nugilo
Sharpest Tool
Re: Nugilo's 62 Sedan Delivery Build (Resto)
I was looking back through the pictures of this build and forgot to mention that I do intend to do a frame off resto on this. The pictures show us building up the body on the old rusted undercarraige, but we intend to pull the body once we get it all straightened out. It was pretty clear that the combination of rust and the few body mounts still doing their job was all that was holding the body together. Pulling the body right away, we were afraid that it might just crumble into a useless pile. It sure has helped getting the donor vehicle. Not only are we using some pieces off of it, it is serving as a great guide for how things are supposed to look cause mine was so far gone.
On another note. I have had a heck of a time trying to figure out exactly what this wagon really is. Originally when I bought it, it was titled as a 63. Through early research, the best I could figure was that it was a 61 based on the vin #. Accurate info on these things is nearly impossible to find from 62 to 65 as Willy's was going under and pretty much gave up on keeping records. Talking with Willys America, we figured that the vin actually should make it a 62 4x2. Here's where things got really confusing to me. At this point I thought that based on the year being 62, I should have the lower profile ribbed roof and flat top rear wheel openings. But I didn't, mine has round wheelopenings and the high smooth roof that then told me that maybe it was an older body put on a 62 frame. But this didn't really make sense either because it had the correct dash layout, front end and single piece windshield for a 62. To complicate matters, it currently has floor shifters but their are remnants of a column shift (4x2), it has push button interior door handles (dropped for normal handles I think very early in production), it has a front axle and transfer case (obviously making it 4x4) and even more odd...it has a 226 which the vin says it should have, but my engine has "supersonic" written on it which is the identical kaiser car version of the 226 (which I pretty sure they never put in the wagons and trucks). Oh, and, there isn't a single identifying number that I can find anywhere on the body or frame. So I have a complete 4x4 sedan delivery with all correct Willy's parts but seemingly put together in some sort of Frakenstein way. I read somewhere that because of the disjointed condition of the Willys company that this SD actually could have been built this way as it was not unheard of for the company to just throw what ever inventoried parts they happened to have togehter just to get vehicles out the door in those last few years.
Willys America seemed to think there might be another story to it. Turns out that the biggest mysteries, the roofline and wheel openenings could have been correct since all sedan deliveries for all years were made this way. This also explained how the dash, windshield and front end would have been right. All the other oddities seem to be the result , most likely, of makeshift repairs and "upgrades" over the years. One other odditiy that we discovered is that mine has interior flat top wheelwells like a traveler would have. It is not inconceivable that this was infact a Traveler that was special ordered to be windowless which was possible. Even though I can't fully decipher what this really should be, I am going restore it back to the way I got it and just revel in it's quirkiness.
I was looking back through the pictures of this build and forgot to mention that I do intend to do a frame off resto on this. The pictures show us building up the body on the old rusted undercarraige, but we intend to pull the body once we get it all straightened out. It was pretty clear that the combination of rust and the few body mounts still doing their job was all that was holding the body together. Pulling the body right away, we were afraid that it might just crumble into a useless pile. It sure has helped getting the donor vehicle. Not only are we using some pieces off of it, it is serving as a great guide for how things are supposed to look cause mine was so far gone.
On another note. I have had a heck of a time trying to figure out exactly what this wagon really is. Originally when I bought it, it was titled as a 63. Through early research, the best I could figure was that it was a 61 based on the vin #. Accurate info on these things is nearly impossible to find from 62 to 65 as Willy's was going under and pretty much gave up on keeping records. Talking with Willys America, we figured that the vin actually should make it a 62 4x2. Here's where things got really confusing to me. At this point I thought that based on the year being 62, I should have the lower profile ribbed roof and flat top rear wheel openings. But I didn't, mine has round wheelopenings and the high smooth roof that then told me that maybe it was an older body put on a 62 frame. But this didn't really make sense either because it had the correct dash layout, front end and single piece windshield for a 62. To complicate matters, it currently has floor shifters but their are remnants of a column shift (4x2), it has push button interior door handles (dropped for normal handles I think very early in production), it has a front axle and transfer case (obviously making it 4x4) and even more odd...it has a 226 which the vin says it should have, but my engine has "supersonic" written on it which is the identical kaiser car version of the 226 (which I pretty sure they never put in the wagons and trucks). Oh, and, there isn't a single identifying number that I can find anywhere on the body or frame. So I have a complete 4x4 sedan delivery with all correct Willy's parts but seemingly put together in some sort of Frakenstein way. I read somewhere that because of the disjointed condition of the Willys company that this SD actually could have been built this way as it was not unheard of for the company to just throw what ever inventoried parts they happened to have togehter just to get vehicles out the door in those last few years.
Willys America seemed to think there might be another story to it. Turns out that the biggest mysteries, the roofline and wheel openenings could have been correct since all sedan deliveries for all years were made this way. This also explained how the dash, windshield and front end would have been right. All the other oddities seem to be the result , most likely, of makeshift repairs and "upgrades" over the years. One other odditiy that we discovered is that mine has interior flat top wheelwells like a traveler would have. It is not inconceivable that this was infact a Traveler that was special ordered to be windowless which was possible. Even though I can't fully decipher what this really should be, I am going restore it back to the way I got it and just revel in it's quirkiness.
