A Very Special Willys CJ-2A Birthday Present

I was fortunate enough to see my 1948 CJ-2A for sale by the side of a back road here in Colorado. I was even more fortunate that my wife made it my birthday present in 2011. It had traces of the original Normandy Blue showing through a rough silver paint job and surface rust and hadn’t had any attention in about 15 years. With limited space I did an on-frame restoration removing as much as I could. Including some now rotting carpet that had been added, and used an angle grinder to get down to the bare metal. The vehicle was in surprisingly good shape with some welding and a little bondo required. As you can tell I didn’t go for the showroom look as there were just too many holes that had accumulated over the years. It is a vehicle that is designed to be used, and sometimes abused. The color choice was tough. This still has that classic MB look to it and I admit the green primer was pretty impressive by itself. But I sprayed it a sand color I got from an automotive paint store, with black undercoat in the wheel wells, and of course had to add the star to the hood. Most of the hard work on the body and engine was done over a month in the summer of 2012 with new fasteners throughout. Since then I have been working on the interior including rubber floor liners front and back, a new wiring harness, bikini top for when the roll bar is installed, LED rear lights and front turn signals, and installing a rear seat and seat belts so the entire family can go for a ride. It ran briefly in 2014 before the starter gears sheared but this year with the help of a new carburetor and fuel pump, we participated in our local 4th of July Parade. Moments like that make the restoration worth it. My oldest son wanted it to be the first car he ever drove and he did that this summer. We look forward to many more years of fun and perhaps even switching to authentic rims and tires at some point just to make it that bit more special.