A Husband and Wife Team Effort – Willys MB Tribute

My wife and I purchased our 47 CJ-2A in June of 2016. Although we were working opposite schedules at the time (her a night shift Nurse), we spent as many days as possible working together on our project. After serving for 20 years in the US Army, I had always wanted to have my very own piece of military history. We shopped around and were becoming disheartened by the condition of an original MB so we opted for a CJ-2A that had good “bones.” Although you always find more work once you dig in, we really enjoyed the fruits of our labor and watching our project emerge into a tribute to the Willys MB.

We modified the front end with an MB grill and lights, fabricated the drivers side tub to accept the axe and shovel handles, added a canvas summer top, non-directional tires, OD green seat cushions, black out marker on the fender and used my old Army unit bumper numbers for the stencils. My wife helped me one night as I lifted the tub from the chassis by hoisting it on each of the four corners using rope thrown over the rafters in our garage. A slow but effective process since I didn’t have a crew to help lift the tub any other way. Fortunately, what little rust and/or body damage was repaired with new sheet metal and the help of a buddy with a welder. My wife also assisted me with the rebuilding of the transmission and transfer case after we found that it had filled with water and rust having sat out in the weather for years.

We painted the entire Jeep in our garage, from the frame up. Then, my brother flew down for a visit to assist with the final paint, the reassembly, installation of the new wiring harness and with getting the engine fired up for the first time in many years. Of course Kaiser Willys was a main contributor for those pieces and parts that were needed to put my project together. It’s great to have a company that is responsive to the needs, and shipped out my orders in a timely manner. We love our Willys MB Tribute, and have had nothing but great feedback from people at car shows and just driving around town enjoying our beautiful Southern California weather.