Sources for WWII military jeeps

I'd think for an inexperienced driver (especialy one you care about) an old Jeep would be a terrible daily driver. I wouldn't put my kids in a vehicle known for terrible balance problems. Even with a rollbar, it's not a very safe vehicle to drive on modern roads in modern traffic.

That being said, try the WillysTech.com board if you really want to find an old Jeep. That's where I found mine. Maybe you can steer her toward a safer option like a pre-71 Jeepster Commando. Still looks like an old Jeep, still probably the only one she'll see in the high school parking lot and infinitely safer on the road. After all, they were designed & marketed to be driven like cars for people who loved Jeeps in the first place. Good luck finding one in Wisconsin that isn't a rust bucket, but they are around though. I brought mine back here from California. Turns heads all over southern Wisconsin now.

Cheers, - JJ

67 Kaiser Jeepster Commando 225 Dauntless V6, T400 auto, 3.73 gears Mostly bone stock and still cool as all get out ;)

Not a good idea. If Nader had taken /those/ on for safety issues, he might not be considered the dork he is today.

YMMV.

That is very good advice about the inexperienced driver. She'll only be driving it about a mile and a half to school in light, small-town traffic, so it shouldn't be a huge deal. Plus, it will be boatloads of fun for me. (the truth finally comes out.) If she wants to take a longer trip, she can take my Durango.

I like the Jeepster idea, and I've always been a fan of them. I saw one for sale in Green Bay a few days ago. In addition to the safety issue, it might be a little easier for her to turn the steering wheel too. Thanks for the help Pete

That is very good advice about the inexperienced driver. She'll only be driving it about a mile and a half to school in light, small-town traffic, so it shouldn't be a huge deal. Plus, it will be boatloads of fun for me. (the truth finally comes out.) If she wants to take a longer trip, she can take my Durango.

I like the Jeepster idea, and I've always been a fan of them. I saw one for sale in Green Bay a few days ago. In addition to the safety issue, it might be a little easier for her to turn the steering wheel too. Thanks for the help Pete

Keep YerSpam proclaimed:

Agreed. The older military versions were so bad that the commanding general of White Sands mandated full roll cages on all of the 1/4 ton models whilst I was there. Too many accidents.

Plus highway cruising is more hypothetical than possible.

Easier to paint a more modern unit with military paint than to turn a military model into a good off-road and on-road unit. Have done it with a small block 265 and welded wide wheels, but arguably cost more than a decent civilian Jeep.

If I do end up doing it, it will have a full cage and shoulder belts, with high back buckets. She'll NOT be using it on the highway if I get one for me, I mean her.

I started this thread not really stressing the safety aspect, but fear not, it is a major consideration, and it's heartening to get so many replies stressing it. Thanks a lot for the input.

Pete Stolz proclaimed:

I dunno if you can even still buy the small block adapter kits that were so popular back in the early sixties for military conversions. A nice small block GM and a bit larger wide tires and it can cruise reasonably well--better than the stock engine's buzzing insanely at anything near highway speeds.

A nice roll bar setup is a full cold rolled cube cage with the front of it in position just above and behind the drivers head and the back at the rear of the body. Add triangle bracking to that cube, and make the cube tall enough that you can stand up and stay pretty much inside it. Then another roll bar at the front of the vehicle mainly to protect the engine. With that, you err might be able to jump sand dunes where part of the fun is just rolling the thing over and over off the steep side as long as you have enough folks aboard [well belted in] to tip it upright and drive away when the fun stops. Not that we would have intentionally done this on the White Sands units, nope, not us.

Mail order an electric wiper conversion unless it *never* rains.

Seriously? You do that? Really? And the Jeep puts up with it? Wow.

Pete Stolz proclaimed:

At White Sands, there are some really nice, tall, sand dunes where the downwind side tends to be pretty soft. And yes, you could roll the old military jeeps off that downwind side and then just turn them upright at the bottom and drive away after they installed the General Freddie Thorlin mandated roll cages on all smaller tac vehicles. Best to hose them out before taking them back to the motor pool. A bit more risky was chasing jackrabbits into the bush... some bushes had BF rocks in them. However, unless you were going crazy fast it really didn't hurt the tac jeeps in any way you couldn't fix with a can of spray paint.

So you're in Wisconsin? There's a later AMC Commando for sale around me (53538) that's for sale for only $500. Swap the front end with a fiberglass CJ and you have what can easily pass for a Jeepster Commando. I'm sure for that price you'll need some welding skills to fix the cancer it most likely has from living in Wisconsin prior to the late 1980s when they changed from raw rock salt to a composite potasium blend for winter roads. I haven't seen it up close, but drive by it almost daily.

Most of the Kaisers are 225 V6 and most later ones from AMC are 401 V8 IIRC. That's a lot of grunt in a little package! ;) Commandos of both flavors also have removable steel hardtops in addition to the folding canvas/vinyl tops. Mine has both.

Cheers, - JJG

Are you talking Jeeps or MUTTs????? How old are you???? The MUTT replaced Jeeps in the Regular Army early on in the Vietnam era. A few National Guard and quasimilitary activities kept Jeeps later.

The military Jeep driveline is in no way smallblockworthy. Even a 215 Buick/Rover V8 or Buick 90 degree V6 is way more than they were engineered to handle. This sounds like a Bill Hughes idiot idea.

Bret Ludwig proclaimed:

I am talking Jeeps. The new civilian models were being bought by the range to replace the tactical units except for those where the drivers had to be out on the range. Similarly they were buying 3/4 ton 4wd pickups to replace the 3/4 ton tactical units except where needed. And no, there were no MUTTS picked up at White Sands. As for the era, the rollbars were fitted prior to Kennedy's visit to Gen Freddie Thorlin [the commander that mandated the rollcages].

Yeah, that's why it was so popular to drop a 265 or 283 into a military jeep back in the early 60's. Then add the double wide wheels with float tires. Parts for the conversion weren't that hard to get ahold of around Las Cruces or at the north range extension at Green River. But what the heck to I know, I was just in the army at white sands and drove those non-existent tactical jeeps and as a civilian at Utah Launch Complex stuffed a 265 into a surplus military jeep.

I didn't write that drivel below, Bill, someone else who didn't know what they were talking about did.

We used small block chevvie engines as much because they were available but also the adapters weren't that difficult to find in the high desert areas from parts stores or in one case the local Conoco station.

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III proclaimed:

You're talking '62, 63 then. The ring a ding ding days. Presuming you mean Jack and not Sen. Bobby. Teddy was too fat to ride in a jeep even then.

They were civilian vehicles purchased at the command level, just like sedans, IOW. Cool. They were not military jeeps.

The 265, 283 smallblocks were not making anything like the power levels 350s are making all day now with cheap aftermarket cams, intakes and headers. A 3.8 V6 will make more power any day on less gas. The average 283 would not make 250 honest hp back then without a lot of head work and a rumpety cam worthless for offroad work. And they are now high collectible items since the vintage racers and boat guys and restorers have bought them all up and they have small bearings. When you say "put a smallblock in" the average doofus is going for a built

350. I guarandamntee the WWII or M38 driveline will not last with that in place unless no one besides nuns and old pansies are allowed to drive it.

You are ex-military, right? Picture the following: The commanding general decides that the jeeps need roll cages. They don't come with them standard, but so what.

Actually both the 1/4 and 3/4 sized tactical vehicles got roll cages at about the same time. Apparently he didn't figure there was much danger of rollovers for the deuce and a halfs or the 5 tonners--typically we used them only to pull around the mobile stuff for mobile missions.

Not sure why only the tactical 1/4 tons were given the full cold roll steel pipe roll cages. They were picking up the newer civilian model jeeps with thin metal bodies by late 63 to early 64 and those were a lot faster than the tactical units and actually had more accidents than the tactical units. The tactical units were used more by the recovery teams and some of my units missions--where roads weren't available.

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III proclaimed: