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Restoration of my 1942 Ford GPW Jeep


zepher11
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I am hoping that someone can provide a little quick advice. I found this 1942 Ford Jeep for sale. I took a good look at it and it is in pretty decent shape, I guess, for 69 years old. It runs good and most everything looks original to me.

 

I am interested in purchasing it, but I don't know a great deal about jeeps... I was hoping someone could weigh in on what the value of this vehicle would be. I can tell it needs a lot of TLC, but I have restored enought vehicles to know that having solid starter vehicle is a major plus.

 

The guy also has another block, heads, rods...etc to build another engine for this jeep as well as original extra hubs, head lights and other items that goes with.

 

He is asking $4,995 for everything. I have no idea what one of these are worth. If someone could provide an idea on value as well as what areas of the vehicle I should look at closer, or a good web site where I could get a quick lesson on value and what to look for. He did note that it had the original intake and air filter set up on it which he seemed to think was rare and valuable. The block was craked when he got it, so he replaced that about 25 years ago with another original.

 

Any insight would be helpful. I wasn't looking for one, but would love to have a little piece of history to work on and restore. Another guy has a 1942 White Scout Car for sale in the area as well. I looked those up and they look interesting as well, but a Jeep would be cool.

 

Any comments would be appreciated. I know he has had a few lookers, so time is my enemy. Here are some pictures from the ad. I made them a little larger...hopefully they look good:

 

Thanks in advance:

 

post-24058-1312853143.jpg

 

post-24058-1312853163.jpg

 

Zeph

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hbtcoveralls

Looks pretty good from the photos. I would say that 5K for a runner that is mostly unmodified and not rusted away is a decent deal in this economy. There would be somewhat of a premium for a jeep whose serials match,or at least has its original data plates on the glove box door, but not really that much. There are a few things you might want the owner to look for, like the original wheels (known as "combat" wheels they have split rims like truck wheels and can be very hard to come by) and the original top supports. Of course if you can work the price down any, that's a few more dollars you'll have to restore. You'll also have the satisfaction of not letting this old veteran get turned into a mud bogger. PM me if you have any more questions, and you can also look for more information on Ron Fitzpatrick's G503.com website. I'd also love to see photos of the scout car.

Tom Bowers

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Tom has a lot of good points and info.

 

Usually the gas tanks are bad and the pan below is rusted out or has issues.These can be fixed.New tanks are avaiable and some are way better than others.Also the tank well can be had as a replacement part too.

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Tom and Ron,

 

Thanks for the comments and the G503.com website is very helpful! I'm on the fence trying to decided if I want to take on another project. Anyway, I'm stuck at work now. It's pretty depressed around here so I'm thinking that $4995 is a bit of sticker shock for a lot of people. The owner said he has had a lot of people look at it...but money's tight. Hopefully, that will work out in my favor if I decide to make a lower offer.

 

The white scout car is about 50 miles from me in a sparsely populated area. I e-mailed the guy that has it for sale and just received a reply with one picture. Here is the desription followed by the photo:

 

"Runs an drives perfect, hate to but i have to sell, many parts are new and rebuilt, frame has been lenghtend, engine rebuilt, new radiator, new fuel system with electirc fuel pump, new water pumper, new steering box, new break system, new exhaust system, has front an rear facing pto on it, all gears work an shifts beautifuly, high an low work great, all drive works great, was rebuilding from the ground up but have to many projects an even more bills that need to be taken care of now, dont have any armor for it thoguh, have title for it and also have extra rims for back if wanted, asking $2500"

 

post-24058-1312908471.jpg

 

Looks a little more rugged then the description leads one to believe. Haven't had that happen before...NOT!

 

Zeph

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Tom and Ron,

 

Thanks for the comments and the G503.com website is very helpful! I'm on the fence trying to decided if I want to take on another project. Anyway, I'm stuck at work now. It's pretty depressed around here so I'm thinking that $4995 is a bit of sticker shock for a lot of people. The owner said he has had a lot of people look at it...but money's tight. Hopefully, that will work out in my favor if I decide to make a lower offer.

 

The white scout car is about 50 miles from me in a sparsely populated area. I e-mailed the guy that has it for sale and just received a reply with one picture. Here is the desription followed by the photo:

 

"Runs an drives perfect, hate to but i have to sell, many parts are new and rebuilt, frame has been lenghtend, engine rebuilt, new radiator, new fuel system with electirc fuel pump, new water pumper, new steering box, new break system, new exhaust system, has front an rear facing pto on it, all gears work an shifts beautifuly, high an low work great, all drive works great, was rebuilding from the ground up but have to many projects an even more bills that need to be taken care of now, dont have any armor for it thoguh, have title for it and also have extra rims for back if wanted, asking $2500"

 

post-24058-1312908471.jpg

 

Looks a little more rugged then the description leads one to believe. Haven't had that happen before...NOT!

 

Zeph

 

Will he throw in the cats???They will keep the mice at bay :lol:

 

That is one serious project.The armor would be a hard thing to come up with in my opinion..Plus the extra axle on there.Never seems to amaze me the mods these vehicles have had.I know of three hail tracks here and saw a few more locally over the years.All had the armor removed.Some were still in the orange paint the state used.They would mount sanders on them for sanding icy roads.One has a small crane mounted on it.One had an industrial air com pressor.These are rotting away in a farmers grove now.His kids think they have a gold mine sitting there and are not going to sell cheap :blink: I looked at them as I know one of the boys.I told him best to get an ax or a chain saw and get the tree cut out of the frame before it gets bigger :pinch:

 

RD

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hbtcoveralls

Well, if it helps, I know that money's tight right now... but they're really not making any nice restorable jeeps anymore. In the northeast where I'm from originally that would have been snapped up by now since its not rusty and running. The left coast seems to have a monopoly on those kinds of Jeeps. The scout car is really unfortunate. Just not really restorable as it is. Might be some parts, but not for what he's asking. Oh well. If that Jeep wasn't 4 time zones away I'd be thinking really hard about asking you for the guy's number. Good luck and I hope you end up with her. I loved mine and you'll enjoy it as well

Tom Bowers

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Its not a scout car but a halftrack I know it. Its in Beiber CA and owned by a guy named Ben.

I would look at the frame right where the drivers fender is and see the frame number there. On the passenger side on the engine block behind the oil filter is a number and the third number is going to be real hard to see but its on the drivers side on the tubs gusset the roundish thing that sticks out of the body. All 3 of those numbers should match and if they do you are stealing the jeep. Otherwise its a good price for a jeep. I just picked up a 1943 for 1800 that had about the same number of parts it also had f marked bolt heads everywhere. I have been offered 8-10 for it already

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Will he throw in the cats???They will keep the mice at bay :lol:

 

That is one serious project.The armor would be a hard thing to come up with in my opinion..Plus the extra axle on there.Never seems to amaze me the mods these vehicles have had.I know of three hail tracks here and saw a few more locally over the years.All had the armor removed.Some were still in the orange paint the state used.They would mount sanders on them for sanding icy roads.One has a small crane mounted on it.One had an industrial air com pressor.These are rotting away in a farmers grove now.His kids think they have a gold mine sitting there and are not going to sell cheap :blink: I looked at them as I know one of the boys.I told him best to get an ax or a chain saw and get the tree cut out of the frame before it gets bigger :pinch:

 

RD

 

At least the mouse and rat damage should be at a minimum with the "rat patrol" on duty there! :lol:

 

Zeph

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Well, if it helps, I know that money's tight right now... but they're really not making any nice restorable jeeps anymore.

 

Tom Bowers

 

Well, Tom, you do have a point there. Now I really am leaning toward making an offer. Of course, I am at work now and won't be off for another 4 or 5 hours... :pinch:

 

Oh well, if it is meant to be, it is meant to be ;)

 

I will update if I make it in time to make an offer.

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

Zeph

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Its not a scout car but a halftrack I know it. Its in Beiber CA and owned by a guy named Ben.

I would look at the frame right where the drivers fender is and see the frame number there. On the passenger side on the engine block behind the oil filter is a number and the third number is going to be real hard to see but its on the drivers side on the tubs gusset the roundish thing that sticks out of the body. All 3 of those numbers should match and if they do you are stealing the jeep. Otherwise its a good price for a jeep. I just picked up a 1943 for 1800 that had about the same number of parts it also had f marked bolt heads everywhere. I have been offered 8-10 for it already

 

Yes, the guy is in Bieber. It's about 50 miles east of where I am. It doesn't look like something I would jump on.

 

I will check the numbers on the jeep if I can get down there and it's still available. However, the owner did say that he replaced the engine block about twenty five years ago.

 

As a side note, I did notice last night that there were three brass plates on the glove box...any significance to those?

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Zeph

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Those are the data tags with all the jeeps info. I bought a WC 9 ambulance from the guy with the halftrack

 

I told Ben that I wasn't interested. I'm going to head down and see if the jeep is still available instead.

 

Thanks,

 

Zeph

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EPILOGUE: Well, it has been an eventful couple of days. I looked at the GPW a couple of times and wore myself out learning as much as I could late into the night on the internet about these little pieces of history. Even after all the research, I still made the decision to purchase... :) Therefore, I assembled as many Benjamin's as I could get my hands on. Well I lined up $4,300, but I just couldn't get him to budge from the $4,995 he was asking...for a day or so... He finally did buckle after I pulled out the wad of cash on the second day. I can now say I am the happy owner of a bouncing new, to me, baby 1942 GPW! The feller I bought it from evidently took a liking to me. He actually was happy that I was the one that purchased it from him, so we inked the deal over a couple of beers this evening...

 

He also tossed in the extra MB block and enough parts to build another engine as well as another early 40's willy's jeep that he has out on a ranch somewhere close by. He showed me some pictures and it is at least is on wheels. I'll get some pictures of it to post when I get a hold of it.

 

The drive home was exciting. However, my hair was on end a couple of times as the GPW wandered occasion in no particular direction. This was a little scary at 50 miles per hour with oncomming traffic! Hopefully, I can smooth that out.

 

At least I made it home. Here are some pictures:

 

post-24058-1313032609.jpg

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Last ones:

 

post-24058-1313033004.jpg

 

post-24058-1313033014.jpg

 

I really would like to thank everyone for the comments and insights. I really appreciate it!

 

Thanks,

 

Zeph

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hbtcoveralls

GREAT SCORE! That is one really nice very original GPW. I can't believe how straight it is. Looks like you really did well. Of course you'll want to change out the floor panels, but wow that tub is nice and straight. Does it have the "ford" script embossed in the back panel just about where the 5 gallon can is? It looks like a very early production 42. If I had a Jeep like this near me, you better believe that I couldn't have gotten the wallet out fast enough. Thanks for sharing.

Tom Bowers

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Congrats on a REALLY nice score!

 

Hope your tetanus shot is up to date: I predict lots of fun getting busted knuckles in your future :)

 

Steve

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That seems to be a very nice mid-1942 GPW. Please don't add a rifle rack to the windshield, these early jeeps didn't have one (note lack of brackets)! Nice early small mouth gas tank and seat pan too.

 

Note that original WW2 GPW engine blocks were much weaker than Willys blocks, and prone to cracking so you might want to consider to have the block itself checked for them before you start rebuilding it. That said, an original uncracked GPW block is quite scarce and more valuable than an MB block. The stamped number should be the same as the framenumber if the combination is original.

 

I strongly advice to put the G503.com forum under your favourites and buy (reprints of) the original manuls and books. You might want to start with this one: http://www.rensjeep.com/guidebook/ .

 

Most important: have fun with it!

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

(January 8, 1942 Willys 'early' MB)

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Really nice buy! I know you will have a great time rebuilding it. You need to keep us updated on the work in progress! :thumbsup:

 

...Kat

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GREAT SCORE! That is one really nice very original GPW. I can't believe how straight it is. Looks like you really did well. Of course you'll want to change out the floor panels, but wow that tub is nice and straight. Does it have the "ford" script embossed in the back panel just about where the 5 gallon can is? It looks like a very early production 42. If I had a Jeep like this near me, you better believe that I couldn't have gotten the wallet out fast enough. Thanks for sharing.

Tom Bowers

 

It does have the "Ford" script. That's pretty cool. The serial number is 23515 and shows a delivery date of 5-1-1942 on the data plates. Thanks for the comments!

 

Zeph

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Congrats on a REALLY nice score!

 

Hope your tetanus shot is up to date: I predict lots of fun getting busted knuckles in your future :)

 

Steve

 

Yes, I'm all up to date on my tetanus shot... :thumbsup: And, I'm very familiar with your typical knuckle buster... :pinch:

 

Yet, I'm still really looking forward to learning about the GPW!

 

Thanks,

 

Zeph

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That seems to be a very nice mid-1942 GPW. Please don't add a rifle rack to the windshield, these early jeeps didn't have one (note lack of brackets)! Nice early small mouth gas tank and seat pan too.

 

Note that original WW2 GPW engine blocks were much weaker than Willys blocks, and prone to cracking so you might want to consider to have the block itself checked for them before you start rebuilding it. That said, an original uncracked GPW block is quite scarce and more valuable than an MB block. The stamped number should be the same as the framenumber if the combination is original.

 

I strongly advice to put the G503.com forum under your favourites and buy (reprints of) the original manuls and books. You might want to start with this one: http://www.rensjeep.com/guidebook/ .

 

Most important: have fun with it!

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

(January 8, 1942 Willys 'early' MB)

 

Thanks for the great tips, David. I never cease to be amazed by all of the information available on the internet. I've already ordered a manual so I can see how everthing works and is put together. I also just finished picking up the second jeep which is a Willys along with a couple of engines and a lot of parts. I'll post pictures of what I got in a little bit.

 

Zeph

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REAL nice Zeph!!!You'll have a blast with it!!

 

Really nice buy! I know you will have a great time rebuilding it. You need to keep us updated on the work in progress! :thumbsup:

 

...Kat

 

Yes, it will be a blast and it will be fun documenting any restoration I do!

 

Thanks,

 

Zeph

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