1943 Willys Jeep

Redliner

Redliner

Electromatic
May 7, 2011
44
Fleetwood, PA
Small world. Been many years since we went there. One of the guys in the jeep club I belonged to at the time was a photographer for the Reading Eagle paper. Told me that there was going to be a P-38 flying in to the show. Wife and I went on a Friday to check out planes as they came in. Bummer was that the P-38 never showed up due to mechanical issues. Did get to see one of my other favorites fly in though, a F4u Corsair. Love the sound of a Mustang and the Merlin also. Never had the chance to see a Spitfire in the air unfortunately. The cool part was getting to stand behind 3 B-17's in the prop wash as they got positioned on the show field. Not many places that you can do that! Watched all the military vehicles line up for the parade to "rescue" downtown Reading from the German invasion that they would stage every year. Lots of cool things there. Sorry, got sidetracked.

Please keep the pictures coming.
 
Rob_Brindley

Rob_Brindley

Synchromatic
Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2019
505
Stoke-On-Trent, England
Redliner said:
Small world. Been many years since we went there. One of the guys in the jeep club I belonged to at the time was a photographer for the Reading Eagle paper. Told me that there was going to be a P-38 flying in to the show. Wife and I went on a Friday to check out planes as they came in. Bummer was that the P-38 never showed up due to mechanical issues. Did get to see one of my other favorites fly in though, a F4u Corsair. Love the sound of a Mustang and the Merlin also. Never had the chance to see a Spitfire in the air unfortunately. The cool part was getting to stand behind 3 B-17's in the prop wash as they got positioned on the show field. Not many places that you can do that! Watched all the military vehicles line up for the parade to "rescue" downtown Reading from the German invasion that they would stage every year. Lots of cool things there. Sorry, got sidetracked.

Please keep the pictures coming.
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Sounds great! It took me a while to see a P-38 fly - there's only one airworthy in Europe and it didn't come to the U.K very often. I'm lucky enough to get to crew 3 Spitfires and a couple of Mustangs at shows over here so I get to be up close and personal with a lot of stuff like that. Always a fun weekend!
 
cielski

cielski

Senior Gretsch-Talker
Feb 10, 2010
20,564
LaFayette IN
We get warbirds here every couple of years. Purdue Univ. has a huge aerospace/aviation school. It has over 28 astronaut alumni with advanced degrees. At times, it's the busiest airport in the state with a takeoff or landing every 90 seconds during testing. It's not unusual to see new and old military aircraft. The Goodyear Blimp is here often, and I've seen everything from a 1929 Ford Trimotor to F-16s.
 
Rob_Brindley

Rob_Brindley

Synchromatic
Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2019
505
Stoke-On-Trent, England
cielski said:
We get warbirds here every couple of years. Purdue Univ. has a huge aerospace/aviation school. It has over 28 astronaut alumni with advanced degrees. At times, it's the busiest airport in the state with a takeoff or landing every 90 seconds during testing. It's not unusual to see new and old military aircraft. The Goodyear Blimp is here often, and I've seen everything from a 1929 Ford Trimotor to F-16s.
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I'd love to see a Trimotor fly someday. The inter-war aircraft are some of the best looking designs ever made, in my opinion.

Here's a photo from a recent show - Our crew on the Sunday evening after the show with Anna, the worlds only female Spitfire pilot who was flying our Mk.I this weekend:

Spitfire.png

And on the Thursday before the show - I'm sitting on the far side of the tail adding some weight whilst we do a high power engine run. What an experience! The sound, the prop wash, the heat... Epic!

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cielski

cielski

Senior Gretsch-Talker
Feb 10, 2010
20,564
LaFayette IN
The Ford Trimotor would fly low and slow over campus when landing. It seemed to be too slow to stay in the sky, the old radials just popping away, barely spinning. Even the 4 seat Cessnas seemed fast comparatively.
 
949r

949r

Electromatic
Gold Supporting Member
Mar 21, 2014
31
USA
Rob_Brindley said:
So, I've been away from the internet for a little while, but I've been keeping busy with gigs and work - Lots and lots of work.

On the odd free weekend, I've slowly been working with my Dad to restore our 1943 Willys Jeep. We've had jeeps all of my life - I think this is our 4th or 5th one. We originally restored it around 15 years ago and, since then, it's been on the road at shows all over the UK and occasionally in mainland Europe. We had a relative that served with 2 Para at Arnhem Bridge as part of operation Market Garden and each year, for the anniversary, we take the jeep on the 1000 mile round trip to Arnhem (No trailers here)!

She was starting to look a little tired so last year we decided to strip her down and go through her again. The breaks needed doing, some electrical repairs, some general tidying up and we decided to convert her from British Airborne to European SAS spec. We're part way through and hoping to have her back on the road by the end of March.

Here's a few pics - Before (Just as we're about to head to Holland in 2019):


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Starting the strip down:

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Body removed and starting the de-grease the chassis:

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Chassis repainted:

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The End goal (Armored screens, Armor plated rear, extra fuel tanks, 5 machines guns, search lights etc...) I'll post more updates as we go if people are interested.

View attachment 200265

Rob
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100 per cent bad ass, I love it
 
Rob_Brindley

Rob_Brindley

Synchromatic
Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2019
505
Stoke-On-Trent, England
I finished off creating the font and have set the file up ready to cut the vinyl masks out tonight after work. We'll be collecting a large space heater this evening (Very kindly loaned to us by Russ from Grumpy Bastards Motorcylces - A local live music venue / bar) which should allow us to get the jeep painted this weekend regardless of the weather :) Hopefully, by Sunday evening we'll have a coat of green on and we can do the camouflage / stencils on Friday next week.

British vehicle serials usually started M5******* - 291193 just so happens to be my birthday! (Last time it was Dad's, so this time it's my turn :) )
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cielski

cielski

Senior Gretsch-Talker
Feb 10, 2010
20,564
LaFayette IN
Rob_Brindley said:
That museum is definitely somewhere I'd like to visit next time I'm in the US - They have a fantastic growing collection there. One day :)
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If/when you're in the US, go to the Smithsonian's Udvar/Hazy aircraft museum near Washington DC, and the USAF Museum in Dayton OH. Between the two, they cover everything from the Wright Bros. to the SR-71 and the Space Shuttle.
 
Rob_Brindley

Rob_Brindley

Synchromatic
Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2019
505
Stoke-On-Trent, England
A
cielski said:
If/when you're in the US, go to the Smithsonian's Udvar/Hazy aircraft museum near Washington DC, and the USAF Museum in Dayton OH. Between the two, they cover everything from the Wright Bros. to the SR-71 and the Space Shuttle.
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Absolutely - they're definitely on my list. Along with the Military Aviation Museum at Virginia Beach. Last time I was in the U.S, I attended the Planes of Fame airshow at Chino, California and then went over to see a private collection in Texas - An amazing experience and I can't wait to get back over there again.

In other news, Dad just messaged me - The front armour plate that arrived yesterday is now fitted after some 'persuasion'.

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cielski

cielski

Senior Gretsch-Talker
Feb 10, 2010
20,564
LaFayette IN
Don't get too carried away on the finish on that. WWII vehicles were rushed out of the factories as fast as possible, and a perfect finish wasn't a priority.

Interesting note: All the Jeeps built by Ford had every possible part down to the nuts and bolts imprinted with the Ford logo. Henry Ford wouldn't replace any part his factories didn't make. Henry had the US Government build the River Rouge plant (Turned out a B-24 bomber every hour) and got a huge nearly new free factory after the war. They did get 18,000+ bombers out of the place.
 
Rob_Brindley

Rob_Brindley

Synchromatic
Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2019
505
Stoke-On-Trent, England
Bertotti said:
Do you guys do stuff like this for your grown up job as well?
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We don't - Well, not anymore. Dad worked in bodyshops prepping and spraying cars when he left school but he's been working at JCB for the last 25 years. Restoring the military vehicles has always been a hobby. Funnily enough, he bought a 1942 BSA M20 today so, once the Jeep is finished we'll be making a start in that :)

I'm fairly unskilled with this stuff - I'm just the extra pair of hands and Iain (Dad's friend who has been helping us) is somewhere inbetween. My skills have always been more with digital artwork etc (hence making the stencil masks).
 
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