“Long nights awake surfing the internet for nothing. But I never gave up! Months later I visited a Mexican website and it just took me 20 minutes to find my CJ-2A.”
My name is Felipe Sanchez and I live in Northern Mexico in Reynosa, Tamulipas, across the border from McAllen, Texas. Since a long time ago I have been in love with this type of vehicle, first on the old war TV shows when I was a kid, then I started seeing the CJ jeeps in my home city. Then, in 1999, I got my first 1994 Wrangler Sahara – it was almost new and was beautiful. I hardly believed I was buying it; it only had 36k miles of use. It was like a dream for me. Since then my Jeep has driven everywhere. Now it has 140k miles and a lot of beautiful stories. In 2006 when visiting my parents in Saltillo, Coahuila, I was driving in one of the streets when suddenly my sight was caught by a very old a rusty body. It was a 1946 CJ-2A, parked alone. It was all dusty, tires were completely flat, was missing part of the fender, and the hood was in very bad condition, but still it had its spirit. It took me months to find out who the owner was. Finally my dad found the owner and asked him if it was for sale. Unfortunately it wasn’t. The man bought it for his son and was waiting for the parts to arrive to start the process or rebuilding it.
Never knew more about this beautiful CJ, but the idea was already in my mind. I had to have one for my own. My sister used to travel a lot to different towns near the area, so I had her asking everywhere if they knew where to find one. She found several but the damage on them was now very deep, and sadly unrepairable. I keep my eye on the idea and spent a lot of hours on the internet checking for these vehicles. Found a lot of them but the price was very high for the budget I had reserved for this dream… Finally when I thought I had the one I wanted, a new law for imported cars came into the frame. Importation of vehicles went up to 300% above of where it was. So, now just for importation fees, the one I had found in San Diego, CA was out of budget. I was very sad, and why not to say it kind of depressed me. I had spent a tremendous effort looking for this CJ. Long nights awake surfing the internet for nothing. But I never gave up! Months later I visited a Mexican website and it just took me 20 minutes to find my CJ-2A.
It was right there, so I immediately took the phone and called the owner. We talked for a couple of days before closing the deal when he accepted my last offer. On the next day he was shipping the CJ in a closed truck directly to the city in which I live. It was a 16 hour drive for the driver to deliver the rig. The driver was calling me at 10pm to tell me he was in the city. Since I was already expecting it, I was ready, just jumped in my Wrangler and ran to find my CJ. I was so excited. We unloaded it and parked it in my house garage. I drove it like it was for the next 6 months until I decided to stop driving it to avoid damaging the engine anymore. I started saving money to have some work done on my CJ. After all the time I spent, it was not fair to let it be in the same shape in which I got it. I had to do something good out of it. Took me a year and a half to save the money. I had the old engine replaced with a new fuel injection engine and the body was all refurbished and I added new accessories from the titanic support team we have at Kaiser Willys. The first parts replaced were bought by a friend of mine, then I started buying the other ones. Just a week ago I got it back from the Castillo Body Shop. It was a very pleasant experience to deal with Antonio Castillo and his team, he was so deeply involved with my jeep that I’m almost sure he felt it as his own. I saw the sad expression on his face the day I went to pick it up. He did a tremendous job in the small details.
Now I’m so happy with my 1947 CJ-2A. I’m still on buying more cool stuff for it and starting my second project! The refurbish of the original engine to take it back to its body when ready. Original heart for original motion. Guess who will be supplying the parts??
With all my love friends..
Thank you..
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Great story !! I hope my 46 turns out looking like yours. Kaiser Wills has great products and help.I’ve done paint and body for 21 years and there stuff is nothing but the best.
Hola felipe soy carlos de colombia, felicitarlo por tan hermoso yipao. y de antemano contarle que tengo un 52 y me faltan algunas partes originales. como el timon o cabrilla, el manometro de la velocidad, motores limpia vidrios y otros pequeños. usted me puede ayudar con una pagina que sea segura para comprar. le agradezco pero quiero dejar el mio tan lindo como el suyo. gracias
Felipe, good job with your Jeep!! I know it can be difficult restoring a car in a country other than the U.S. due to shipping costs, hard to find parts as well as other things, but I’m glad to see you got yours restored.
Good job!
Chris
Hutto, TX
Great looking Jeep, Felipe. Thanks for sharing.