it. It was more than a coincidence and god actually wanted to see what I would do if they would grant me something that I deeply wanted. Would I truly take the responsibility of it? Because we can’t always be given exactly what we desire to have, we have to put on something by ourselves, show an effort. If we work on it and don’t give up on it, we can create something even more beautiful than what was given to us. God gave me a miracle that day when my path crossed with Blondi and left the rest to me to complete. I’m glad and honored to be trusted. The beauty is not only what the eyes can see. Blondi for sure looks way more beautiful and lovely after her restoration but her story with mine and every other soul that touched her during this process makes her way more beautiful. 

When I look at her now, I don’t just see her beauty, I see the beauty of the things she represents. 

What I also find alluring, is the same story but from Blondi’s perspective: 

Imagine you are born in 1967,  in Toledo. You are excited like a child about your new journey. You discuss with your other recently born Jeep sisters in the factory’s stocking area before shipment, maybe you think you’ll be sent to California, maybe Montana… who know. Then they put you on a different trailer written “export’ on it. A few weeks later you are on a ship alone, left your other Jeep friends in your homeland, sailing to a different continent and there you are sent to a place called Turkey in the late 60’s. Destination unknown… 

You start a new life there, you meet your first owner, then the second. All different people, all different lives, and times goes by. Years… And you suddenly start to get old. Away from home. Feeling abandoned. You have to share the road with faster and more modern vehicles now, you were a beautiful girl once with a more “powerful and economical” F-134, but now, people are telling you are too slow, consuming too much gas… 50 years has passed, and you know most of your friends are junk now, they may be wrecked.. You are one of the last of your species left in the world. You are waiting when your time will come… And one day, a 19 year old young man arrives on his motorcycle. You are not aware about it now, but actually your destinies have always been connected. 

A few months later, he takes you and brings you to a new life, just when you think you are about to die, you are born from your ashes, even more beautiful than before. Now people are not looking at you like a junk, but as a strange beautiful thing, you are a star on the streets now after 55 years… You travel this amazing country; mountains, canyons, rivers, ancient cities…And this young man likes to listen Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and Willie Nelson on the road like you would back in your old days! You now witness how the new modern world looks like. You witness life, once again… 

What a miracle that is… 

Blondi’s story tells me the truth about never giving up, that everything in life can change instantly no matter how desperate the situation looks, that there is something called Destiny and what’s meant to be will be. It may take years, but once it happens years won’t matter.. 

This was how it all began for me and Blondi. I’ve been driving her for the last 4 years, she is my daily ride; grocery shopping, commuting, going to work, going to cinema…  Driving a classic Willys Jeep in a mega-city like Istanbul these days is such a unique experience (sometimes good, sometimes bad!). People are looking at me like I’m an alien. But children always point this yellow Jeep with their fingers on the street and I know there is no better proof than this that I’m doing the right thing. 

I’ve travelled many places and had countless adventures with Blondi already. The photos that I’m sending you in the attachment belong to one of those adventures, it was taken in a wild canyon in the Mediterranean region called Caria.  

I hope you like it and I hope you enjoyed our story with Blondi. Please keep up the good work and your motivation for maintaining your business successfully. I believe owning a Willys these days is about something more than to just enjoy driving it; it also comes with a responsibility to protect and sustain them for the future generations for them to witness this heritage, not only in the museums but also on the streets around the world (or in the woods). And we can’t just make it happen without businesses like yours.  

Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog Story – Emondro

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