Roll bars & Other Junk

Many jeeps ago and a long ways away

Back in 1972 my wife worked at Whitco Automotive in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I at the same time worked after Duty Hours (I was in the ARMY) at Jerry’s Four Wheel Drive up near Manitou Springs. Sharon was a seamstress and sewed new jeep tops for Whitco. I had a 1968 CJ5 at the time. It had a roll bar in it that was probably aftermarket but may have come from Whitco.

Anyway Whitco assembled all of thier roll bars one at a time on a jig and use a stinger welder to accomplish the assembly. As a consequence weld spatter was all over the down legs and near the hoop tube joint. and hammer marks wer present because of slag removal. They used a file to remove the weld spatter but did not do a very good job compared to other products available. The number of roll bars they completed per shift was real low. I do not recall the number. Jerry at Jerry’s four wheel drive also manufactured roll bars and also full cage kits for multiple models of vehicles. Jerry’s method of manufacturing the pieces for the kits was very streamlined. He had special jigs that automatically cut the fish mouth for a near perfect fit. Rather than drill the holes in the mounting plates he had a 35 ton press he used to punch the holes in the plates three or four plates at a time. I spent many an hour cutting these things out and helping Jerry bend the hoops. When in full production mode he hired a welder that worked full shifts during the production run and welded about 30 roll bars per shift. After painting Jerry would ship these out around the country to various aftermarket vendors. Jerry’s roll bars were the first locally to have a straight down bar instead of the rear down bar with the 90 degree bend in it. He also manufactured larger back up plates and mountings than the factory did. Among othert things jerry had in stock most of the frame componets spring mounts V6 frame mounts and othet miscelaneous stuff people would love to get there hands on today.

At the same time there was guy down in Pueblo Colorado. I knew only as Bob. Bob owned a surplus yard/ salvage-wrecking yard called Bobs Jeep Sales. I met him after I flipped my CJ over back of NORAD late one night. I bent all of my leaf springsand the frame and body. The body was bent over the wheel well about 25 degrees. I needed a new body, windshield frame, fenders and frame which is where Bob came in. He had a yard lined up like a modern wrecking yard with M38-A1’, M170’s and frames. He also had a huge stack of M151’s and surplus canvas and other stuff. I purchased an M38-A1 frame and body tub. Bob was always assembling jeeps from parts and selling them. Bob kept my brother who had a stock M38-A1 and me in replacement parts for our jeeps.

After re-assembling that 68 CJ with those parts I slowly over the years modified the body so that it looked more like the stock CJ5 that it was suppose to be however I never installed a tailgate. It eventually got a Chevy engine; Muncie four speed, model 20 transfer case and model 44 centered rear end with flanged axels and a Fiber glass tilt front end. The tilt front end was hinged with the M38-A1 fame mount hinges.

I bought a factory second top from WHITCO for I think $50 right from the warehouse. I purchased a black one. When I got it home there were two tops in the box. One top was white & one black. I traded the white one for the bows and hardware to install it.

 

Very nice history lesson...but...whats the point of this post???:?:?:?

 

Can your wife make me a top for my CJ-6?

 

Oh..I agree its interesting...just seems like he left off the other half of the story, that's all.

 

Thanks for the morning read.

 

I'd like to see your wife set up shop to start reproducing tops too! My CJ5whitco is starting to look a little rough after 40 years of use.
Tom

 

I thought it was a good story. A little into jeep support history.

And x2 on making the Whito cops again. I need one for a 6 and I don't like the one avaliable.

 

Very cool . . . I bought stuff from Whitco and Jerry's in the early 70s!

 

Thanks for the story
My first top was a Whitco and always thought it was the best top out of 4 that I ever had. Wish I had another one. It was the easest top to take down and put up, plus it was the only one that I had that truly would fold down and miss my spare mounted on the back.
Could you explain this statement a little more?
"Jerry’s roll bars were the first locally to have a straight down bar instead of the rear down bar with the 90 degree bend in it.
Mike

 

Just Like the picture in your AVATAR. The Diagonal bar is straight. It was common Back then for the bar behind the main hoop to have a ninty degree bend and be attached lower than at the top. Another version had two 45 degree bends but still did not attach at the top. Smitty Built started supplying roll bars and had adds in Four Wheeler and Off Road magazine advertising a sand bar around that time that had two main hoops with a plate between the two to keep it from sinking in the sand it also has the two Forty Five degree bends in the down bar.

Fourtunatly or unfrotunatly Sharon is no longer with us. Although she could have sewn us any sort of top you would like. She used to love driving the jeep