My 1950 Jeepster restoration

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #1

I bought my Jeepster 2013 October.
This is only known Jeepster in Finland. As new they did not import any. This landed 1988 to Finland from U.S. by a car collector. He had some hundreds of cars, some said 800. This remained unrestored for years. He passed away before he had time to do anything to this. His son sold this huge collection. Cars was sold all over the world, there were very rare ones. This was among twenty last ones... I had a 66 Jeepster on my mind, but when I saw this, I bought it.

Here it is in new home...

So what did I get? One 1950 Willys Overland Jeepster, one F-head six with overdrive and a lot of rust...

 

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juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #2

So, what I did next...

Closing the rag top...

 

Last edited: Feb 7, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #3

[FONT=&amp]After few months I did take it to my garage. It was January 2014. At this time I had bought Wagon seats. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It was time to start...[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A lot of empty space here... this had a texaco oil sign as floor...[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This hole had a piece of tin roof as cover.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A piece of tin roof was used here too.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]..and here...[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I needed new floor. What to do? Buy some... no. Just sheet metal and elbow grease. That is my way.[/FONT]

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #4

[FONT=&quot]The first one.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]And the next ones...

[FONT=&quot]And more and more...

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Something under the floor.
[/FONT]

[/FONT]

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

Tom1956

Well Oiled

All-Star

Dec 20, 2011

2,028

Flushing Michigan

First Name

Tom

Willys Model

1. Pickup

Willys Year:

1. 1957

• Nov 9, 2016

• #5

Dam nice looking work. Sure wish I could do like that.

 

scramboleer

Super Moderator

Staff member

All-Star

Aug 16, 2011

12,135

San Francisco, California

First Name

Dan

Willys Model

1. Wagon

Willys Year:

1. 1964

• Nov 9, 2016

• #6

Wow. Nice work! :cheers:

 

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #7

[FONT=&quot]And something to the trunk area.

[FONT=&quot]And something new here...

...and there...

...and everywhere.

[FONT=&quot]So job almost done...
[/FONT]

[/FONT]

[/FONT]

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #8

"Easy" job done...

Time to do something visible.

Both rocker panels were in bad shape. Someone had used net and bondo to repair these. I saved one patch...

There were just enough metal left, so I could fabricate new sheet metal rocker panels.

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #9

New rocker panels

One piece welded...

and the second...

and here is the left side...

The next part is little bigger... Left side have had a crash some time ago.

New sheet metal to cover both left and right quarter panel...

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

Auggie

Well Oiled

Jul 3, 2012

2,363

Gardner Kansas

First Name

Bryce

Willys Model

1. Pickup

Willys Year:

1. 1958

• Nov 9, 2016

• #10

great job. i wish i could make panels like that.

 

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #11

First I opened that Pandoras box...

And then some straightening job

some new metal here...

Testing...

Pushing...

...and welding. Lower section had rusted away and I had no idea how it should be. Thnks to internet I found a picture of it.

The other side.

That´s how it looked after 7 months of hard work...

Left

Right

What next?

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 9, 2016

• #12

Lift off, we have a lift off...

New steel is beautiful...

Firewall needed some attention. Someone had used axe to make a hole...

Paint it like rest of the body...

Inner side of rear fender...

and the other side.

Some sandblasting gave me solid floor pan, but almost everything around it are gone...

Started here...

this had to be done...

and pieces of floor, too.

Corner needed some attention.

Every possible part needed a lot of attention...

Done...

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 10, 2016

• #13

Some parts were missing...

Wagon front seats modified to fit Jeepster.

Primer...

Sound damping compound...

Underbody protection...

Some paint...

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

scramboleer

Super Moderator

Staff member

All-Star

Aug 16, 2011

12,135

San Francisco, California

First Name

Dan

Willys Model

1. Wagon

Willys Year:

1. 1964

• Nov 10, 2016

• #14

Great progress; also those brass JEEP medallions are extremely rare.

 

second_floor_lo

Sharpest Tool

Sep 27, 2013

361

North Carolina

First Name

Paul

Willys Model

1. Pickup

Willys Year:

1. 1949

• Nov 10, 2016

• #15

I just found this thread...Great work! Very interesting read...

Thanks for posting.

 

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 11, 2016

• #16

Then it was time to bolt on some parts...

Steering box was full of rust and water, so it needed some attention.
New parts and cleaning...

Done..

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 11, 2016

• #17

Steering box wasn´t only that needed attention... Frame had serious issue because of that crash I mentioned before...

Removed front suspension first.

Frame had bent some 21 mm (7/8")...

Cut and weld...

More cutting, lower section had a lot of rust...

After sandblasting new sheet metal cutting...

and welding.

Front suspension has now new bushings and seals and cleaned leafs. There are now a couple of leafs less than original... I had no time to fix brakes and steering parts... Why so? What´s the hurry?

Then some body building...

Then it was time to do something to the engine. First engine mounts.

And then.... AMC 360 + blower...

But just for the show...

Tampere Hot Rod And Rock Show 2015

 

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Gojeep

Well Oiled

Jan 10, 2010

4,787

Victoria Australia

First Name

Marcus

Willys Model

1. Pickup

Willys Year:

1. 1948

• Nov 11, 2016

• #18

Nice sheet metal work there. I hadn't seen this thread until now so was good to read through what you have done.

 

Auggie

Well Oiled

Jul 3, 2012

2,363

Gardner Kansas

First Name

Bryce

Willys Model

1. Pickup

Willys Year:

1. 1958

• Nov 11, 2016

• #19

i like it that way. just as it sits in your above pics. 360 out of the hood, patina. nice.

 

juhap

Bigger Hammer

Nov 8, 2016

57

Finland

First Name

Juha

Willys Model

1. Jeepster

Willys Year:

1. 1950

• Nov 11, 2016

• #20

After shotgun wedding, it was time to divorce...

When they took engine and gearbox out, they needed axe and blowtorch to make some space...
Frame is quite sad...

Goming back together...

sandblasting... again...

Some welding...

and paint...

Old leafs with new bushings etc...

Original rear axle is almost dead...

It was time to push frame out and clean the garage...

...so I can start the final assembly.

Heater when I got it home...

And after TLC.

That 360 AMC V8 is not possible to get street legal here in Finland, so something else is going to be under hood...

Testing Volvo B20 engine...

..but no.

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2020