Liz & Terry Mulligan

Shortly after World War 2 my wife’s father bought our Jeep for his father. It stayed on their Pear Ranch in Courtland, Ca. for over 50 years. Everyone on the ranch used and abused it. When we received it from the ranch approximately 20 years ago it was in awful shape, it was ready for the scrap yard. My wife Liz always talked about the Jeep and about her and her dad would drive around the ranch in it and it was really sentimental to her. In other words I had to restore it! It sat in our barn for about 19 years until I had the time to start the project. My good friend Joel Bidinger started and then paused when we got burnt out. Next came Jack Anderson in Jamestown, Ca., who was a old army mechanic. Jack knew what he was doing and had the parts but only sandblasted, painted it and put new tires, brake lines and a few other parts on it. After I retrieved it from Jack it sat for another 5 years or so. Then another friend, John Walburn and I rewired it, put in all the gauges, lights, upholstery, fuel tank, etc. At that point we did not want to start it ourselves in the event we had installed something wrong. It was then Jimmy Strauss who has an amazing Jeep restoration business in Diamond Springs, Ca. was recommended by Scott at Ron Fitzpatrick’s Jeep Parts in Oregon, that Jimmy was the, “The Go See Guy”. and after a few weeks we were driving, “Lulu”, my wife”s nickname. The only gripe I have is the ignition parts and the fuel pump were made in China and let us down when Liz, I and Joel were on our first trip to the Sierras. We were staying at Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in a little cabin they rent out and were driving back for dinner when the brand new fuel pump gave out. Luckily Carolyn & Robert who were our hosts noticed we had not returned and it was getting dark and closed the bar and came to look for us. In the meantime Joel had hitched a ride and had retrieved our trailer. We could not get Lulu on the trailer as I did not bring my wench although I had Liz. It was a miracle that Carolyn & Robert showed as now we had 5 bodies to push our Jeep up the ramp and on the trailer. It was just getting dark, spooky and we were hearing gun shot’s and some type of critter howling. Needless to say it was still a lot of fun and when the weather is good Liz and I try and take Lulu out for a lunch trip along the Sacramento River where we live. I always thank my lucky stars when I need parts as I have Kaiser Willys and Ron Fitzpatrick Jeep parts.