‘52 Willys Pick Up

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Pops, I'll give you some advice from a friend of mine on another board--"Sometimes you fix the car, sometimes the car fixes you."

In other words, working on old junk can be the best therapy for all ails! [cl[cl[cl

Love the truck, but I'd keep it 4wd. Be great to blast around in the pasture and still be able to cruise on the highway. Maybe the running gear from a late model Jeep Wrangler or Grand Cherokee would work good.
 
Pops, I'll give you some advice from a friend of mine on another board--"Sometimes you fix the car, sometimes the car fixes you."

In other words, working on old junk can be the best therapy for all ails! [cl[cl[cl

Love the truck, but I'd keep it 4wd. Be great to blast around in the pasture and still be able to cruise on the highway. Maybe the running gear from a late model Jeep Wrangler or Grand Cherokee would work good.

True that brother! It is about the only therapy that has a positive effect on my old body and mind.

As for the 4wd.....The transfer case is split, no front drive shaft and she wants an automatic transmission. What mamma wants mamma gets around here.
 
And the fum begins.

She got all antsy to get started so we got it in the shop yesterday and got it on the lift. As far as I can tell the old PO never replaced anything on this old dog. Baling wire and Duct tape seems to have been his go to fix.

Got 25 years of North Texas dirt and crap out of the bed and I torched all the mounting bolts off. Should be able to get the fenders removed and the bed off today.

Check out the door gaps on this thing. This old pickup is in a lot better shape than my Dodge was when I started on it. [cl:eek:[cl
 

Attachments

  • IMG-0834.jpg
    IMG-0834.jpg
    164.9 KB · Views: 47
  • IMG-0835.jpg
    IMG-0835.jpg
    122.8 KB · Views: 36
"What mamma wants mamma gets around here."
Why not, we generally get what we want.

Not to mention it makes it easier to justify the thousands of dollars we spend doing what we do when part of it is for something that she wants.

I asked her what she wanted to do with this and she said "Make it reliable, make it comfortable, make it look good and DRIVE THE HELL OUT IT!!"

That's what I like about her.
 
The only donor I have is the 1 ton 4wd Dodge with a 6.7 diesel that’s in the back ground of the above pic. Post 24. Every thing there is to big for the wee Willys.

I think we’ll go the 350 crate engine route. Cheapest thing I can come up with and will be plenty of power for this light thing. Money is tight around here again/still.
 
Last edited:
Progress for the day.

My bride makes a pretty good dismantling helper. Who knew?
 

Attachments

  • 13EB44D7-80CB-4E7E-95CD-1C812CCB7911.jpg
    13EB44D7-80CB-4E7E-95CD-1C812CCB7911.jpg
    134.4 KB · Views: 50
  • A0A6E6FD-317A-4726-BAC0-2FB58018F023.jpg
    A0A6E6FD-317A-4726-BAC0-2FB58018F023.jpg
    174.7 KB · Views: 51
  • 88320B1B-9BA2-4E9C-84E6-CC8F6963F84B.jpg
    88320B1B-9BA2-4E9C-84E6-CC8F6963F84B.jpg
    110.5 KB · Views: 46
  • 4E21BDB6-EB26-4A3B-8E47-EAE2EF716983.jpg
    4E21BDB6-EB26-4A3B-8E47-EAE2EF716983.jpg
    142.7 KB · Views: 46
  • 8C907923-AA77-403A-A8EF-A77E466DFEF3.jpg
    8C907923-AA77-403A-A8EF-A77E466DFEF3.jpg
    147.7 KB · Views: 45
  • 1D071D50-B018-4806-A5E3-8942C146FA85.jpg
    1D071D50-B018-4806-A5E3-8942C146FA85.jpg
    148.5 KB · Views: 42
  • 1303A746-D865-479C-A56A-A658A20A4086.jpg
    1303A746-D865-479C-A56A-A658A20A4086.jpg
    150.8 KB · Views: 43
That body is in great shape and the pitina is outstanding [cl
I envy you your helper[dr
The daughter was mine till she had my grandson, far trade i guess [S
%%[P%%
 
That body is in great shape and the pitina is outstanding [cl
I envy you your helper[dr
The daughter was mine till she had my grandson, far trade i guess [S
%%[P%%

The body is going to be the easy part. The patina is a subject of on going debate. I want to leave it as is but she seems to have other ideas. I may have to file this under knowing which battles to pick.

I'm still in shock that she saw it, wanted it , and wants to help build it.

Our kids priority's change for sure. Then you have a grandson that shows the interest and some cute little girl changes his priorities. That's life I guess.
 
Nice to have a good helper. Great rust free body. Around here all that would be left is the roof cap.
 
Wow, you two work quick!

This is a cool project, and so great to see that she's involved :D

I can't say that the patina does anything for me as it is. I'm with Mrs. Pops, make it look good. :p
 
Pops, they made 4wd with automatics in them, thus my suggestion for a Grand Cherokee donor. That inline six in them is bulletproof, and the transmissions are overdrive. The front and rear would be about the right width I’m thinking, too.

But like you said, let the Mrs decide, it’s her ride.
 
She's still hanging in there.

We got the cab off the frame today and my helper got it cleaned out pretty good. Tomorrow we plan on get the drive train out of the frame clean it up and see if we can sell it.. Just need to strip the cab out then we can sand blast the frame.
The plan is to box the frame, Install modern axle assemblies, warmed up 350 Chevy engine, 4 speed automatic transmission,
power steering. A few in cab mods. etc etc etc.
Sounds easy if you say it real fast.
 

Attachments

  • IMG-0862.jpg
    IMG-0862.jpg
    115 KB · Views: 28
  • IMG-0877.jpg
    IMG-0877.jpg
    151.6 KB · Views: 24
  • IMG-0879.jpg
    IMG-0879.jpg
    160.9 KB · Views: 24
  • IMG-0883.jpg
    IMG-0883.jpg
    187.5 KB · Views: 23
  • IMG-0884.jpg
    IMG-0884.jpg
    167.5 KB · Views: 23

Latest posts

Back
Top