Me and the Mr. officially broke our 10 year stint of being a one car household last month and brought home the most gorgeous beast of American automotive history I’ve ever laid eyes on. We snagged ourselves a 1960 Willys Station Wagon, and I can personally attest to it being every bit the tank-bomb you probably assume it is. Which brings me to my next point… Instead of being responsible business owners and purchasing a reliable work truck for my husband (Rob) to haul his tools in, we opted for a something that will take at least 3 months just to get street legal, and then probably won’t even run during our seemingly endless winters. However, despite this blatant disregard for convenience, practicality, cost savings, health, safety, and sanity – we both felt it was the perfect spokes vehicle for Rob’s design/build company, Fieldwork Architecture. And we all know that looking cool is what’s really important in life, right? Right. So screw all that practical nonsense, and let us commence with the motor head geek stats…
Make/Model: 1960 Willys Jeep Wagon Wagon 4×4
Mostly original except the Chevy 283 or 307, Twin Carb V-8
The Good:
Starts (whenever it damn well feels like it)
Drives (like a tractor)
Stops (eventually)
The Bad-Ass:
Um, Hello…it’s called a Willys. What more do you need? Well, since you asked… it’s got oak wood bed slats, mounting brackets on the front grill for your double bladed axe, AND will get you from 0 to 50 in 3 minutes flat.
The Ugly:
Holy sheet metal – we’ve got our work cut out for us, which is compounded in hilarity due to us not having a garage to perform this miraculous overhaul in. But hey, the driveway was good enough for making concrete countertops on, so why not use it to rip apart an old rust bucket in the dead of winter. We’re soooooooo going to love that part!
Anyway, just to get it street legal this year we’re putting in all new suspension, a new wiring harness, a front disc brake upgrade, welding in new front floor panels, and replacing some busted windows. Sounds completely mad, doesn’t it? Well, frankly I’m always looking for a reason to brush up on my welding skills and Rob is a total whiz when it comes to engine work, plus you might as well do this stuff when you’re still young enough to deal with how bad it’s going to suck manifold. For those of you that take pleasure in watching others suffer as a result of their own stupidity, this should be quite the source of entertainment for you. Progress photos and general updates will be posted on my blog (http://www.deadwilder.com/#!blog/crt8/Tag/willys/) under the willys tag, and will hopefully do a solid job in deterring you from following in our moronic, yet totally endearing, footsteps.