The build can begin...

Very stoked since I was able to find a parts tub for my '71, Trusty. God bless Craig's List and the Internet tubes Al Gore designed! I was surprised to see the rockers even have the original backside steel. Yeah, it looks like yuck, but first off look at what I have now. The right or good side:



and the side of horror:



Now on to the parts tubs advertized as shot floors and priced at a C-note:













The floor WAS attached, but the ride on the trailer fixed that issue! LOL. Looking like I'm going to salvage the sides and back pan and just build a floor from what's left on my tub. Good thing for some odd reason I like to weld!

The other great thing was the gentleman who sold me the tub , Joe, was a great guy. He set me up with 3 plastic totes of parts plus a box of bolts and fasteners (some new) and a spare empty windshield frame for an extra 150. Thank you Joe! Joe finished re-doing his 69 Jeepster and he preferred to help out a fellow Jeepster lover with useable parts rather than try to make $$.

 

My, it does need some floor work doesn't it . The tailgate on your original looks surprisingly solid so that's a plus .

 

Pack Rat, if it wasn't for the nice tailgate, I might have never bought Trusty. LOL. Not really, but it's apparent the gate was changed. There's another 71 an hour and a half away from me. He originally asked 3500 when I saw the CL ad. Looked decent in the small pictures on-line. Then the ad $ went to 3K. When I saw it reduced to 2500, I made the trip to go see it. Well, it wasn't all that great. Tailgate shot, floors and rockers patched (and re-rotted), door jamb holes, left fender rust bubbling and the clutch would not disengage. I made an offer of 1500, and he quickly said that would be OK as he admitted 4 guys looked at it and offered from 350 to 450 for it to just scrap and crush it. Soooo, I thought about my offer as I traveled back home. I'm thinking of sending my friend who's trailer I borrow to see if he can pick it up for about 800. Yeah, it's crazy to want another Jeepster, but I'll never catch up to you if I don't find a few more Commandos for my Jeep herd.

 

Well, nice weather (unlike today) allowed me to dissect the tub and get it off the trailer. Lot of rust clean up to do.....!
First was cut out the back floor of death...

A view of the right quarter on the inside...

And the left quarter...

Then the front floor section had to go....


A view of what this tub has in the front that my original tub lacks to a great extent...the braces...


Then I cut the right quarter off at the rustiest point of that side so it can be moved with ease...

Finally for the day, the fun discoveries...

Raining today, so I will see what I can clean up on my cut pieces inside the shop.

 

Nice Project...........Keep the pictures coming.

 

Over the weekend I did some preliminary needle scaling on the right side to see what's there to work with. First the rear results...

And now the front results.....

Looks like the original wheel tub will stay for the most part on the right side and the left will be fully replaced.

Here's the right front floor view after I removed the front floor pan patches from either side.

The driver's side....

This is fun, since I can still put the seat back in and move Trusty under his own power. hehehe.

Then onto starting to separate the sides off the original body.....chainsawguy

Yeah, I know, what a floor to salvage! Hey, this ain't Barrett-Jackson. I am spending as little as possible while keeping Trusty lot operable.

Knocking the panel away to find the tack welds is easy with this thin metal!

And I have a line on a whole 68 that runs and drives but isn't road ready for 700. Seeing if my friend can trailer it up for me. I'm kinda lovin' the patina of the spray can psedo-camo-rust-patch-dent-cover it displays. Well, keep ya'll posted!

 

Bringing back some memories of my AMC Eagle and a few Jeepsters. Lots of cutting, welding and :smash:.

 

"My 68 on the lift over my 71"

 

Well, it's been a while since I could even SEE my 71, due to the Boss at work being more of a hoarder than I am. BUT, things have changed. I don't see doubling up with posting progress in two places, so here's the link to my thread at JCCA:

Jeepster Commando Club of America • Login

Actually set the floorless tub up onto the refurbished frame today to get an idea of how things will look with the two inch body lift.

 

You have to be a member to view the JCCA forum.

 

Yeah, JCCA threw me off too when I first went there. Once you create a membership, the site is quite huge. I have 4 members watching the thread now and they are amazed at my dedication to rebuilding my rusty Commando.

The metal shop should be calling today regarding the floor and seat braces I'm having them brake for me. Since I have 3 Commandos to rebuild, I originally wanted 20 pieces made. However I sourced the material from the scrap dumpster at the metal shop to reduce my cost. But I only found enough material to have 12 pieces made. It will be enough for fixing the 71 though, plus there will be more material to check for in the dumpster when I return to pick up my pieces.

 

For those of you like Focker who do not have a JCCA membership, here's a link to my Commando's Photo Album at EphotoBay:

1971 Jeepster Commando Cars >Vintage Cars > - ePhotoBay

The earlier pics are on this page, the bottom of page 2 shows the more recent work that's gotten done. Up to 8 pages now! Yes, I take a lot of photos when I remember to.

 

Nice!!! I'm in.

 

Me too