Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! While there hasn’t been anything to update with the Jeep lately, I was able to pull it out and set it up for Halloween yesterday guarding my neighbor’s crashed UFO. The unfortunate Civil Defense soldier manning the crash sight seems to have gotten on the bad side of the aliens. The Ammo Crate Radio on the hood was pumping out classic 1950s Sci-Fi movie themes during the evening. Even the new 1940 Ford Deluxe project got in on the Halloween spirit with another unfortunate victim of the aliens! Continue reading “Happy Halloween 2023!”

HAPPY 79th BIRTHDAY TO GPW #208102 Jeep!

HAPPY 79th BIRTHDAY TO GPW #208102!

Celebrating 79 years today, having a Date of Delivery on June 26, 1944. Almost an 80-year-old gal, but she still looks pretty young!

Continue reading “79th Birthday – June 26, 1944”

GPW Battery Hold Down Bracket

GPW Battery Hold Down BracketLatest Updates & Small Projects

A quick update for this St Patrick’s Day with the latest on the Jeep and a few small projects over the last few weeks including a fix in the engine bay, a pinup photo on the dash, and a cool find on eBay!

Continue reading “Latest Updates & Small Projects”

GPW Jeep Fuel Gauge

GPW Jeep Fuel GaugeAir Cleaner Restoration, Fuel Gauge Calibration, Early Fire Extinguisher, & More!

This week’s update is full of some great goodies. First, I continue work on a friend’s post-war air cleaner restoration for his Jeep. Then I get to work getting the fuel gauge to read the right fuel level. I stumbled across a nice flea market find (early Fire Extinguisher for Jeeps), and a look at some projects/events in the works for the Jeep!

Continue reading “Air Cleaner, Fuel Gauge Calibration, Early Fire Extinguisher, & More!”

Ammo Crate Radio

Ammo Crate RadioAmmo Crate Radio , Display Sign, & Flea Market!

Taking a break from the axle clackity issue this week, I focused on some fun side projects for the Jeep when it’s on display at future events. First, I had an idea for a custom-made Ammo Crate radio that looks like a WW2 soldier field mod! I go through the entire idea to finish product. I also finished my custom-made ammo can Jeep display sign. I also got some fun Jeep items from a local flea market over the weekend!

Continue reading “Ammo Crate Radio, GPW Display Sign, & Flea Market Finds!”

GPW #208102 as she arrived at the house October 7, 2018!

Bringing the Jeep home

OCTOBER 7 – FIRST DAY

I first got the Jeep on October 7, 2018. A friend, Michael Wilgus, who was a member of the 82nd Airborne Living History Association (LHA) reenactment group was looking to part with his Jeep. It was a tough decision, but he was moving out of California and felt the Jeep wouldn’t be appreciated for what it is stuck on a ranch in Arizona. I mentioned I was interested, and about a month later I had sealed the deal completing a 20 year wish of mine to someday own a Jeep.

Mike brought the Jeep to the house on October 7th, 2019 along with a few boxes of spare parts and some pieces he had intended to replace. At the time, the Jeep had been sitting for about a year in a garage and was in need of some work. She wasn’t running, although the starter and engine would turn over. After giving her a quick bath later in the day I rolled her out onto the driveway and took some ‘before’ photos. I should have taken all angles of the Jeep that day, but I was on cloud nine being a new owner of a World War 2 Jeep! I wasn’t sure yet what exactly I was going to do with the Jeep, be it just a quick tune-up and new paint job, or a full frame-off restoration. In hindsight, knowing how much I document every little thing with this restoration, I wish I’d taken tons of photos! 

Continue reading “Bringing the Jeep home”

The beginning of GPW 208102's Journey

WELCOME TO THE RESTORATION BLOG!

The beginning of GPW 208102's Journey

Welcome to the restoration blog! I will be documenting the re-restoration of my 1944 Ford built GPW Jeep! I purchased the Jeep in October of 2018. When I first got the Jeep, it was in okay condition and was up and running with a little work. It had sat idle in a garage for a year since it last ran. After reviewing the entire Jeep, I decided it needs work to get it to an accurate restoration. So I decided to give it a frame-up restoration. Follow along as I slowly re-restore it with updates every Friday on the progress until I finish the restoration!

2021 UPDATE: This all started as a page on Facebook (https://facebook.com/1944gpw) but after nearly two years of getting more and more followers, it became clear finding specific posts of the restoration updates wasn’t easy on Facebook. So I had the idea to convert the entire page over to a WordPress blog so it was easy to search and look up information from the restoration. It would also be cached by google, so people googling specific questions as they restore their Jeeps might find their way here. It’s a slow process as at the time of copying everything over from Facebook, there are well over 400 updates with thousands of photos and captions!

My hope is that this blog will help people who were in the exact same position I was, with no automobile knowledge nor military vehicle knowledge, but have purchased a Jeep in need of a full restoration. Continue reading “Welcome to the GPW #208102 Restoration Blog!”