Prep, Prime, and PAINT! -- 1941 Willys MB Ep 12

[@BOSCOFOZRESERVA]

I'm following your project here from Brazil, because soon I'll be doing the same with my CJ2A 1948! Greetings @John's Garage Projects Estou acompanhando aqui do Brasil o seu projeto, pois em breve estarei fazendo o mesmo com o meu CJ2A 1948!

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

Fantastic! Best wishes on your project

[@69Dartman]

My first car was a 42 Ford GPW Jeep, it had a willys engine in it with almost no oil pressure at idle when hot but the engine just continued to run and never knocked. My second vehicle was a 41 Dodge closed cab 1/2 ton military 4x4 pickup with a winch. Like the Ambulance in mash but pickup version. Early in the war Dodge ran out of cabs to build the pickups with so International, Ford, and Chevy would either take the complete frame and running gear and put their cabs on them or send batches of cabs to Dodge to be adapted to the nose section and get mated together. I personally knew a guy that had one with the international cab on it complete with some factory wooden spacers so the hood would fit the narrower cab. I also saw a 41 military pickup in a wrecking yard with a Chevy cab on it. That one for sure was a factory built hybrid because it had all the Dodge data plates in place, military original round guages that all the various types used to simplify repairs. Just thought it was cool and odd back in the late 70s to see one built like that besides the other one that buddy had with the international cab. Probably should have been saved as it was fully complete and in good shape. Like you said they were desperate and before we entered the war we were shipping early chevy and GMC 4x4 and 6x6 trucks that were still using the civilian bodies to France to fight the Germans. When France quit the Germans took all the usable vehicles we sent them and used them and loved driving them till they were destroyed seeing how they couldn't get any parts besides what they took and could scavenge from damaged versions.

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the manufacturers doing whatever was necessary to keep the trucks rolling off the assembly line! So cool!

[@user-ln3br5sj6k]

That great ! I am in Quebec and i have a similar project... I have a willys cj 2a 1945 so i wanted a mb ... so I decided to buy a full body of a 1943 jeep. So i will put a 43 body on willys frame 1945. Getting a military ww2 was my dream from my 13 year old but never too late i got 71 year old now I take the Ford GPW body because i want a glove compartement in my dash.I will keep the T90 transmission and the way the front driving sterring his fixe on a crust frame near the radiator the way done on the cJ 2A it's better. To improve the stability i will ad 2 wheel in the back ( gona be a 6 wheel jeep) and extende the finder btw a fender done by rockwell fore trailer fit. For the front I will put a space to recenter the front whell. One good thing I will not need to have a spear tire.In the transfer case i will remove the small part made and look like a tick tack shaft near 1/2 inches long to give me the 4 wheel drive on the 1 speed also. It's was not a restauration i am looking for the look. Hunting for parts was fun and I was happy to start getting the large and heavy parts first now the shipping cost it's very expensive.And the last thing I will put it on 12v because 6 volts are all the time a issue, i will also have a crank to manual start if i need.

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

@@user-ln3br5sj6k Sounds like you are building a fantastic vehicle! Well done sir

[@_gordon_5668]

Super cool so glad I found your channel. I’m doing a nut and bolt restoration on my 45 Mb to original like in ww2. And I think it’s great you’re doing your own restoration the way you want it to be done. A lot of guys like em original and get stingy when not done that way, but I think it’s unique and something great when preserving the full lifetime history and not just the war history. Makes for an awesome story. Keep up the videos it’s gonna be an awesome jeep when you finish!

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement! I’m excited that there are a bunch of us out there that love these awesome vehicles!!!

[@michaelstaton4956]

The GPW front axle could not have been original to this 41 MB. Ford did not begin production of the GPW until 1942. Your slat grill MB was delivered before Ford started manufacturing the GPW. Early GPWs had Willys parts as they were catching up, but a 41 MB would have no Ford parts originally. This was more likely changed during its military service.

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

Makes sense!!!

[@69Dartman]

Ford also designed and installed the stamped grill everyone knows to speed up the production of vehicles and make it easier to build. Willys adopted it from 42 on I believe.

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

@@69Dartman I believe you are correct. Looking at the construction of the grille I could see where it would be time consuming

[@albertchavez7758]

Do you have the slat grill ?

[@JohnsGarageProjects]

It does have the slat grille 😀