1961 Willys Pickup; Just an Honest Utilitarian Work Truck

CrazyCasey said:
Hello!

Many of you know me from my brake drum saga, but I wanted to post a “build thread” to outline what’s going to be the largely underwhelming process of putting my 1961 Willys pickup truck back into service. The work is happening fast and furious, so I’ll try to keep up with this thread.

Ever since my first trip to Disneyland’s California Adventure Park, I’ve always wanted to do a themed build (sort of) of a vintage Jeep into something like an old Forest Service rig, or something along those lines, anyway.

This is the Willys on display in that park:

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So, well, to make a long story short, I’ve been driving an old 4x4 converted Ford cargo van for the past few years, with hopes of building a sort of “Poor Man’s Sportsmobile”, and I finally started building out the interior, and now I need a proper work truck. I mean, I can’t even go buy a sheet of plywood right now…

So, I found this neglected old Willy’s pickup on Facebook marketplace, and of the half dozen or more I’ve seen advertised within 500 miles, it was the first one that actually had a title!

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Despite having some fairly significant issues, the truck is remarkably rust free. It had changed hands a few times, and each owner seemed to have taken it a bit further from ever being back on the road again, unfortunately. Though it did have a fresh 283 Chevy installed, it was not fully hooked up. The wiring harness was cut at the firewall, all of the brake and fuel lines were removed (and lost). The headlights and turn signals were removed. The fuel tank itself was weeping through a million tiny rust holes. If I drug this thing home, I was going to have my work cut out for me…



…




So of course I drug it home!

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And immediately got to work on knocking the ugly off of it…

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Anyway, that should be enough of an introduction post.

However, I also am a “YouTuber”, so I made a little walk around/project introduction video, and I will post that here if anyone is interested:


1961 Willys Project Introduction




In the next update, I’ll bring the project up to speed with the work I’ve done so far. But, spoiler alert, I touch on some of that in the video as well.

Thanks for checking out my thread!



Cheers,

Casey
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Awesome truck!!!
 
Thanks everybody for the kind words of encouragement. This post isn’t so much an “update” as it is letting you in on my thought process for the next phase of the project.

The next order of business is going to be tires. The Remington “Mud Brute” radials on my truck are at least 30, if not 40 years old, based on theit date codes.

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Some of you may have caught my tire post here; on my last old pickup truck, I had STA Super Traxion tires, but I just can’t afford those anymore…

I was pretty close to pulling the trigger on a set of Deestone D503’s, but some of the mileage feedback is pretty disappointing. I had all but resigned to ordering some Chinese mud terrains from Walmart when I stumbled upon the “Extra Grip M/T” from TireRecappers.com.

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Part of me feels like I must be out of my mind to spend ~$150 a tire on a “recap”, but these guys assure me these aren’t my grandfather’s recaps, and they say their tire will give me twice the life of any Chinese mud terrain on the market. I don’t know what else to say, at the end of the day, it was the cheapest way to get “the look” I’m after on this truck, and theoretically that will come with the added benefit of radial tire performance. Anyway, the order is placed…so now we wait! But expect a full review and plenty of pictures when they get here.

In the meantime, I have to figure out whether or not to repaint my wheels, and if so, what color.

My go-to on a vintage “red” pickup is “Almond” Rustoleum, which comes out a very creamy white color.

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Here’s a picture I found of similar color on a Red Willys:

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The other idea that got my wheels turning came from this vintage advertisement:

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Now, I want to know if these trucks actually came with a grey painted wheel, or if this is simply a white or off-white wheel and the printer used grey ink!? Somebody here has to know, right!?

I’m certainly open to hearing suggestions. I posted on my Instagram, and cream was far and away the winner, with the next runner up being to leave the wheels the patina’d red color they are currently.

Thoughts!?

Until next time…

-C
 
Stakebed said:
Considering the truck's patina and the work involved in preparing the wheels for paint, I suggest leaving the wheels as they are.
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I’m 100% behind the patina consideration, but I’m not at all opposed to the work aspect of redoing the wheels. And while I realize it’s not for everybody, I personally kind of like the contrast of old and new, like with the shined up 283 under the hood.

One other thing to consider in the equation here, is that I’m planning to either do a boiled linseed oil finish, or possibly one of these wipe on “patina preserver” type finishes, though I would choose a matte product if I go that route, so it would only gain a slight sheen.

Anyway…
 
I've always liked the Almond and the tire choice.

We used to rebuild circuit breakers from the 50's and 60's and they used that color back then, very period correct.

Looking forward to reading your review on the tires.
 
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