A couple of years ago, I started to lose interest in loud and fast projects. I stumbled across across a pretty solid little 76 Jeep CJ5. I quickly remembered how much I loved working on and messing with old four wheel drives. I have had all manner of Scouts, full size Jeeps, and XJs, but I had never had a CJ. I instantly fell in love. A couple of years, some paint, some vintage part sourcing, and its pretty well sorted out.
Fast forward to earlier this year, and I get a call from a good friend of mine an hour or so away. He tells me that he has a buddy who's parents bought a farm, and in the garage/shop was an old Jeep. None of them had any desire to mess with it, would I be interested? From the photos he sent I knew that it was a flatfender civilian Jeep with a homemade top, but that was about it. He did mention that he thought it "had a V8" swapped in. I was immediately hooked. I wasn't able to make our schedules work until a couple of weeks ago. I grabbed my trailer and some cash, and hauled ***.
When I got there, I found a pretty clean little flatfender Jeep. The more we uncovered and dug, the more intrigued I got. I could tell that someone once loved this Jeep very much. It was slathered in 1960s era Jeep modifications. Early Mustang (in amazing shape) bucket seats sat were the originals once rested. An aluminum, home built top was bolted to the tub. Under the dash hun an Chevrolet heater box from what looks like an early-mid 50s pickup. The most interesting parts, however, lived under the hood. Resting where the Go-Devil L134 once was sat a 1958-60 230hp 4 barrel 283. From all exterior glances, it appears completely stock, down to the Carter WCFB carb and rams horn exhaust manifolds. The SBC is bolted to the stock T90 transmission. The swap appears to have been quite well, with only minimal firewall hacking to clear the distributor. From all evidence, this little Jeep has been off the road since the late 80s.
Once we drug it outside, I was even more convinced this thing needed to come home with me. There is rust, but from what I can see it is so minimal that I don't believe I will need to buy any patch panels. At some point, the whole Jeep was fogged in a very thick coat of red oxide primer. In the back was a foot locker full of vintage Jeep parts. Vacuum wiper motors, brake shoes, drive flanges, even the paperwork and receipt from the Cutlass Power Lok hubs that were bought in 1958. I'll take it!
So there she sits. Some digging through the footlocker I was able to figure out that the Jeep was once owned by Victor Spratt who was a commissioned officer in the USAF. He was from the town we found the Jeep in, but traveled all over the world. Based on his obituary, he spent most of his life at Elmendorf in Alaska. Based on the modifications to this Jeep, I have to make a few assumptions. One, this Jeep spent some time with him there. Two, Spratt owned this Jeep since at least 1960, possibly earlier. Three, he truly loved it and to see it discarded in his estate breaks my heart.
Luckily, "Vic" has found a home that will bring him back to life.
Fast forward to earlier this year, and I get a call from a good friend of mine an hour or so away. He tells me that he has a buddy who's parents bought a farm, and in the garage/shop was an old Jeep. None of them had any desire to mess with it, would I be interested? From the photos he sent I knew that it was a flatfender civilian Jeep with a homemade top, but that was about it. He did mention that he thought it "had a V8" swapped in. I was immediately hooked. I wasn't able to make our schedules work until a couple of weeks ago. I grabbed my trailer and some cash, and hauled ***.
When I got there, I found a pretty clean little flatfender Jeep. The more we uncovered and dug, the more intrigued I got. I could tell that someone once loved this Jeep very much. It was slathered in 1960s era Jeep modifications. Early Mustang (in amazing shape) bucket seats sat were the originals once rested. An aluminum, home built top was bolted to the tub. Under the dash hun an Chevrolet heater box from what looks like an early-mid 50s pickup. The most interesting parts, however, lived under the hood. Resting where the Go-Devil L134 once was sat a 1958-60 230hp 4 barrel 283. From all exterior glances, it appears completely stock, down to the Carter WCFB carb and rams horn exhaust manifolds. The SBC is bolted to the stock T90 transmission. The swap appears to have been quite well, with only minimal firewall hacking to clear the distributor. From all evidence, this little Jeep has been off the road since the late 80s.
Once we drug it outside, I was even more convinced this thing needed to come home with me. There is rust, but from what I can see it is so minimal that I don't believe I will need to buy any patch panels. At some point, the whole Jeep was fogged in a very thick coat of red oxide primer. In the back was a foot locker full of vintage Jeep parts. Vacuum wiper motors, brake shoes, drive flanges, even the paperwork and receipt from the Cutlass Power Lok hubs that were bought in 1958. I'll take it!
So there she sits. Some digging through the footlocker I was able to figure out that the Jeep was once owned by Victor Spratt who was a commissioned officer in the USAF. He was from the town we found the Jeep in, but traveled all over the world. Based on his obituary, he spent most of his life at Elmendorf in Alaska. Based on the modifications to this Jeep, I have to make a few assumptions. One, this Jeep spent some time with him there. Two, Spratt owned this Jeep since at least 1960, possibly earlier. Three, he truly loved it and to see it discarded in his estate breaks my heart.
Luckily, "Vic" has found a home that will bring him back to life.
