The Family Jeep

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Steve Hoefer, an online acquaintance, shares his family’s Jeep story:

Ours is a 1946 Willy’s CJ-2A. Originally I believe it was Normandy Blue with yellow rims. I don’t think Dad bought it new, he’d have been a bit young in ’46, but he bought it for farming.

They stopped driving it before I was born, though apparently all of my siblings bounced out of it at some point or other. I’d always known it as a busted thing parked in an outbuilding, home to generations of raccoons. Around 1990 my dad decided to drag it out so he and a buddy could fix it up. He wasn’t interested in making it look new, I don’t even know how we’d have addressed the rust. It took quite a few parts and rebuilding the engine. When it works it sounds just like on MASH and handles like an unruly toddler. I’ve never had it above 30 mph because I don’t think I’d keep it on the road or me in the seat. Both dad and his buddy have passed now and none of the rest of us know engines enough to keep it in good repair. We do have the full service manual. If someone was motivated enough they could get it back into shape without too much trouble.

At one point my nephews made a potato cannon and we mounted it on top and pretended we were in Rat Patrol. (We put the windshield frame on, but never felt safe putting the glass in. Also we never found the front bumper so I bolted a piece of 4×4 to the front.)

Jeep now topless

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I hate camo and all that phrase has come to connote. When I saw the Jeep for the first time I thought, cool Jeep. My second thought was, that camo is fugly! Paul made the Jeep look much better with a few cans of spray paint. I’m going to try to do the same for the canvas top.

Thought it would be a chore to get the top off but Paul and I did it in about five minutes. Turns out the previous owner had the top custom-made by some upholstery wizard. When it was off Paul said he thought the Jeep looked happier.

I spread the pieces out on the floor of the big room in the Annex and masked the plastic “windows” in preparation for painting tomorrow. Curious if this will work at all and how many cans it might take. If it comes out okay, I’ll probably put it back on and drive the Jeep some this winter.

I also learned today the previous owner had a cover made for the Jeep. I was expecting a big old bag that covered the entire vehicle but this item looks custom, too.

Difficult to tell from this photo but it appears this just covers the interior with those two pouch-looking things for the seat backs. I don’t expect to worry much about the Jeep getting wet but we’ll see how easy this is to get on and off.

I’ve cobbled together a “carport” of sorts by covering the top of the Land Rover rack with a heavy duty tarp in hopes of keeping the worst of the weather off. (:54 video)

Update February 2, 2023: The spray job on the canvas top came out better than expected. Close enough to the color of the Jeep body.

Land Rover heater

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I’m now in my fifth winter with the Land Rover. And every winter I spend some time bitching and whining about the little truck’s heater. Less since the F-150 joined the fleet because it has a great heater and has become my winter vehicle of choice on really cold days. Yesterday I noticed two white-ish tabs on either side of the Rover’s heating unit near the floorboard.

When I gave it a tug a small door opened on the side of the heater. A vent. Aimed at the driver’s feet. Another one of the passenger side. Fuck. Me. Warm air (not hot, mind you) came flowing out. Since I never have a passenger, I’ll leave that one closed so all of the toasty air comes my way.

My understanding of how the heater works is water gets warmed by the engine after it’s been running for a bit. And that water (somehow) heats the air that gets blown into the passenger compartment. To make this happen there’s a small brass valve that must be opened in the winter and closed in the summer.